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FOR RELEASE: April 25, 2003

CONTACT(S):
Jennifer Chestnut, GM Racing
(317) 843-5215
jnchestnut@cs.com

2002 GM Sport Compact Drag Racing Season Review

  • Debuted Bothwell Motorsports, Ecotec powered, front-wheel-drive Pontiac Sunfire and Chevrolet Cavalier into NHRA and IDRC Sport Compact Drag Racing.
  • Marty Ladwig (San Antonio, Texas) pilots the Pontiac Sunfire and Nelson Hoyos (West Palm Beach, Fla.) pilots the Chevrolet Cavalier.
  • Matt Hartford (Glendale, Ariz.) and John Lingenfelter (Decatur, Ind.) pilot Ecotec powered rear-wheel drive Chevrolet Cavaliers.

Pontiac Sunfire - Marty Ladwig

Hot Rod Class - NHRA
Quick 16 Class - IDRC
18-10 for the year
Points Finish - 5th

  • Won the supercomp class in the bracket category at the IDRC Advanced Clutch Technology West Coast Nationals in Palmdale, Calif., - first win in sport compact drag racing.
  • Runner Up at Sonoma and Pomona.
  • Ran career best speed at Sonoma of 161.25 mph.
  • Ran career best elapsed time at Englishtown of 8.789 seconds.
  • Debuted '03 Sunfire at Reading.

Chevrolet Cavalier - Nelson Hoyos

Modified Class - NHRA
Outlaw Class - IDRC
9-9 for the year
Points Finish - 3rd

  • Ran a career best speed of 182.92 mph in Englishtown to become the second fastest front-wheel-drive car.
  • Runner Up in Englishtown, Houston, Dallas and Woodburn.
  • Ran career best elapsed time at Pomona of 8.386 seconds.
  • Ran in quickest side-by-side FWD race at Dallas in the final round against Stephan Papadakis. (8.412 to 8.415).

Rear-Wheel Drive Chevrolet Cavalier - Matt Hartford

Modified Class - NHRA
11-2 for the year
Points Finish - 1st

  • NHRA Modified Champion.
  • Competed in only the last five NHRA races (of 10 total) of the season in Cavalier.
  • Won at Woodburn, Sonoma and Englishtown.
  • Runner Up at Pomona.
  • No. 1 qualifier at Woodburn.
  • Ran career best elapsed time of 7.665 seconds at Englishtown.
  • Ran career best speed of 179.97 mph at Englishtown.


Rear-Wheel Drive Chevrolet Cavalier - John Lingenfelter

Pro Class - NHRA
5-3 with Chevrolet Cavalier
5-4 with GMC Sonoma Truck
Points Finish - 2nd

  • Did not compete in first race of season (Gainesville).
  • Competed at Englishtown, Atco, Houston and Reading with GMC Sonoma Truck.
  • No. 1 qualifier at Atco.
  • Ran an elapsed time of 7.287 seconds at 186.90 mph with Sonoma to become the world's quickest 4-cylinder drag vehicle.
  • Competed at Dallas, Woodburn, Sonoma, Englishtown and Pomona with rear-wheel drive Chevrolet Cavalier.
  • Won at Woodburn.
  • No. 1 qualifier at Woodburn and Pomona.
  • Ran a career best elapsed time of 6.993 seconds at 197.67 mph at Pomona.
  • Crashed at Sonoma (minor damage).
  • Crashed at Pomona (transported to Pomona Valley Hospital). Will undergo rehab in Indianapolis.

2003 GM SPORT COMPACT DRAG RACING SEASON

  • Running NHRA 10 race schedule, plus the two "extreme rush" events scheduled at NHRA POWERade events (Joliet, Dallas).
  • Competing in the PRO FWD with Hoyo's Cavalier and the HOT ROD class with Ladwig's Pontiac Sunfire along with PRO RWD with Hartford's Cavalier.
  • The whole team will be back in action for the 2003 season.

Pontiac Sunfire - Marty Ladwig

  • The car is unchanged except for continued transmission development and making it more reliable for 2003 season.

Chevrolet Cavalier - Nelson Hoyos

  • New car - '03 look. All new tube-chassis car. It uses the same Ecotec motor but new transmission that G-force has built for the team. Basically the same transmission but different configuration that Warren and Kurt Johnson use. It's a clutchless transmission, which is the biggest change to the car. The safety features are unchanged. The tire size will increase.

Chevrolet Cavalier - Matt Hartford

  • Signed three year deal with Summit Racing as primary sponsor. The Summit Racing Sport Compact Team will field a new Don Ness Pro Stock-style rear-wheel-drive Chevrolet Cavalier with a 4-cylinder turbocharged Ecotec engine driven through a G-Force transmission. Brent Malone will be the crew chief with Mylon Keasler filling a consulting role. The team intends to compete in the PRO RWD class at all 10 of the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Series events and at several other key sport compact events.

Saturn Team

  • Saturn of San Diego will be entering into the Sport Compact Drag Racing Ranks with Jim Epler as the team owner. Lisa Kubo will drive a Saturn ION Quad Coupe in the FWD class. Nick Novak will drive a 1998 Saturn S-series sedan in the All Motor class and Michelle Morlet will drive a Saturn SC2 sport coupe in the Hot Rod class.
  • Saturn Motorsports of San Diego is a division of Saturn Retailers of San Diego, a six-dealership Saturn franchise. General Manager Laird Mooney created the team with the vision of making Saturn the leading domestic alternative for front-wheel-drive sport compacts.

Quotes

Nelson Hoyos - "We had a great 2002 season. We learned a lot about the car and what it likes. The team worked hard and I think we proved ourselves to quite a few people out here. We're really excited about next year. We're going to be doing quite a bit of testing and taking what we learned this year and applying it to the Cavalier. We have a great program here and it can only get better. The Ecotec engine program is outstanding and just keeps on surprising us on what it can produce."

Marty Ladwig - "I'm proud to be a part of this program and only see good things happening in the future. We've got a great racecar, an awesome Ecotec engine that gives us a great amount of horsepower and an outstanding team. There isn't much more you could ask for in a racing program."

Matt Hartford - "What a year. We're real excited to be the NHRA Modified champions. We had a great season and really came on strong with this Cavalier at the last five races. This Ecotec powerplant is just amazing and the Cavalier is a great racecar. I couldn't have done any of this without the leadership of my teammate John Lingenfelter. He is a very knowledgeable man and it's been an honor working with him this year. I've learned so much from him on and off the track. I'm very proud to be a part of this team."

Jim Epler - "We're new to sport compact racing, but we've all got backgrounds that enable us to bring some good experience to the mix. We're especially excited about the Ecotec engine and believe it will be a great advantage to us. I'm not underestimating our competition by any means, and we'll certainly go through a learning curve, but it's a great challenge and an even greater opportunity to showcase exactly what Saturn and the Ecotec engine are capable of. We know we have the parts, people, and equipment to bring Saturn to the forefront of motorsports, and that's exactly what we plan to do."

Herb Fischel - "I definitely think this is the future in drag racing. To the automobile manufacturer you take away a lot more than racing from a race. The technology and the products out here are very meaningful and realistic to us. There is a lot of enthusiasm out here and you have to learn very quickly because of the rapid development. When you have a passion in your product it makes a difference. Winning is just icing on the cake. The real victory is exposing the products to this generation and making them better."

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