Johnny Miller Nabs Lime Rock Prize

May 26, 2003

LAKEVILLE, Conn. ‹ Johnny Miller has made it clear he was sick of being a
bridesmaid this season.

On Monday, Miller‹who has finished on the podium in the first three races of
the 2003 Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup championship‹finally
got his trip to the altar, at Lime Rock Park, and won the rain-soaked
Trans-Am 100, part of the Mohegan Sun Presents the Lime Rock Park Grand
Prix. In the process, the driver of the No. 64 Eaton Cutler-Hammer Jaguar
XKR, gave Jaguar its first Lime Rock victory, and he took the points lead in
this year¹s Drivers¹ Championship.

Miller, who handed Jaguar its first Lime Rock pole on Saturday, lost the
lead to Stu Hayner (No. 2 Trenton Forging/GMAC Commercial Finance Chevrolet
Corvette) at the start of the race when his windshield fogged up. Miller
rebounded on lap 13, and took the lead when Hayner spun off course in turn
two. He wasn¹t headed from there and won by 1.506 seconds.

³I absolutely couldn¹t see a thing,² said Miller, who recorded his
second-career victory Monday. ³We went about five laps about dead blind. I
just followed the trail of mist behind Stu. After about five laps, the dew
cleared, and we were able to run.²
Miller added to his perfect weekend, where he was fastest in both of the
practice sessions he took part in. Miller won the Flowmaster American
Thunder Challenge for winning the pole, leading the most laps and setting
the race¹s fastest lap. He also earned the BFGoodrich® Tires Take Control
Award for leading the most laps.

³We just had a great car,² said Miller. ³It was flawless.²

Rookies Bobby Sak (No. 10 Revolution Motorsports Jaguar XKR) and Jorge Diaz,
Jr. (No. 8 Puerto Rico Grand Prix Jaguar XKR) finished second and third,
respectively, marking best-career finishes for both.

Sak took second after contact with Brian Simo (No. 3 Jaguar R Performance
XKR) on lap 33 and held of Diaz during a one-lap dash to the finish after
the race¹s final caution.

³We didn¹t want to see that last caution,² said Sak. ³We had a shot at it.
The car was awesome. I was hoping for rain and got it.²

Diaz overcame early windshield wiper problems and a late spin to finish
third.

³I think this was an awesome race,² said Diaz. ³This was my first race in
the rain. One of wipers broke, and we had to pit to fix it. We then had to
work traffic to get back through the pack. I couldn¹t be happier.²

Hayner finished fourth, ahead of former Lime Rock Park winner Paul Newman,
who recovered from an early spin to record the top five.

The race ran in one hour and 15.49 minutes at an average speed of 80.446
miles per hour. It was slowed three times for 12 laps. The race became a
timed race and ran within the 75-minute window due to inclement weather

Miller now unofficially leads the points with 117 markers, ahead of former
points leader Scott Pruett, who spun late in the event and finished 12th.
Diaz, Hayner and Michael Lewis complete the top five in points.

The next race, Round 5 of the 2003 Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich® Tires
Cup Championship, is scheduled for June 22 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma,
Calif. 
Results:
LAKEVILLE, Conn. ‹ The results from Monday's 59-lap Trans-Am Series for the
BFGoodrich® Tires Cup race No. 4, at Lime Rock Park, with finishing
position, starting position in parentheses, driver, car, laps completed and
reason out, if any.

1. (1) Johnny Miller, Jaguar XKR, 59, Running.
2. (6) Bobby Sak (R), Chevrolet Corvette, 59, Running.
3. (5) Jorge Diaz, Jr. (R), Jaguar XKR, 59, Running.
4. (3) Stuart Hayner, Chevrolet Corvette, 59, Running.
5. (10) P.L. Newman, Chevrolet Corvette, 59, Running.
6. (7) Tomy Drissi, Jaguar XKR, 59, Running.
7. (4) Brian Simo, Jaguar XKR, 58, Running.
8. (8) Michael Lewis, Jaguar XKR, 58, Running.
9. (11) Joey Scarallo(R), Chevrolet Corvette, 58, Running.
10. (12), John Baucom, Jaguar XKR, 57, Running.
11. (9) Randy Ruhlman, Chevrolet Corvette, 57, Running.
12. (2) Scott Pruett, Jaguar XKR, 56, Running.
13. (14) Michael Brockman, Chevrolet Camaron, 56, Running.
14. (16), Garrett Kletjian(R), Chevrolet Corvette, 56, Running.
15. (75) Tim Cowen, Ford Mustang, 53, Running.
16. (15) Simon Gregg, Chevrolet Corvette, 42, Running.
17. (17) Peter Rogal(R), Jaguar XKR, 1, Suspension.

Notebook:
LAKEVILLE, Conn. ‹ Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup Driver
Johnny Miller has long claimed Lime Rock Park owed him something. He cashed
it all in Saturday as the driver of the No. 64 Eaton Cutler-Hammer Jaguar
XKR earned his first pole of 2003 and gave Jaguar its first pole at the
1.53-mile, eight-turn permanent road course, for Monday¹s Mohegan Sun
Presents the Lime Rock Park Grand Prix.
For his efforts, Miller received two bonus championship points, and the
Jaguar Pole Award, a performance-based initiative that rewards drivers who
win the pole at each Trans-Am Series events this season.

n Actor Paul Newman, along with teammate Michael Brockman, returned to
Trans-Am Series competition during the Lime Rock Park Grand Prix, Round 4 of
this year¹s championship. Newman drove the No. 78 Chevrolet Corvette, while
Brockman wheeled the No. 87 Chevrolet Camaro.

Newman, making his return to the Series after a nine-year hiatus, is driving
a car painted in a very similar style to the Nissan 300ZX Turbo he drove to
victory here in 1986. The red, white and blue Vette was driven to Rookie of
the Year honors by Butch Leitzinger last year.
Newman has a storied history at Lime Rock. Of his two five Trans-Am Series
victories, one came at the 1.53-mile, eight-turn permanent road course in
1986. In all, the Connecticut native has 13 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes
in 68 Trans-Am Series starts.

Of his fifth-place finish Monday, Newman remained a man of few words.

³I would have preferred to finish second,² said Newman with a laugh.

n 2000 Trans-Am Series Drivers¹ Champion Brian Simo drove Rocketsports
Racing¹s No. 3 Jaguar R Performance XKR during this Monday¹s race.

Simo, no stranger to Lime Rock Park, made his first career Trans-Am Series
start here in 1993 and won from the pole in 1999.

Paul Gentilozzi ended a Series record 183-race start streak this weekend
when he turned the wheel of his No. 3 Jaguar XKR over to Simo. Gentilozzi
began the streak on October 11, 1987 at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga.

n Sam Posey, winner of the 1969 edition of Monday¹s race, returned to Lime
Rock over weekend as Honorary Grand Marshal for the Trans-Am Series race.
Posey is a veteran of Formula One, Can-Am, Indy 500, IMSA, Formula 5000 and
Le Mans, as well as the Trans-Am Series.

Posey is also responsible for designing many of the buildings at Lime Rock,
including the control tower. Posey grew up just five miles from Lime Rock
Park, and was the first driver to break the one-minute mark here. That feat
was accomplished in 1967, in a McLaren he owned.

n Tire Engineer for Trans-Am Series¹ spec tire supplier BFGoodrich® Tires
Gary Blalock said Lime Rock poses unique challenges to the competitors.
Blalock brought 460 g-Force T/A® tires to Lime Rock in two dry compounds‹200
(medium) and 75 (hard)‹and a one full wet compound.

³The top teams last year were successful using hard compound left-side tires
and medium right-side tires,² said Blalock. ³The track surface is old and it
results in fast tire wear. The fast guys last year were running
hard-compound left-side tires, and we¹ll make that same recommendation this
year, unless it¹s really cold or it rains.

³The teams that have raced there before have adopted a NASCAR philosophy,
but with the idea of turning right rather than turning left,² added Blalock.
³They throw away that one lefthander. They setup the car with wedge and try
to make it want to turn right all of the time. There is therefore a lot of
abuse on the left-hand tires.²

Due to wet conditions, all teams reported using full-wet compound tires
during Monday¹s race.

n Monday¹s race marked the first full-wet race for the Trans-Am Series since
Road America in 2001.

n Due to wet conditions Monday, the race ran in a 75-minute window. The race
was originally scheduled for 66 laps, and had no time limit.

n Garrett Kletjian, a veteran of Formula 2000 cars, made his Trans-Am Series
debut this weekend at Lime Rock, along with teammate Peter Rogal.

Kletjian, driver of the No. 20 UNICCO Chevrolet Corvette, plans to compete,
along with the Trans-Am 100 at Lime Rock, in two races this season, at
Trois-Rivières and Puerto Rico, while eyeing the 2004 rookie of the year
title. In fact, Kletjian is so enamored with the Trans-Am Series; he gave up
a fully funded NASCAR Busch North ride to race with America¹s oldest
continuously running road racing series. Rogal drove the No. 36 Jaguar XKR
this weekend.

n Two Tire Warehouse Central employees, Aron Dabrowski and Kenny Conway,
were named honorary pit crew members for Monday¹s race. Dabrowski joined the
No. 7 Jaguar R Performance XKR team and driver Scott Pruett, while Conway
assisted the No. 10 Trenton Forging/GMAC Commercial Finance Chevrolet
Corvette team with driver Stu Hayner.