Dunlop Drivers Cup - 'Driving Decathlon' - Goes Hollywood

AKRON, Ohio, April 5 -- Completing 1,800 grueling miles and 10 nerve-wracking competitive stages in seven days, 36 international competitors drove 18 Dunlop-stickered Nissan 350Z sports cars down Hollywood Boulevard with a police escort, leaving no question that Dunlop Drivers Cup "had arrived in America."

The amateur driving competition - a household name in Europe - finished its U.S. expedition on a high note. Drivers Cup, in its eighth year, likely will return to its roots in next year's finals, and Dunlop USA said it will participate.

At the finish line, two Germans led the celebration of driving in a come- from-behind win over a Netherlands team. Two U.S. teams, competing for the first time, placed a respectable eighth and 14th.

Janice Consolacion, brand planning manager for Dunlop in North America, said the European amateur drivers challenge has been called an Ironman, a Survivor of sorts, except "we never vote anyone off the island. Maybe it's more accurate to look at it as a decathlon of driving. It was fun, but challenging."

Starting in San Diego, the convoy of Nissan 350Z sports cars headed to Borrego Springs for a race on all-terrain vehicles, and then across Death Valley. While most stages tested driver skills, blindfolded Albert Andrade, a tire dealer branch manager from Rialto, Calif., won the sixth event - a unique "blind" off-road course that stressed teamwork - with help from teammate Wallace Hattenhauer, a telecommunications engineer from Little Rock, Ark.

At the next stage, the other U.S. team - Jim McCauley, a tire dealer store manager from Las Vegas, and Bradley Sutika, a marketing executive from Detroit - topped all others in dune buggies at the sand dunes of Pismo Beach.

But it was the Germans and the Dutch who mastered the 10-stage event, which included mountain biking, police car chases and racing events at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

Swen Dolenc, a German car salesman, and Holger Richter, a German businessman, edged a Dutch team, Tjidde-Derk Boers, a project manager from Amsterdam, and Hans van Dijk, a patrol car driver from De Zilk, Netherlands. A team from Austria came in third.

Consolacion said she was encouraged by the debut of Dunlop USA's two teams. "The competition received such an enthusiastic response everywhere we visited, and we feel certain we can duplicate Europe's success here. It's a cool event that pits amateur drivers from all walks of life and lets them share their passion for driving."

In Germany, 25,000 enthusiasts applied last year to compete in Drivers Cup. Thousands more applied in Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United States. Consolacion said she would like to see more U.S. competitors apply at Dunlop brand's website.

"Drivers Cup's following will grow, and it will show that Dunlop is the choice for auto enthusiasts who share our passion for all forms of driving. Dunlop Drivers Cup can be that avenue," she said.

And it doesn't just have to happen at the gala finale in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. "Onlookers gathered to cheer on the competitors, and the Europeans were equally taken by the mystique of Hollywood. The looks on their faces were of awe when they were greeted by Darth Vader, Elvis and Marilyn Monroe at the finish line."

Dunlop officials in Europe originally started Drivers Cup to showcase Dunlop's racing heritage and its broad range of passenger, truck, motorcycle and all-terrain-vehicle tire lines. For more on Dunlop Drivers Cup and how to apply for the U.S. Regionals in September 2006, go to http://www.dunloptires.com/driverscup.