Jimmy Kite Opens 2003 USAC Season At Copper World

JIMMY KITE OPENS 2003 USAC SEASON AT COPPER WORLDAVONDALE, AZ., March 23, 2003 � Jimmy Kite, of Stockbridge, Georgia, opened the 2003 United State's Auto Club (USAC) Weld Racing Silver Crown season today at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). Kite was participating in the prestigious Copper World Classic, an event that he won in 1997 on his way to that season's rookie of the year title. The 27-year-old started 23rd in the #5 Westcon Elevator/ Westcon Racing Beast chassis powered by a Bloomer engine. He finished 14th after overheating problems� a result of a damaged nose from contact with another car� robbed him of horsepower as he was making a run into the top-10.“The Westcon Elevator guys gave me a great car,” offered Kite. “Early on I saw some things in traffic and decided to just hang back and let those guys clear themselves out. Unfortunately, one of them cleared out two other cars right in front of me and I had nowhere to go. I hit one of them pretty hard and all I saw for a second was sky but when the car came back down it ran down the banking, picked-up speed and took off so we kept going. The car felt pretty good and I was starting to come back through traffic. I really thought I was going to have a good shot at winning this again. I was passing everyone on the outside going into turns one and two. I had closed the gap to 10th when, about lap 40, the car just started falling back. I had no idea what was going on. We just didn't have any power. I checked the gauges and the water was nearly pegged but the oil looked OK. Then I realized it had come all the way back around and instead of about 140 degrees (F) it was really 340. The nose got damaged and closed up the air to the engine in that early race deal. It is a testimony to the Bloomer Engine guys that this thing kept going and finished the race. I just didn't have the power to keep moving-up. It is too bad because I was saving the tires and still passing people whenever I wanted up until then. It really was looking like '97 all over again. The bright side is now we'll go on to Indianapolis Raceway Park in May and I love that track too. I think this should be a good year for the Westcon Bloomer-Beast.” Kite began racing quarter-midgets at the age of eight and worked his way up through mini-sprints, USAC midgets, sprint cars and Silver Crown cars to the IRL IndyCar Series in 1997. He is a five-time national champion in various open-wheel series with countless victories. He has a career total of 22 IndyCar Series event starts and $1,232,000 in career IRL earnings. He has been widely considered one of the IndyCar Series' most popular drivers since his rookie season.To learn more about Westcon Racing and the team's 2003 USAC Silver Crown campaign with Jimmy Kite, please visit www.westconracing.com .###contact: Tom Moore, Jimmy Kite Motorsports Public Relations, 770-466-5442, Tom@DarkhorseCom.com