Robbie Thompson drives for Team Logel in 2001

KITCHENER, ON - John Logel, the owner of Logel's Autoparts, is proud to announce the formation of a new racing team that will compete in the CASCAR Castrol Super Series in 2001. The Kitchener, Ontario based businessman has signed veteran stock car racer Robbie Thompson to pilot the team's Intrepids on the Super Series' National and Eastern tours. Logel has been involved in stock car racing for several decades, but this move marks his first foray into the ranks of CASCAR's car owners. Although he understands that it will be somewhat of a learning process, Logel's assembled a group of experienced and talented individuals to prepare and race brand new, first-rate equipment. The goal is to be competitive right out of the box. "Robbie Thompson has raced karts, ACT [the American-Canadian Tour], Super Late Models, Late Models at Holland [NY], and for the last couple of years, raced in some NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. Now, he's returning to Canada to race the full CASCAR series," continued Logel, who has also sponsored Canadian racing stars like Peter Gibbons, Al Turner, Scott Lyons and others. "This is a great opportunity and I'm looking forward to racing in the CASCAR Super Series as part of John Logel's new team," said Thompson. "CASCAR is the pinnacle of Canadian motorsports and with team and equipment that John's assembled, we plan to be competitive at the first race." In terms of machinery, the team - which will be based out of Thompson's newly built race shop in Southampton, ON - will campaign a pair of brand new McColl chassis. A third show car will be ready by mid-December. The team has also recently acquired a 53-foot, four-vehicle hauler. Veteran CASCAR crew chief Burt McColl will be making the calls from the pits for Thompson, which should assist him greatly in his transition to CASCAR competition. McColl was a CASCAR championship winning crew chief in 1998 and believes he can help deliver the tools and advice to Thompson that will put him in contention in short order. "Burt's decided that this is what he'd like to do. He thinks we can be a frontrunner. We all understand that this will be new to a bunch of us. We're green in some aspects but I've been in the business for 22 years and we've always been involved with racing," continued Logel. "I know what to expect. We know the pitfalls to watch out for. We're not buying any 'used' equipment; everything will be new, whether it be transmissions, cars, motors or whatever." With three motors ready to go, the team plans to participate in Speedweeks at New Smyrna Speedway in February. "We'd like to do some testing during Speedweeks. Not so much as a serious racing venture, but just to get some experience and track-time," said Logel, who noted that the team is actively looking for a primary sponsor. "The scope of the program is contingent upon a major sponsor. We've got a couple of corporate leads that we're dealing with right now."