SBRS: Invitational races at The Glen preview

Two Special Skip Barber Races to Support the Rolex Sports Car Series / Grand-Am Cup "Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen"

LAKEVILLE, Conn. - More than 20 top drivers from the Skip Barber Regional Race Series -- plus last year's Daytona Rolex 24 Hour winner -- are entered in two special "Skip Barber Invitational" races at Watkins Glen International this weekend (June 10-12) supporting the Rolex Sports Car Series / Grand- Am Cup ''Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen."

Twelve of the 22 drivers entered into the Watkins Glen Skip Barber events have won races in one or more of the six amateur and/or professional Skip Barber championships.

Also, in what is believed to be a U.S. open-wheel road racing first, a husband and wife -- Michele Marden and Murray Marden, of St. Augustine, Fla. -- will be competing against each other in both Skip Barber races.

The aforementioned Daytona 24 Hour winner is Forest Barber (no relation), who won in 2004 driving the no.54 Kodak EasyShare - Bell Motorsports Pontiac Doran Daytona Prototype. (That team is racing this weekend, with Terry Borcheller, Ralf Kelleners and Barber in the cockpit.) "Yep, I'm expecting to have a slice of humble pie," Barber says with a laugh. "But I love the Glen and I like open-wheel cars [he owns and occasional races a Pro Mazda] so I'm really looking forward to this."

The first of the two Skip Barber Invitational races at the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen is scheduled for Friday, June 10 at 3:25 (qualifying is at 11:40 a.m.); the second is Saturday the 11th at 11:45 (qualifying is 8:20 a.m.).

The Skip Barber Races Series, first organized in 1976, is the leading self-sanctioned amateur open-wheel road racing championship in North America. Series drivers range from professional aspirants as young as 14 years old to amateur racers between the ages of 30 and 60+. Skip Barber Racing's professional team of mechanics, engineers and staff builds, maintains and transports 65 identically prepared 130 mph Formula Dodge R/T 2000 race cars which the drivers, in essence, lease for each race weekend.

Graduates of the Skip Barber School and Series include about a third of the field in the 2005 Rolex Sports Car Series (e.g., Butch Leitzinger, Milka Duno, Elliot Forbes-Robinson et al.), plus other name drivers such as Michael, John, Jeff and Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick, Scott Speed, Juan Pablo Montoya, Bryan Herta and hundreds of others.

Headquartered in Lakeville, Conn., the Skip Barber Racing School is the world's largest racing and driving school, operating at close to 30 race tracks across the U.S. and Canada. In addition to the Racing School and the Dodge/Skip Barber Driving School, it also owns and operates six prestigious open-wheel racing championships: The Skip Barber National Championship Presented by RACER; the four Skip Barber Regional Race Series championships (East, West, South and Midwest); and the Skip Barber Masters National. Other components include the Corporate Events department and an innovative Special Projects Group, which as part of its responsibilities is active in the emerging youth/tuner/drifting market. Skip Barber Racing has long-term, synergistic partnerships with the Dodge Division of Daimler-Chrysler; BFGoodrich Tires; and Quaker State. More information is available by calling 860.435.1300, and at www.skipbarber.com.

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