Richie Stevens completes 3-day test in Team Mopar Dodge

2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series




INDIANAPOLIS (Jan. 19, 2005) - Richie Stevens Jr. today completed three days
of testing the Don Schumacher Racing Team Mopar HEMI-powered Dodge Stratus
Pro Stock car at Bradenton (Fla.) Motorsports Park.

Stevens made 12 passes in three days in his first time behind the wheel of
the Bob Glidden-tuned Dodge, with his best pass a 6.71-second ET at 205.4
mph, set on Tuesday, Jan. 18. Both Stevens and Glidden were pleased with the
results of this test, aimed primarily to get Stevens comfortable in his new
mount and to get a baseline on the clutch setup before the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series opens its 2005 season at Pomona (Calif.) Raceway on Feb.
10-13.

"It went very well," said Stevens, 26, of New Orleans. "Bob said he was more
than happy with everything we did. Luckily I fit really good in the car, and
the Team Mopar Dodge went out and went straight almost every pass.

"We ran some good numbers. Jeggie (his teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the
Jeg's Mail Order/Mopar Dodge) was right ahead of me. He went 6.70 at 206.
We're pretty evenly matched; both cars are doing fine.

"Bob was trying to get a baseline on the clutch setup in both cars. He said
he thought the disc had a bad coating so I think that kind of threw him off
a little bit the first day. We tried a new clutch setup today and that one
pass today was the best-looking run on the computer in all three days. I
think Bob might have gotten that clutch problem figured out on that run this
morning."

Stevens is eager to return to Pro Stock competition after being out of that
class since 2003. "It feels great. It feels awesome," he said. "To be out
there running and to do as well as we did these last few days feels really
good. To come out and do well right from the start is encouraging. I don't
feel like we're starting from the beginning. I feel like we've started in
the middle, if not a little further on than that.

"The other cars were running 6.69s and .70s, but Bob was telling me that the
test motor he had in there was a little down on horsepower so that made me
feel real good."

As for any additional pre-season testing: "Bob is going to go back to the
shop and tear the motors down and see what they look like and go from
there," added Stevens, four-time Pro Stock event winner. "As of now, he said
stay tuned and we'll see. Once he gets back to the shop and studies the
graphs, if he thinks we're far enough ahead, we'll just pass and go straight
to Pomona."