Pruett Leads the Charge in Independence Day Battle at Cleveland

CLEVELAND ‹ Two veterans and a young up and comer dominated Friday¹s
Trans-Am on the Tarmac, Round 6 of the 2003 Trans-Am for the BFGoodrich®
Tires Cup Championship, at Burke Lakefront Airport. At the head of the pack
was Scott Pruett, who¹s dominating performance was only matched by the
consistent efforts of runner-up finisher and rookie sensation Jorge Diaz,
and veteran Max Lagod.

Paul Gentilozzi, who finished a provisional second, was placed fourth after
the race. Gentilozzi, driver of the No. 3 Jaguar R Performance XKR, was
penalized two positions for violating Trans-Am Series Rule 1.8.13:
³Unjustifiable Risk.² The penalty was assessed due to incidents during the
race, which involved Michael Lewis (No. 12 Westward Tools/The Crank Jaguar
XKR) and Bobby Sak (No. 10 Revolution Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette).

Pruett simply turned in a dominating performance Friday. The driver of the
No. 7 Jaguar R Performance XKR lead all 48 laps of the race from the pole,
set the fastest race lap (1:13.475), earned his fourth victory of the
season, and retained the lead in the Drivers¹ Championship. In the process,
Pruett won the BFGoodrich® Tires Take Control Award for leading the most
laps and the $2,000 Flowmaster American Thunder Challenge Award.
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Pruett took the lead at the start, and was never seriously challenged in the
event. However, his victory was anything but easy, as his team owner, and
three-time Trans-Am Series champion Paul Gentilozzi was closing quickly late
in the event.

³It¹s been a great weekend,² said Pruett, who also won his fifth Jaguar Pole
this season on Thursday. ³I¹ve always loved Cleveland. It¹s a great track.
You can be aggressive, challenging, let it all hang out here, you can do
some pretty wild moves and the track will give. Here, you don¹t have to
worry about hitting the wall.

³This is a pretty special place because it is the one and only road course
where you can come as a fan and watch the whole track,² added the two-time
Trans-Am Series champion. ³For me, it¹s been just a great weekend. I ran
good and hard. Toward the end, I was sliding around a little bit and the car
had developed a bit of a miss. I saw Paul coming back there. He was running
hard. I¹m glad we were able to hold him off.²

Diaz¹s second-place finish is the best of his young career. Interestingly,
his best finish prior to this season‹11th‹came here in his first Trans-Am
Series start in 2002.

³Back home, it¹s always hot, and I¹m used to racing in the heat,² said Diaz,
referring to the hot and humid conditions on race day. ³But, my helmet
cooler failed five laps into the race. At that point, I couldn¹t wait for
the race to be over.

³It was just a fun race,² added Diaz. ³It wasn¹t easy to get around,
especially on that last restart. I thought I had the car to beat, and it
worked out. I wish all of the tracks we visit were new to me. I like it
better when I¹m racing it for the first time, because I have no
expectations. I was a little bit upset about qualifying, but I¹m just happy
about the raceŠand the race is all that counts.²

For Lagod, the third-place finish was the second podium of his career. Lagod
finished second at Reno in 1997. Lagod is the owner/driver of the No. 83
Hypermax Engineering Chevrolet Camaro. Lagod was the only driver who elected
to run BFGoodrich® Tires¹ harder (75) compound tire.

³I caught up in the first turn, and I didn¹t think there was a corner on my
car that wasn¹t broken,² said Lagod. ³But that fired me up and got me going.
We worked our way back.

³We¹ve never really had a really good car here,² added Lagod. ³So, based on
my past experience here, we chose to go a different direction with the setup
and run the harder compound tires. Harder tires allow you to use up the car,
without hurting the tires. On the restarts, it was all we could do to hold
position. However, the tires came back in a couple of laps, and gave us a
podium finish.²

Stu Hayner¹s fifth-place finish was especially significant, considering he
did it without a passenger side door on his No. 2 Trenton Forging/GMAC
Commercial Finance Chevrolet Corvette. Hayner had to pit early to fix the
damage, recovered from being one lap down and scored the top five.

³It was a pretty physical race,² said Hayner. ³I¹m not sure what happened to
the door. We came in, and went a lap down. But the crew had the car dialed
in. I really thought we had the best car on the track.²
The race ran in one hour, 15 minutes and 44 seconds, at an average speed of
92.274 miles per hour. The race was slowed by the caution flag twice‹both
times for debris‹for a total of five laps.

Notebook:
*Scott Pruett¹s and Johnny Miller¹s quest for the 2003 Trans-Am Series for
the BFGoodrich<SUP>®</SUP> Tires Cup Drivers¹ Championship continued on
Thursday at Burke Lakefront Airport as they earned the top-two starting
positions for Friday¹s Trans-Am on the Tarmac race. For Pruett, the
one-minute, and 13.145-second effort earned the driver of the No. 7 Jaguar R
Performance XKR his fifth pole this season. Miller, driver of the No. 64
Eaton Cutler-Hammer Jaguar XKR, qualified second, his third top-three
qualifying performance this season.

*Pruett earned the Jaguar Pole Award, a performance-based initiative that
rewards drivers who win the pole at each of the Trans-Am Series¹ events this
season. Polesitters will receive a key‹regardless of what type of car they
race‹which, at the culmination of the season, they will use to attempt to
open the door to a 2004 Jaguar XK8, during a formal ceremony. The driver
whose key opens the vehicle will win a one-year lease on the car.

*Stu Hayner (No. 2 Trenton Forging/GMAC Commercial Finance Chevrolet
Corvette) was third quickest, ahead of Michael Lewis (No. 12 Westward
Tools/The Crank Jaguar XKR) and Paul Gentilozzi (No. 3 Jaguar R Performance
XKR).

*Pruett¹s pole on Thursday was his second at Burke Lakefront Airport. Pruett
is now tied with Paul Gentilozzi and Tommy Kendall for record poles here. It
was also Pruett¹s 25th career pole, tying him with Scott Sharp for third on
the all-time list.

*Unfortunately, Hayner¹s time was disallowed as his team elected to make an
engine change after qualifying. Hayner was cited under rule 1.7.10.1 in the
Trans-Am Series Rulebook: ³ŠIf a driver changes engines after qualifying,
the driver must forfeit his starting position and start at the back of the
grid. The entire grid moves up, filling the vacant positionsŠ²

*Miller was delighted to learn recently that NASCAR Winston Cup team
Morgan-McClure Motorsports has invited him back to compete with the team.
Miller is scheduled to race at the Winston Cup race at Watkins Glen
International Aug. 10 in the No. 4 Kodak Pontiac Grand Prix.

*Pruett tried his hand at another career Wednesday night in Lake County,
Ohio, about 15 minutes from Cleveland. The two-time Trans-Am Series
champion, who has also competed in the Champ Car World Series and in NASCAR,
threw out the first pitch for a Lake County Captains game. The Captains are
the Single A affiliate for Major League Baseball¹s Cleveland Indians. Pruett
also took warm-ups with the team, and signed autographs.

*Michael Lewis (No. 12 Westward Tools/The Crank Jaguar XKR) and Tomy Drissi
(No. 5 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Jaguar XKR) came to Cleveland with
plenty of seat time under their belts. The California duo went straight from
competing at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma Calif. two weeks ago to Road
Atlanta, where the two teamed up to finish 12th overall, and sixth in class
in the American Le Mans Series event. They co-drove a Riley & Scott Mk. IIIC
Lincoln Le Mans Prototype 900 class car in that event.

*Newbury, Ohio native Tom Sloe will compete in his first Trans-Am Series for
the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup event of 2003 tomorrow, during the Trans-Am on the
Tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport. Sloe, who has made four career Trans-Am
Series starts, will compete in the No. 56 kidprintID.com/preowned cars.net
Chevrolet Corvette. As part of the sponsorship agreement, Total ID
Solutions, Inc. will offer free kidprint ID cards, completed with a child¹s
photo and fingerprint. Children can be photographed for the cards at near
the Sloe Motorsports transporter in the paddock from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Friday. Sloe, who was born in Cleveland, regularly competes in SCCA¹s GT-1
ranks. Sloe most recently placed third in the SCCA Chicago Region June
Sprints event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

*Many teams were burning the midnight oil Thursday night, making final
preparations and, in one case, major repairs. John Baucom (No. 86 Bully Dog
Technologies Jaguar XKR) and his team were busy repairing damage suffered
after contact with Glenn Andrew (No. 9 Tri-American Motorsports Chevrolet
Camaro) in yesterday¹s qualifying session. Meanwhile, rookie Joey Scarallo¹s
team was busy repairing rear-end damage on his No. 06 ROH Wheels Chevrolet
Corvette, which was resulted from a failed heim joint on the third-link
assembly. Finally, Munroe Falls, Ohio-native Bob Ruman was here late,
repairing a failed suspension component.

*Scarallo suffered a catastrophic power steering failure during final
practice today. The rookie driver was able to get the steering system to
operate, but will start the race with no power steering.

*Craig Shafer (No. 39 Somerset Door and Column Chevrolet Corvette) continued
a streak here. By making his first Trans-Am Series start this year, Shafer
continued a string during which he¹s made at least one Trans-Am start in the
last 23 years.

*To honor and celebrate Independence Day, the cars of Revolution Motorsports
featured a custom Stars & Stripes graphic theme for the Cleveland event. In
addition, the No. 2 car (Hayner) carried the Trenton Forging and GMAC
Commercial Finance colors while the No. 10 car (Sak) featured PR Machine and
GMAC Commercial Finance markings.

*Two teams‹The No. 75 Cowen Truck Lines Ford Mustang of Tim Cowen and the
No. 3 Jaguar XKR of Paul Gentilozzi‹took part in the ³Trans-Am Revealed²
session yesterday afternoon at Burke Lakefront Airport. Through the
³Trans-Am Revealed² program, teams selected by Technical Director David King
are required to remove all body panels from their cars prior to the race to
allow other teams and the Trans-Am Series technical team to inspect the
cars¹ chassis. The object of the program is to remove any secrecy, regarding
design as it relates to chassis and hardware configurations.

*Max Lagod (No. 83 Hypermax Chevrolet Camaro) was the only driver in
Friday¹s field running BFGoodrich Tires¹ 75 (hard) compound on his car.
Lagod ran the harder compound tires on both rear wheels. Every other team in
the field elected to compete on the 200 (medium) compound in Friday¹s race.