JIMMY KITE READY TO MAKE CHARGE ON RICHMOND AND PIKES PEAK

JIMMY KITE READY TO MAKE CHARGE ON RICHMOND AND PIKES PEAK
 
STOCKBRIDGE, Ga., June 25, 2003 - Jimmy Kite will return to the cockpit
of the #5 Westcon Elevator/Westcon Racing Bloomer Engines-Beast this
week with back-to-back races in the United States Auto Club (USAC) Weld
Racing Silver Crown Series. The 27-year old driver will be making his
second start of the season for the Ohio-based race team on Saturday,
June 28, at Richmond International Raceway (RIR). Following the Richmond
race, the series leaves Virginia to celebrate Independence Day with the
USAC Rocky Mountain Classic at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR)
in Fountain, Colo. on the 4th of July. Adding to Kite's schedule, he
will also attempt to race a winged-sprint car in Benton, Mo. on July 5.
 
The three-quarters of a mile Richmond oval plays host to the third
pavement race of the 2003 Silver Crown season, the one-mile PPIR track,
the fourth. The Stockbridge, Georgia driver missed the last paved race,
at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP), when rain forced its postponement to
the Thursday prior to the start of his fourth Indianapolis 500. Focusing
on the "500", Kite asked to step out of the red and yellow machine. In
support of Kite, the Ron and Kevin Bloomstran-owned race team opted to
skip the event and prepare for Kite's return at RIR. Kite went on to
finish the Indy 500 13th for PDM Racing.
 
"I am really excited about going back to Richmond," offered Kite while
racing at Missouri's Auto Tire and Parts NAPA Racepark for 'Jimmy Kite
Night' on June 21. "Every time we go out in the Westcon car we make
progress. We just keep getting better and better. We were one of the
fastest cars on the track at Phoenix until damage from a car spinning
right in front of me overheated the engine. So, I know we have the car
this year. We raced at both Richmond and Pikes Peak last year so we are
going back to tracks we have run well on together. I'm really looking
forward to the next week or so." 
 
The back-to-back schedule and diverse track layouts put added stress on
the teams and Kite doesn't see that as a difficult challenge to
overcome. "The Westcon team had a few months off and then 'bam' we get
hit with two races in less than a week. Both Richmond and Pikes Peak are
fast tracks and we'll actually run pretty close set-ups on each. We may
even run the same shocks and springs. The biggest thing is the altitude
difference. We'll be going from sea-level to over 6,000 feet and that
makes it tough on the engines. But we learned a lot last year so I know
the Bloomer Engine guys have that figured out. The other thing is you
won't have much time to work on the car. So, you have to try and keep it
from getting bent at Richmond. With just a little bit of luck we can win
these races. The team and the car are that good."
 
The 100-mile Richmond race is scheduled to take the green flag at 5:30
pm (EDT). The race will be broadcast that evening on tape delay at 8 pm
(EDT) on the SPEED Channel. The July 4th hundred-lapper at PPIR will
start at 5:30 pm (MT) and will be broadcast on July 26th at 10 pm (EDT).
 
Kite began his career racing quarter-midgets at the age of eight and
worked his way up through mini-sprints, USAC midgets, sprint cars and
Silver Crown cars to the Indy Racing League. He is a five-time national
champion in various open-wheel series with countless victories. He has a
career total of 23 Indy Racing IndyCar Series event starts and
$1,505,565 in career IRL earnings. He has raced four times in the
Indianapolis 500.
 
For more on Jimmy Kite, please visit www.jimmykitefans.com. To learn
more about Westcon Racing and the team's 2003 USAC Silver Crown campaign
with Jimmy Kite, visit www.westconracing.com.