Pruett Now Five for Five at Mosport

CONTACT: Justin Anderson
(704) 348-9400
Cell: (517) 927-3614
Fax: (704) 348-9444

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 18, 2003

PRUETT NOW FIVE FOR FIVE AT MOSPORT

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario ‹ Scott Pruett continued his run of perfection at
Mosport International Raceway as he won Sunday¹s Trans-Am Series for the
BFGoodrich® Tires Cup race at the 2.459-mile, 10-turn permanent road
course.Pruett has won in all three of his Trans-Am Series starts (1986, ¹87,
¹94) and also won an SCCA World Challenge Endurance race, driving for Saleen
in 1987.

Pruett, in the No. 7 Jaguar R Performance XKR, finished .977 seconds ahead
of Michael Lewis (No. 12 Trans-Am Tools by ProQuest Jaguar XKR). Johnny
Miller (No. 64 Eaton Cutler-Hammer Jaguar XKR), Randy Ruhlman (No. 49
Preformed Line Products/Coyote Closures Chevolet Corvette) and rookie Jorge
Diaz, Jr. (No. 8 Puerto Rico Grand Prix Jaguar XKR) completed the top five.

Pruett won the BFGoodrich® Tires Take Control Award for leading the most
laps and earned a $4,000 bonus from Flowmaster for winning the ³American
Thunder Challenge,² given to the driver who wins the pole, leads the most
laps, sets the fastest race lap and wins the race. The award, normally worth
$2,000, rolled over as no one was able to claim it at Long Beach.

³It¹s been a good weekend for us up here,² said Pruett, who led all 41 laps
of the race from the pole. ³In the closing stages, I saw the guys behind me
and you could see oil on the track. It was difficult because you want to
keep them behind you, but at the same time you don¹t want to end up in the
weeds. It was a fine balance there in the closing stages.
³It was not an easy drive,² added Pruett. ³They are never easy drives.²

Lewis rebounded from early contact with Paul Gentilozzi to finish second.
Interestingly, Lewis¹ car was the only one in the field utilizing fuel
injection. Lewis just held off a charging Miller on the frontstrech to notch
the runner-up slot.

³The car was pretty good at the end of the race,² said Lewis of his best
career Mosport finish and his best finish this season. ³When the oil came
out, it was kind of nice to be in second because I had a half-a-second
warning as Scott drove through it.

³Scott was just fantastic,² he added. ³We had a fourth or fifth-place car
and we finished second. We feel really good about this.²

Miller¹s third-place finish was his third-straight podium finish this
season. Miller finished third at the season opener in St. Petersburg and
second at Round 2 in Long Beach.

Miller pitted on lap 29 under the race¹s only caution to clear of the grill
on his car, fought his way back through the field and battled overheating
problems to finish third.

³We had a really good car,² said Miller. ³We were trying to run hard with
Scott at the beginning and we just got a bunch of debris in the grill. We
didn¹t want to hurt it. I had to fend off Stu (Hayner) several times, and
I¹d tuck behind Scott and it would start overheating. When the caution flag
came out, we thought it would cool off and it didn¹t. We came in, cleared
the grill and finished third.²

The race was slowed one time by a caution flag from laps 27-30 after Bobby
Sak¹s car suffered a differential failure near turn five. The race ran in 59
minutes and 43 seconds at and average speed of 101.299 miles per hour.

Unofficially, Pruett leads the Drivers¹ Championship, ahead of Miller,
rookie Jorge Diaz, Jr., Lewis and Gentilozzi.
 
The next race for the Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup, Round 4
of the 2003 championship, is scheduled for May 26, part of the Mohegan Sun
Presents Lime Rock Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn.

Notebook:
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario ‹ With his victory in Sunday¹s Trans-Am Series for the
BFGoodrich® Tires Cup race at Mosport International Raceway, Scott Pruett
remained undefeated at the 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course.

Pruett has won in all three of his previous Trans-Am Series starts (1986,
¹87, ¹94) and also won an SCCA World Challenge Endurance race, driving for
Saleen in 1987. Two of Pruett¹s Trans-Am Series victories came during his
championship seasons in 1987 and 1994.

* Sunday¹s race marked the Series¹ first visit this season to a permanent
road course. Pruett said car setup changes significantly from what is done
to prepare for a temporary street course.

    ³The basic setup changes because the turns are typically faster,² said
Pruett of the 2.459-mile, 10-turn road
    course. ³The track will normally have more grip. You¹re going to look
for a little stiffer, more responsive car. At a
    street course, you¹re looking for a soft setup. You¹re just looking for
grip. At a permanent circuit, you¹re looking
    for support, because you talk about some pretty fast turns. You want
different things out of your car than you
    would on a street circuit.²

* By winning the pole for Sunday¹s Trans-Am Series race at Mosport, Pruett
tied the pole record held by the late Mark Donohue.

* Jerry Simmons, driver of the No. 76 Westward Tools Ford Mustang, made his
final Trans-Am Series start Sunday at Mosport and celebrated his 19-year
career in the Series prior to the green flag. Simmons, who qualified 15th,
took the warm-up lap from the pole to celebrate his final start.

        ³It¹s been a wonderful career² said Simmons, who started the warm-up
lap in position one, then fell back to
        his original starting position. ³I never set out to do this as a
career. I do it because of the love of the sport.
        And I¹ve enjoyed every minute. I¹m a little sad about leaving, but
I¹m not finished racing. Though, I plan to be
        more of weekend racer now. I plan to go back into amateur racing in
a number of different series that require
        less commitment.

        ³I¹d like to thank the rest of the guys for letting me start from
the pole,² added Simmons, who made his 91st
        Series start Sunday. ³It¹s not really the pole, but I¹ll take a
parade lap in front of the field so I can wave
        goodbye to a lot of good friends.²

        Simmons was proud to end his career at Mosport.

        ³It is my home track,² said Simmons. ³I live about two hours from
here. I¹ve raced here in every Trans-Am
        Series race for the last 18 years. It¹s significant for me to come
here to end my Trans-Am Series career.²

        Simmons¹ best finish of ninth, came at Trois-Rivières in 1992.
Simmons made his Series debut in 1984 at
        Watkins Glen International in New York. Simmons also won the 1999
Canadian GT Championship Series race
        at Mosport.

* Johnny Miller, driver of the No. 64 Eaton Cutler-Hammer Jaguar XKR in the
Trans-Am Series, with his sponsor Eaton Cutler-Hammer, lent a helping hand
to the Canadian United Way. On Wednesday, May 14, Miller and Eaton
Cutler-Hammer held a charity luncheon at Eaton¹s Milton, Ontario facility.

        The luncheon, which was for Eaton Cutler-Hammer employees, customers
and friends, raised money for the
        United Way charity and also allowed Eaton to show off their
involvement in Miller¹s Trans-Am Series race
        program. Proceeds from the event went to the local Milton office of
the Canadian United Way.

        ³What a great afternoon with my sponsors and the wonderful
volunteers from the United Way,² said Miller,
        who has been working with Eaton for six seasons now. ³We had a lot
of fun here today with the United Way
        and all of the folks at Eaton, showing Eaton¹s customers and
employees what our racing program is all about.²

* Gary Blalock, tire engineer for Series spec tire supplier BFGoodrich®
Tires, is brought 440 g-Force T/A® tires to Mosport in two dry compounds‹200
(medium) and 75 (hard)‹and a one full wet compound. Blalock is recommended
teams run 26 pounds per square inch of hot air pressure in all four tires.

        ³The dynamics are a lot different at a permanent road course versus
a street course,² said Blalock. ³The
        cornering speeds and the cornering loads are higher. We want to see
higher operating pressures in the rear
        tires. We recommend 26 psi front and rear to try to get a little
more mechanical grip to launch off of the
        corners. Mosport is as fast or faster than any track we visit all
year. It¹s a fast track.²

* Local racer Charlie Webster has had a busy weekend. Webster, driver of the
No. 95 CJ Webster of Canada Ltd./Neil¹s Auto Body Chevrolet Camaro, crashed
hard during the promoter¹s test day on Thursday. He left
> Mosport that night, went back his Burlington, Ontario shop and his crew worked
> feverishly to get his car ready for final practice and qualifying on Saturday.

* Rain washed out the first two rounds of Trans-Am Series practice Friday.
Series officials allowed team¹s a 45-minute session on Saturday, and moved
back qualifying to later in the day due to the inclement weather.

* Three cars took part in the Series¹ ³Trans-Am Revealed² program Saturday
afternoon. The Corvette of Simon Gregg, the Mustang of Jerry Simmons and the
Jaguar XKR of Tomy Drissi had body panels removed for inspection by other
teams and the Trans-Am Series technical staff. The objective of the program
is to remove any secrecy regarding each team¹s design as it relates to
chassis and hardware configurations.

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