SHANE LEWIS MARCHES ON WASHINGTON
SHANE LEWIS www.shanelewis.com SHANE LEWIS MARCHES ON WASHINGTON -FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- JUPITER, Fla., Friday, July 12, 2002 - Shane Lewis is set to take to the streets of the United States’ capitol city in support of the first professional auto racing event to be held in Washington DC. As lead driver of the #45 American Viperacing Dodge Viper GTS-R, the Jupiter, Florida-resident will be competing in round five of the American Le Mans Series’ (ALMS) 2002 season. The race, which will start at noon (EDT), Sunday, July 21, will be a 2-hour and 45-minute timed event. “I have been excited about this event since they announced it last year,” offered Lewis about the upcoming Cadillac Grand Prix of Washington DC. “We’ ll have to drive the track but it looks like they have done a good job designing a street course that we’ll be able to race on. You sure can’t beat the backdrop. Being in the heart of this country’s political world is pretty inspiring and humbling at the same time. I’m eager to get the Viper out there and see what we can do. This will be our first street race of the season and these tracks always put a unique set of challenges on the car, driver and crew.” Lewis currently sits fifth in GTS-class points and has earned three top-five finishes thus far in the season. The team has been undergoing heavy development of the Viper since the beginning of the year and expects the effort payoff soon. “The AVR guys are giving all they have,” commented Lewis on the program. “We have had some OK results but I think we are getting closer to finding the right combination for the car. This car is no longer anything like it was in 2001 and nothing like the Vipers of 1999. All of us have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears in closing the gap between us and the pure-breed racing Saleens and factory Vettes. This will be the usual, hard-fought, knife at a gunfight-type of event for the Viper.” The patriotic Lewis hopes that the red, white and blue of his car will run well on the track that has been carved out of the area immediately surrounding RFK Stadium. “I can’t think of a more American car than the Viper. What is more American than a big, front-engined sports car sending big horsepower to big rear tires? Wrap all that up in a red, white and blue package and it screams ‘I’m American and proud of it!’” Shane Lewis has been racing since 1989. He is the 1998 Professional Sports Car Rising Star award winner and has multiple race wins in the IMSA Supercar and SCCA Pro series. Lewis has ALMS podium finishes at Silverstone, Nurburgring and last season at Portland. This former Daytona Endurance Champion has driven in 16 24-hour races including two 24 Hours of Le Mans, six 24 Hours of Daytona and six 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2002, he is competing as the lead driver for the #43 Orison Marketing - Planet Earth Corvette Z06 in the GS I-class of the Grand-Am Cup Street Stock Series and as lead pilot of the #45 American Viperacing Dodge Viper in the ALMS GTS-class. For more on Shane Lewis please see www.ShaneLewis.com. ### Digital images and bio available upon request. Editors, please do not publish any contact information other than web sites. Thank you. Contact: Tom Moore, Shane Lewis Racing Media Relations 770-466-5442 (phone), 770-466-5443 (fax), 404-229-3703 (cell) Tom@DarkhorseCom.com (email) www.DarkhorseCom.com