Cindi Lux Podiums with Hard-Earned Second-Place at SCCA Runoffs in Topeka, White Forced to Pit While Leading
Cindi Lux Podiums with Hard-Earned Second-Place at SCCA Runoffs in Topeka NayKid Racing's Scotty B. White Forced to Pit While in Lead TOPEKA, Kan., October 15, 2006 - The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Touring One (T1) class race for production-based sports cars was expected to be the highlight of the National Championship Runoffs weekend here at Heartland Park Topeka (HPT). It did not disappoint. NayKid Racing's Cindi Lux (Aloha, Ore.) earned second in the event; ranking as the highest-placing NayKid Racing driver and the highest-finishing Dodge Viper SRT10. Lux started fifth driving the No. 78 KUMHO Tires/Dodge Motorsports/SRT/Nike/MOMO USA/Forgeline Viper while teammate Scotty B. White (Puyallup, Wash.) started from the pole position but would finish 17th, one lap down to winner Lance Knupp (Fenton, Mich.). White was leading in his No. 3 KUMHO Tires/Dodge Motorsports/SRT/CORSA Exhaust/Red Line Oil Viper when a left-rear tire was punctured forcing an immediate stop for new KUMHO rubber - the NayKid crew changed both rears as a precaution. In total, the Dodge Viper SRT10s of NayKid Racing led all but two laps of the event but came 1.262 seconds short of their first Runoffs victory. The tight, 2.5-mile "Grand Prix" layout of HPT set the tone for a dramatic duel to the end. Lux, who made a spectacular jump from fifth to third on the first lap, stalked and then masterfully out-braked the Ferrari of Edward Zabinski on the sixth lap to move to second. When White, who held an eight second lead at the time, was forced to stop three laps later in the 18 lap race, Lux assumed the top spot. At approximately the same time, Knupp had moved into second from his sixth-place grid position. The four-time Northern Pacific Division Champion charged lap-after-lap but watched the lighter Corvette slowly eat into her lead. On lap 16, Knupp's quickest of the event, he closed on, then edged along-side the 1999 American Le Mans Series Women's Global GT Series Champion. The two touched for the second lap in a row - this time mirror-to-mirror contact - as they rushed onto the main straightaway. Knupp took the upper hand moving past the black and neon-orange V10-powered machine and into the lead. Lux fought to regain but would be unable to rally. Lux narrowly missed becoming the first T1 class driver to ever win the prestigious SCCA "Triple Crown" for earning victories in the Kohler/Chicago Region June Sprints R at Road America, a divisional championship- Lux won her fourth-straight Northern Pacific (NorPac) Championship with six victories- and the Runoffs. None-the-less, it was her highest-ever finish at the Runoffs and matched Dodge's highest finish (White took second in 2005) with the newest iteration of the Dodge Viper SRT10. Coming into the Runoffs, NayKid Racing had won 11 of 13 races, earned 12 pole positions and set eight track records. NayKid Racing has played key roles in the event for the past several years and Saturday's winner-takes-all championship event was no different. Both Lux and White led (White laps 1-8, Lux laps 9-16) and White won the pole with a lap of one minute, 47.034 seconds to establish the Runoffs record at HPT. Lux's qualifying time of 1:48.728 assured that four of the top-five grid positions were held by Dodge's premier muscle car, the Viper SRT10. Overall, seven of the 24 cars entered in the T1 class were Vipers matched against a pair of Ferraris, one Porsche and a flood of Chevrolet Corvettes. Dodge would earn two of the podium positions and four of the top-10 spots with its SRT-tuned supercar. White set the fastest race lap in the class driving the No. 3 Viper SRT10 with a time of 1:49.818 on the fourth circuit of the event. He nearly beat that in the closing stages as he fought to get back to the front after pitting during the 35 minute race. SPEED Channel will air each event at this year's SCCA Runoffs on a tape-delay basis. Dates and times for the T1 class race are yet to be announced. Quotes: Cindi Lux: "I believe that will go down as one of the most eventful races in a long time. We had the fans on their feet the last two laps. It was a classic GM-Dodge battle. Our SRT10 Vipers were on rails this entire week and I am so proud of our NayKid Racing team. The new size for the rear KUMHO tires were the ticket. By the time I had fought and clawed my way past the other Vipers and the Ferrari, Scotty had a really large lead. I could not believe my ears when he said he had a flat tire and had to come in the pits! At the end of the race, unfortunately, my car really started to feel the negative effects of the 140 pounds of weight the rules added to us a few weeks ago. I couldn't hold off the Corvette. I gave it everything I had but just came up one lap short. Disappointed? You bet! But overall, it was a great week for Dodge, KUMHO Tire and all of our guys who worked non-stop. We did everything correct all week; pole, new track record, both drivers leading the race. It would have been so darn cool to come in one-two but it just didn't work out that way." Scotty B. White: "Was that a shame or what? We came here thinking we didn't have a prayer and then the next thing you know we are the car to beat! All I can say is the months of hard work by the NayKid gang and the Dodge Motorsports guys added to the sheer awesome engineering masterpiece of the SRT10 Viper. Altogether that really showed through on the new Viper-size KUMHOs. The problem is we are just too heavy. At 3840 pounds any small pebble could go right through any tire and that was the race. I guess that's why they call it racing instead of winning, huh?" Gary Johnson, Dodge Motorsports, Road Racing Manager: "Dodge couldn't be any prouder of NayKid Racing's effort. The race was well done from both a crew and driver standpoint. Carroll Shelby once said that in racing you don't necessarily need good luck; you just need an absence of bad luck. I think that is very appropriate this time. Cindi and Scotty didn't need any good luck; they just didn't need the bad luck to come into play. Unfortunately, they didn't get the results they were hoping for but they really put together the right race weekend. Dodge was very pleased to be a part of the NayKid Racing effort again in 2006." To learn more about NayKid Racing, please visit <http://www.naykidracing.com/> www.NayKidRacing.com. For more on Lux Performance Group, LLC please see <http://www.cindilux.com/> www.CindiLux.com. More about Dodge Motorsports can be found at <http://www.dodge.com/> www.Dodge.com. More on the exciting line of SRT products can be seen at <http://www.drivesrt.com/> www.DriveSRT.com. ### Digital images and bio available upon request. A .PDF version of this release has been attached for your convenience. Editors please do not publish any contact information other than web sites. Thank you. Contact: Tom Moore, NayKid Racing: 615-778-1614, (office), 615-509-5000 (cell), pr@naykidracing.com