Jimmy Kite Racing For Grandfather At Nazareth

STOCKBRIDGE, Ga., August 20, 2003 - Jimmy Kite, of Stockbridge, Georgia,
is eager to get to Nazareth (PA) Speedway for Sunday's 100 lap United
States Auto Club (USAC) Silver Crown Series pavement finale. The young
Georgian will be racing in the memory of his 'Grandpa Duck', his
mother's father, who passed away on Monday. The event, though always
important to Kite, takes on an even greater meaning now as he dedicates
his effort in the #5 Westcon Elevator/Westcon Racing Bloomer
Engines-powered Beast chassis to his grandfather. 
 
"We lost my Grandpa Duck this week and that is definitely on my mind,"
related Kite. "He has always been a big part of my racing and, even
though I have a pretty big empty space right now, I know he'd want us to
go out and run Nazareth. I'm racing for him and my family, especially my
Mom, this weekend."
 
In the four Silver Crown races that the strong Kite-Westcon pairing has
competed in this season, the effort has performed well but has not
gotten the anticipated results. Following an extensive test prior to the
Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) round of the series, Kite and team
co-owner Kevin Bloomstran- who owns Westcon Racing with his father, Ron-
decided to change chassis. The "yellow" car- named for its yellow frame-
was extremely quick at IRP but dropped a valve prior to qualifying. The
problem slowly robbed the car of horsepower and Kite would finish a
disappointing 22nd in the feature event. However, the chassis change
proved to be the correct choice buoying hopes for Sunday's race at the
one-mile oval.
 
 "We've had good cars in practice, qualifying and the start of the race
all year," continued Kite. "But, when we'd get to the midpoint of the
race the car would, out of nowhere, go loose on us. We had been trying
all year to figure out what the problem was. We proved that the chassis
change really helped us at IRP. The car was awesome all race but just
kept losing power. We actually sucked a valve through the engine and it
was sitting on top of the throttle body after the race. So to be able to
do that, and still run, shows how good Bloomer builds an engine. I'm
hoping all of the back luck is behind us and we can have a good showing
at Nazareth. It's good to be back racing with the IndyCar guys again.
I'm eager to get out there. It's time to put Westcon Racing into victory
lane and time to get me back into a Silver Crown winner's circle. It's
too bad the season is just about over. We really need to get more
pavement races on the Silver Crown schedule."
 
Sunday's race at Nazareth Raceway will be televised on the PEE
Channel, August 30th at 10:00 pm (EDT).