Youth is Served in Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway
The Gillette Young Guns Join Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson,
Jeff Gordon and Other Racing Stars in a Return to the Dirt in
Support of Four Children’s Hospitals
Wednesday, June 9 Live on HBO Pay-Per-View®
SPEEDWAY, Ind. (April 20, 2010) – On Wednesday, June 9, the most celebrated dirt track in all of motorsports will host the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream. Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, will once again be the site of the all-star dirt Late Model race featuring more than 25 world renowned drivers as they battle for dirt supremacy on the half-mile clay oval, all of which will be presented live to the entire nation on HBO Pay-Per-View® with proceeds from the telecast supporting four of the nation’s top children’s hospitals:
· Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis: www.RileyChildrensHospital.com
· Cincinnati Children’s: www.CincinnatiChildrens.org
· Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C.: www.LevineChildrensHospital.org
· St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.: www.StJude.org
The sixth annual event will be headlined by the Gillette Young Guns: Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Joey Logano. All will join Tony Stewart, the two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and owner of Eldora Speedway, and many others including fellow Sprint Cup champions Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth. All will pilot 2,300-pound dirt Late Model stock cars capable of putting out over 800 horsepower.
The live, commercial-free broadcast will begin at 7 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. PDT) with an immediate replay. HBO Pay-Per-View’s racing telecast has a suggested retail price of $24.95 and is available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming in the pay-per-view industry. Ordering information and up-to-the minute racing information is available at either http://www.PreludeToTheDream.org or http://www.HBO.com.
And beyond the new charity element, this year’s Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream will be a team event. There will still be an individual race winner, but there will now be a race within the race, with the field broken up into four teams, each representing a children’s hospital:
· Team Riley: Bowyer (captain), Ryan Newman, J. Gordon, Brian Vickers, A.J. Allmendinger, Kenny Wallace and Ron Capps.
· Team Cincinnati: Kahne (captain), Logano, Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Bill Elliott and Cruz Pedregon.
· Team Levine: Busch (captain), Johnson, Kenseth, David Reutimann, Dave Blaney and Marcos Ambrose.
· Team St. Jude: Hamlin (captain), Edwards, Robby Gordon, Ken Schrader, Aric Almirola, Ricky Carmichael and Ray Evernham.
Each hospital will receive a donation, with the payout breakdown as follows:
· Winning team receives 45 percent of net money raised.
· Second-place team receives 25 percent of net money raised.
· Third- and fourth-place teams each receive 15 percent of net money raised.
The lowest team score wins, and only the top-five drivers from each team will be scored. For example, if Team Riley has finishes of first, fourth, seventh, 11th and 18th, respectively, from its top-five drivers, its score will be 41. In the event of a tie, the sixth driver will be scored.
“We wanted to shake things up a little bit this year,” said Stewart, who has won the Prelude to the Dream three times since its inception in 2005. “The team concept adds another level of excitement because there’s now a race within the race. As individual drivers, we all want the big trophy at the end of the night. But it’s cool knowing that battles for fourth and fifth and even 11th and 12th will make a big difference for what children’s hospital ends up with the big check.
“We plan to raise a lot of money for all of these hospitals, no matter where their teams finish. Since HBO Pay-Per-View began televising the Prelude in 2007, we’ve been able to help a lot of deserving charities, and helping children has always been a part of that mission. With this format, we feel we can raise more money than ever before. We’ve always set a goal to raise $1 million. We haven’t been able to reach that goal yet, but with this year’s Prelude where we have a race within a race, I think we have our best shot yet to reach that magic number.”
The four charities – Riley Hospital for Children, Cincinnati Children’s, Levine Children’s Hospital and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – all cater to the medical needs of children.
The five previous Prelude to the Dreams have collectively raised more than $2.5 million. With each year’s event gaining significant stature and mainstream interest, Stewart’s goal is to have the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream raise $1 million, with the proceeds impacting the four charities.
“It’s an ambitious goal, especially in this economy” admits Stewart. “But if we don’t shoot for a number that is a true difference-maker, we’re not ever going to reach it. That’s our goal, and me and everybody else associated with this event is going to do everything we can to meet that goal. Now, we just need everyone out there to purchase the event, enjoy all the action going on at Eldora, and know that their dollars are going to a very worthy cause.”
“We are pleased to return this season as the entitlement sponsor of this unique race,” said Michelle Potorski, associate marketing director, Gillette North America. “This year we are launching the new Gillette Fusion ProGlide and we and all the Gillette Young Guns look forward to doing our part to help raise funds and awareness for all the charities involved and making this year’s event a success.”
Drivers from all types of disciplines, some with lots of dirt track experience and others with hardly any, will participate in hot laps, qualifying, heat races and a 30-lap feature, all of which will be televised live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
“This is the fourth year in a row we’ve been able to bring live action from Eldora into living rooms across the country,” said Tammy Ross, vice president and general manager, HBO Pay-Per-View & Sports. “This year’s addition of drivers competing on teams brings a whole new dimension to the broadcast, with the big winners being the hospitals they’re representing and the fans at home.”
With no points and no pressure, the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream is a throwback race, allowing drivers to step back in time and compete for the reasons they all went racing in the first place – pride and a trophy. And they’ll do it on the same surface that racing legends A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti competed on nearly 50 years ago.
Other interesting storylines include:
· Fifty Racing Titles Represented at the Prelude: A total of 50 major championships have been won by drivers in the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream: Sprint Cup [12] – Elliott (1988), J. Gordon (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001), Stewart (2002, 2005), Kenseth (2003), Johnson (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009); IROC [3] – Harvick (2002), Kenseth (2004), Stewart (2006); Nationwide Series [6] – Harvick (2001, 2006), Vickers (2003), Edwards (2007), Bowyer (2008), Busch (2009); IndyCar Series [1] – Stewart (1997); NHRA Funny Car [2] – Pedregon (1992, 2008); SCORE Off-Road [6] – R. Gordon (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2009); AMA 125 National [3] – Carmichael (1997, 1998, 1999); AMA 125 East Coast SX [1] – Carmichael (1998); AMA 250 National [6] – Carmichael (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005); AMA 250 Supercross [5] – Carmichael (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006); U.S. Open of Supercross [3] – Carmichael (200, 2001, 2005); WSXGP 250 Supercross [1] – Carmichael (2005); MXdN [1] – Carmichael (2005).
· Dirt Veterans vs. Dirt Neophytes: Stewart, J. Gordon, Kahne, Newman, Blaney, Bowyer, Elliott, Schrader and Wallace grew up on dirt tracks, while Vickers, Busch, Harvick, Almirola, Hamlin and Logano spent the majority of their racing upbringing on asphalt.
· What Happens When a Drag Racer has to Turn the Steering Wheel?: Capps is a 14-year veteran of the NHRA and Pedregon is a 16-year NHRA driver, where straight-line runs over 300 mph are commonplace. They’ll have to turn right to go left as they sling their dirt Late Models around Eldora.
The Final Lap Weekly 