VOLKSWAGEN TO HOST TWO GUEST DRIVERS THIS WEEKEND AT ROAD
AMERICA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
* Series photos available upon request or via media.vw.com
CONTACT: Jeremy Riffle
(310) 210-1336
jeremyriffle@sbcglobal.net
VOLKSWAGEN TO HOST TWO
GUEST DRIVERS THIS WEEKEND AT ROAD AMERICA
--
Pair of Drivers Comes From Opposite Sides of Racing Spectrum
HERNDON, Va. (August 18, 2010) Volkswagen of America, Inc. has announced
that two guest drivers will participate in this weekendıs Jetta TDI Cup
action at Road America. While both come to the Series with backgrounds in
racing, their experience in the industry is very different.
On Saturday afternoon, racing phenom Cooper MacNeil and broadcasting veteran
Ralph Sheheen will bump up the field from 25 to 27 as they compete in Round
Seven of the 2010 Jetta TDI Cup. MacNeil, just shy of his eighteenth
birthday, is one of auto racingıs newest success stories, and he currently
competes as a SCCA Nationally licensed Touring 2 driver. Sheheen also has
experience in racing, but itıs on the other side of the camera; as heıs
covered virtually every form of competition that the sport has to offer as a
broadcaster.
While these two guest drivers may come from different corners of the racing
world, the one thing they have in common is their love of speed; which will
certainly make for an interesting weekend as they square off against the
Jetta TDI Cup field on the historic circuit at Road America. Both guests
will participate in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup race on Saturday, as well
as take part in all on and off-track events, including practice and
qualifying. MacNeil will be participating throughout the entire weekend and
will also compete on Sunday in Round Eight of the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup.
While theyıll be full participants, they will be ineligible for points or
prize money. Full-time series participants will move up the final race
results accordingly.
³Iım looking forward to seeing our guest drivers compete in the TDI Cup this
weekend,² said Clark Campbell, Motorsports Manager, Volkswagen of America,
Inc. ³One of our drivers is just beginning his career and it will certainly
be interesting to see how he does in a Jetta TDI Cup car. In addition Ralph
(Sheheen) has been covering motorsports for two decades, so I think his
experience will definitely pay off on this challenging road course.²
About the Guest Drivers:
Cooper MacNeil:
MacNeil began his racing career just months after his 16th birthday in
September 2008 by attending a Bob Bondurant racing school and heıs only
picking up speed. In just two years as a professional driver, he has
participated in 45 races in a number of series including SCCA, NASA,
Grand-Am and German VLN.
In 2009, MacNeil began competing in SCCA Club racing, where he first started
in Regionals, but would quickly go on to get his National license later that
year. He qualified for SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road America in
Touring 3, where he qualified tenth and finished sixth. MacNeil also
competed in the 2009 NASA Thunderhill 25 Hour Race with his father, David
MacNeil and his mentor Randy Pobst; in which they placed seventh in class
and 24th overall.
In 2010, MacNeil began competing in Touring 2 and to date, has earned five
wins in seven events. In addition, heıs set Touring 2 track records at
Sebring and Blackhawk Farms and he earned a second-place finish in Touring 2
at SCCAıs largest annual club race, the Chicago Region June Sprints at Road
America. MacNeil also competed in German VLN this season, where he finished
eighth in class at the Nurburgring 6-Hour and finished 61st overall out of
199 starters.
Ralph Sheheen:
The native of Sacramento, CA. has been broadcasting motorsports on national
television for over 20 years. As a nationally recognized broadcaster he has
covered everything from Swamp Buggies to Formula One and from Supercross to
Moto G-P. During his lengthy career Ralph has held microphones for a wide
variety of major television networks including TNN, Prime Network, Sports
Channel America, TBS, Fox Sports South, NHK, TNT Sports, SPEED Channel, FOX,
NBC and CBS.
Sheheenıs on air experience has not been limited to just television, having
also worked on the biggest racing radio networks in the country PRN, MRN and
the Indy Radio Network. He has also spent many hours broadcasting races over
the PA at many of the worldıs most famous tracks including the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
and Infineon Raceway to name a few.
Some of the broadcasting highlights for Ralph include being the Play-by-Play
host for the first ever live broadcasts of such major events as the NHRAıs
U.S. Nationals, the World of Outlaws Knoxville Nationals, and the AMAıs
Supercross Series. Sheheen was also a part of the CBS Sports broadcast crew
for one of the biggest days in the history of NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Sr.ıs
victory in the famed Daytona 500.
He has also spent time behind the camera as the owner of a television
production company. His companies RBJ Productions and Chrome Flame
Productions have produced motorsports coverage for such networks as ESPN and
SPEED Channel.
Follow the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Series action on:
www.vwmotorsportusa.com
Volkswagen Online Newsroom: media.vw.com
Live Timing & Scoring: http://livetiming.net/scca/VW
Live Timing & Scoring for your Mobile Device:
http://livetiming.net/SCCA/VW/html.asp
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/JettaTDICup
Twitter: http://twitter.com/VWJettaTDICup
About the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup
The SCCA Pro Racing Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup was launched in 2008 as way to
introduce clean diesel technology to the U.S. market and develop the best of
motorsportıs up-and-coming talent. During the season, young, up and coming
drivers (between ages 16-26) compete on road courses around North America in
identical factory-prepared clean diesel powered Jetta TDIıs. Each driver
competing in the Series earns a professional racing license from SCCA Pro
Racing at the conclusion of the season. In addition to more than $50,000 in
prize money at stake during the season, the Series Champion receives
Volkswagen factory career advancement support with a value up to $100,000.
The Jetta TDI Cup car is powered by a 2.0-liter, 170 hp, four-cylinder TDI
clean diesel engine mated to a six-speed, double-clutch, automatic DSG
transmission. The car is only slightly modified from stock with Pirelli
racing tires, an on-board Race Data system, race suspension and brake
components, drivers racing safety seat, FIA roll cage and an on-board fire
extinguisher system. Series sponsors include: Pirelli, Bosch, ViON,
Castrol, Oakley, Red Bull, Staubli, Aggreko, defNder, Lamin-X, Volkswagen
Driver Gear, Volkswagen Parts & Service, iRacing, Safety-Kleen and Ringer
Gloves.
About Volkswagen of America
Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon,
Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg,
Germany. Volkswagen is one of the worldıs largest producers of passenger
cars and Europeıs largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Golf, GTI, New
Beetle, New Beetle convertible, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Eos, Passat, Passat
Wagon, CC, Tiguan, Touareg and Routan through approximately 600 independent
U.S. dealers. All 2010 Volkswagens come standard-equipped with Electronic
Stabilization Program. This is important because the National Highway and
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has called ESC the most effective new
vehicle safety technology since the safety belt. Visit Volkswagen of America
online at www.vw.com or www.media.vw.com to learn more.
About SCCA Pro Racing:
A wholly owned subsidiary of Sports Car Club of America, Inc., SCCA Pro
Racing Inc. is a leading sanctioning body for motorsports events in the
United States. A member of the Automobile Competition Committee of the
United States (ACCUS), SCCA Pro Racing operates and sanctions the World
Challenge Championships, the SCCA Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup, SCCA Volkswagen
Jetta TDI Cup, SCCA Pro Trans-Am Series, Spec Racer Ford Pro Series and
Formula Enterprises Pro Series. For more information, please visit
www.sccapro.com.
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