Jimmy Kite Goes Old School At Milwaukee Mile

WEST ALLIS, Wisc., July 19, 2005 � Jimmy Kite (Stockbridge, Ga.) is an “old school” driver in a world of specialization and formula car-only pilots. This weekend at the famous “Milwaukee Mile” Kite will again prove that racing is what matters to the driver of the Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing IndyCar Series No. 91. Not only will Kite race the Ethanol/ Life Fitness Dallara-Toyota in Sunday's ABC Supply Co./ AJ Foyt 225 IndyCar event but he will supplement his time driving the No. 5 Westcon Elevators/ Westcon Racing Bloomer Engines Beast in the United States Auto Club (USAC) 100 lap Silver Crown Series feature. It will be Kite's second Silver Crown event of the year following the season-opening Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) where he finished seventh. Kite is making his sixth IndyCar start of the year since replacing injured driver Paul Dana (St. Louis) at the Indianapolis 500. Milwaukee's one-mile track is the oldest motorsports facility still operating in the world. The track, which dates to 1903- six years prior to the first event held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway- is an ideal setting for Kite to demonstrate the heritage of American open wheel racing. The IndyCar Series draws its roots from the Weld Racing Silver Crown Series that was once the training ground for up-and-coming superstars of open wheel racing. Today, Kite- the 1997 Silver Crown Rookie of the Year- is one of only three drivers entered in Sunday's race to have ever competed in a Silver Crown car. Only one other, AJ Foyt IV, will attempt this two-race weekend with Kite. While the modern IndyCar, that will lap the flat Milwaukee track in less than 22 seconds, derives its existence from the same 1950s Roadsters that the front-engined Silver Crown car does, the two open wheel cars share little in common. In fact, the USAC “Champ car”, as it is commonly called, is more closely tied to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck that Kite will race next at Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 4th than the Ethanol Hemelgarn car.Kite made history earlier this season becoming the only driver to ever race both an IndyCar and NASCAR-sanctioned event at the same track on the same weekend. Competing in both the No. 06 MRD Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the Ron Hemelgarn (Toledo, Oh.)-owned IndyCar at Texas Motor Speedway in June and then Kansas Speedway in July, Kite proved his ability to race two dramatically different types of vehicles. Saturday's 100-lap USAC show will start at 4:30 PM (CDT) while the 225 mile IndyCar feature can be seen on ESPN at 2:30 (EDT) on Sunday, July 24th. Jimmy Kite: “I'm looking forward to Milwaukee. The track is unique and we think we've found a very good flat track setup for the Ethanol-Hemelgarn Toyota. I've never driven an IndyCar at Milwaukee before but it's a flat track and that means handling is important. We've been working hard at getting the car better and we're getting there. I'm also really looking forward to getting back into the Westcon car for the first time since running seventh at Phoenix. Kevin (Bloomstran, team manager/ co-owner) and the guys have really been working on horsepower. Match that with the setup we had at Phoenix and we should be good there. It'll be another busy weekend but that gives me a few more laps on the track. That will help as we don't get to do much testing and I've only driven there once before; last year in the Westcon car. I'm really excited about the next couple of weeks. We have some great tracks coming up in the MRD Truck, the Westcon car and the Ethanol IndyCar. It should be a lot of fun.”To learn more about Jimmy Kite, please visit www.JimmyKite.com. For the Jimmy Kite Fan Club, log-on to www.JimmyKiteFans.com. To keep in touch with Jimmy and the MRD Motorsports Team go to www.TeamMRD.com. For more on Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing, please see www.HemelgarnRacing.com. Westcon Racing can be found at www.WestconRacing.com. ###