Fire Ends Shane Lewis/ MINI Homestead Dominance

 
HOMESTEAD, Fla., March 28, 2004 - Shane Lewis, who yesterday controlled
Sport Touring (ST) class qualifying for today's Grand-Am Cup 250 here at
Homestead-Miami Speedway, dominated the early going of the three-hour
Grand-Am Cup event with his No. 20 Nuzzo Motorsports MINI Cooper S. The
Jupiter, Fla. resident, who set a new class track qualifying record in
time trials, quickly pulled away from his ST competitors in the opening
laps of the event before a yet-to-be determined electrical problem
started a fire under the neon blue MINI Cooper S. Lewis continued to
improve on his lead as multi-colored smoke filtered into the cockpit. An
early full course caution allowed the Nuzzo Motorsports' team to inspect
the car and send Lewis back out. Despite having fallen out of the lead
with the stop, Lewis was quickly closing on the class leaders when the
fire burned through the gearbox shift linkage ending his day 21st in
class. 
 
Shane Lewis will compete in the next Grand-Am Cup event at Phoenix
International Raceway on Saturday, April 10. He will follow that morning
race with a night event in the Grand American Rolex Series No. 7
Southard Motorsports/ PAP Parts BMW FABCAR in the Daytona Prototype
class.
 
Shane Lewis:
about the race: "We had the car. The Nuzzo MINI was just awesome out
there all weekend. We had all the pieces together. Once we got the full
course yellow, I brought the car in and the guys made sure nothing was
on fire. I just asked them not to lose us a lap and I would get back
into the lead. They did their part and I had the leaders back in sight
when the gearbox went. We would have had them I know. On one hand it is
unbelievably disappointing to fall out after dominating like we were
but, on the other hand, we know we have a great car with this MINI
Cooper S.  We should have a good car in Phoenix but we had THE car
here." 
 
about the fire: "If I'm leading, unless my suit is on fire, I'm not
pulling in. I wasn't too worried about it really. The car was filling up
with colors of smoke I had never seen before. If I hadn't been working
so hard, I guess it would have been kind of pretty. But, there weren't
really any flames; so I wasn't too worried."
 
Shane Lewis has been racing since 1989 with multiple race wins in
Grand-Am sanctioned events, in the IMSA Supercar and SCCA Pro Series and
the Historic SportsCar Series. He has starts in ARCA stock car
competition, at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and is a former Daytona
Endurance Champion and Formula Ford Festival winner. He has driven in
seven Rolex 24s and three 24 Hours of Le Mans- leading the race in GT
class in 2003. He has two overall and one class-victory at the 24 Hours
of Nelson Ledges. Lewis was honored as the 1998 Professional Sports Car
Racing Rising Star award winner. Lewis also serves as a test driver and
private coach. In 2004, Lewis is the lead driver of the No. 7 Southard
Motorsports/ PAP Parts BMW FABCAR in the Grand American Rolex Series. 
 
For more on Shane Lewis please see www.shanelewis.com. To learn more
about Nuzzo Motorsports, please visit www.nuzzomotorsports.com. For more
on the MINI Cooper S, see www.miniusa.com.