Jimmy Kite Returns to LORI for Second Try

by Thomas Moore

Open Wheel Vet Looking Forward to Getting Behind the Wheel of Silver Crown Car

CLERMONT, IND., July 25, 2012 – Like a love gone wrong, Jimmy Kite is returning to Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis (LORI) to try and put things right the second time around. The five-time Indianapolis 500-starter will make his fourth-start of the United States Auto Club (USAC) Traxxas Silver Crown season in the No. 25 Indy Line Stripe/Eddie Sachs Racing Beast-Chevrolet on Thursday, July 26 in the J.D. Byrider 100. It will be his second start of the year at the Clermont, Ind. .686-mile oval. In May, Kite suffered an overheating-engine and was forced to park the white and red machine. The 100-lap USAC Silver Crown race is part of the bigger “Rich Vogler Classic” night of competition at the celebrated facility.

Kite, who lives in Indianapolis but holds strong-ties to his Stockbridge, Ga. home, had hoped to challenge for the 2012 Silver Crown Championship entering both the pavement and dirt races with the Eddie Sachs, Jr.-owned team. Unfortunately, multiple fuel-related issues hampered early season races – including the May season-opener here at LORI – and forced Kite to miss a round. The team will now focus on race-by-race results with hopes of overcoming the engine temperature issues that have resulted from the fuel issues.

Gates open for the “Rich Vogler Classic” at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on Thursday. Silver Crown practice begins at 4 p.m., qualifying at 5:20 p.m. Kite and the other Silver Crown drivers will be introduced at 9 p.m. with the 100-lap feature event scheduled for a 9:15 p.m. start. Racing fans in town for the extensive motorsports happenings around the Indianapolis-area will also get to enjoy USAC Midget and CRA late model stock cars on Thursday evening.

Indy Line Stripe is a pavement maintenance leader in Indiana and surrounding states. The Indianapolis-based company is owned by Kite, fellow racer Geoff Dodge and Curt Shuttleworth. For more, visit: www.IndyLineStripe.com .

Quotes

Jimmy Kite:

On returning to LORI: "It's always fun to race at LORI. Since I first started running USAC, Brickyard [400] weekend has always been one of the big races you wanted to run really well at! That definitely hasn't changed! I am ready to go out to race the Indy Line Stripe/Eddie Sachs Racing No. 25 as hard as ever.”

On preparation of the No. 25: "Hopefully, we have our cooling situation figured out so we can run the whole distance. The first three races were pretty frustrating. I want to thank Steve MacPherson for all his work the last couple of weeks. He has been doing all the legwork on getting the Eddie Sachs Racing machine ready to race this week including getting the new motor swapped over. He gave me my very first Silver Crown ride back in 1994 and has had my back a lot of times since. That gives me a really good feeling going into the race.”

Jimmy Kite can be found on Facebook at Jimmy Kite * and on Twitter at * @JimmyKite

For more on the “Rich Vogler Classic”, please visit: www.LucasOilRaceway.com .

To learn more about the USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Championship and follow live video, timing and scoring of the sessions please see: www.usacracing.com/pitpass .

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