RICHIE STEVENS, JR. -- 22ND ANNUAL TOYO TIRES NHRA NATIONALS PREVIEW
(http://www.moparspeed.com/) (http://www.moparspeed.com/) RICHIE STEVENS, JR. DON SCHUMACHER RACING J&J RACING TEAM MOPAR/VALSPAR DODGE STRATUS R/T _WWW.RICHIESTEVENSJR.COM_ (http://www.richiestevensjr.com/) _WWW.SHOERACING.COM_ (http://www.shoeracing.com/) (http://www.moparspeed.com/) TRACK STATS… 22nd Annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals/Maple Grove Raceway * Enters this weekend’s event ranked 11th in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Series points race. * Was defeated in the first round by Jim Yates at Maple Grove Raceway in 2005. PRE-EVENT QUOTES… “I’m looking forward to racing at Maple Grove Raceway this weekend. I believe that moving our team over to work with Allen and Roy Johnson, as well as the entire J&J Racing team, is going to be a great move for us. We were able to make some runs during the Mike Hayes Southeastern Mopar Meet over the weekend, and we’ve been testing in Richmond since Monday. The runs we’ve made in the past couple of days were right on track with the other teams and I think the success that Allen’s been having can carry over to our team. Right now, our focus is to get back into the Top-10 in the point standings. If we can build our momentum up to that point it would be a great way for us to cap off the season.�?? “Working with Allen and the J&J Racing team is going to be a lot of fun. I’ ve always gotten along with Allen; I’ve known him for a long time. We actually got our pro stock licenses at the same time after going through Roy Hill’s driving school. Mark Ingersoll and Mike Gott are great guys to work with and they pay a lot of attention to detail. I think this is the best team chemistry I’ve ever worked within and it will be a good partnership to move forward with. Our goal is to have a strong finish to this year and work toward getting next season off to a great start.�?? 2006 STAT TRACKS… * Has made two semi-final round appearances in 2006. * Has made six quarterfinal and eight first round appearances. * Earned No. 1 qualifier honors at Route 66 Raceway in June. * Won/Loss Record for 2006 stands at 10/16. CAREER HIGHLIGHTS… * Has earned four career victories in NHRA POWERade Pro Stock competition. * Has made 12 semi-finals, 38 quarterfinal and 49 first round appearances to date. * Stevens, Jr., Has earned three No. 1 qualifier positions in his career. * Won/Loss record stands at 93/104 entering this weekend’s event. TV SCHEDULE… ESPN2 Schedule Sept. 16 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. Qualifying Sept. 17 7:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. Eliminations Sept. 21 3:00 a.m.-5:00 a.m. Repeat Eliminations POST-EVENT RECAP… * Post event information can be found at _www.moparspeed.com_ (http://www.moparspeed.com/) after each event. The weekly e-zine is updated each Monday with all the latest news about Team Mopar and Richie Stevens, Jr. MEDIA CONTACT… Misha Geisert J.R. Thompson Company/Mopar 317-432-4110 Cellular _MoparPR@aol.com_ (mailto:MoparPR@aol.com) AT-TRACK CONTACT… Will Truitt Don Schumacher Racing 317-340-8866 Cellular _willtruitt@earthlink.net_ (mailto:willtruitt@earthlink.net) PHOTO REQUESTS… Darren Jacobs J.R. Thompson Company/Mopar 248-553-4566 Phone _djacobs@jrthompson.com_ (mailto:djacobs@jrthompson.com)