Shane Lewis Returns To Familiar Surroundings at Homestead

HOMESTEAD, Fla., March 25, 2004 � Shane Lewis did double duty in the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series event at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS) last month driving both a top-level Daytona Prototype class BMW and a GT class Porsche. This weekend, the popular driver from Jupiter, Florida will again make the short trip to South Florida for his final hometown race until September and he will do it in familiar surroundings. Lewis, who is the lead driver for the No. 7 Daytona Prototype in the Rolex Series and in the No. 20 Nuzzo Motorsports-Habberstad Mini MINI Cooper S in Grand-Am Cup, returns to the MINI and the 2.3-mile road course for Sunday's Grand-Am Cup 250. This is the same car that Lewis, a two-time Grand-Am Cup winner, drove to top practice times in 2003 at HMS. Lewis' familiarity with the MINI, the track, and his co-driver, Tony Nuzzo, bodes well for the team's first Grand-Am Cup Sport Touring (ST) class victory. Shane Lewis:about racing again at Homestead-Miami: "This is my home track. I have spent a lot of time lapping this place in different cars and, although it's all new this year, Homestead is still awesome. I'm warmed-up from the Rolex Series race and I am ready to go this weekend. This should be a lot of fun.”about racing the MINI Cooper S: "We didn't have the success at Daytona that we worked for. So, Tony took some big moves to make things right coming here this weekend. In fact, he made so many changes that it's almost like we are starting a new program. I do know that the program is really going to benefit from Tony's courage on these decisions. The opportunity for long-range success of this program just got a lot better. I really have to salute Tony for that. The MINI Cooper should be pretty good around this track. It was good last year. We'll be down on horsepower to some of the big boys in the class so the banking won't be the greatest for us but once we get to the infield, the MINI is just the perfect car for this track. Homestead-Miami is a great facility. It isn't all about horsepower or all about the car. It's a place where the driver can make a difference. It's a driver's track and the MINI really shines on a driver's track.”Shane Lewis has been racing since 1989 with multiple race wins in Grand-Am sanctioned events, in the IMSA Supercar and SCCA Pro Series and the Historic SportsCar Series. He has starts in ARCA stock car competition, at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and is a former Daytona Endurance Champion and Formula Ford Festival winner. He has driven in seven Rolex 24s and three 24 Hours of Le Mans- leading the race in GT class in 2003. He has two overall and one class-victory at the 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges. Lewis was honored as the 1998 Professional Sports Car Racing Rising Star award winner. Lewis also serves as a test driver and private coach. For more on Shane Lewis please see www.shanelewis.com. To learn more about Nuzzo Motorsports, please visit www.nuzzomotorsports.com. For more on the MINI Cooper S, see www.miniusa.com. ###