Trans-Am
Long Beach: Rocketsports Racing preview
Rocketsports Racing Trans-Am Line-Up for Long Beach LONG BEACH, Cal. (April 15, 2004) - Rocketsports Racing kicks off the 2004 Motorock Trans-Am season with the 30th Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The trio of Rocketsports drivers, Paul ...
Published: Apr 16, 2004, 7:59 PM
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Rocketsports Racing Trans-Am Line-Up for Long Beach
LONG BEACH, Cal. (April 15, 2004) - Rocketsports Racing kicks off the 2004 Motorock Trans-Am season with the 30th Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The trio of Rocketsports drivers, Paul Gentilozzi, Tomy Drissi and Tommy Kendall will take to the 1.968 mile temporary street course as the Trans-Am Series makes its 13th visit to the famed event on Sunday, April 18th.
Driver and team owner, Paul Gentilozzi qualified on the pole and won the Long Beach Grand Prix in 2002, while teammate Tomy Drissi took home the winner's trophy at the 2000 event. Tommy Kendall, who returns to the Trans-Am Series after a six year hiatus, finished second at both the 1987 and 1989 Long Beach events.
Gentilozzi had an extremely busy off-season and is ready for the racing to start. "It's great being back in the car," he said. "I'm anxious to get started. I won't be able to run a full season, but plan to drive as much as I can. I'm really looking forward to the season-opener here in Long Beach. It's always a great event and we expect it to be a great show for the fans again this year."
Driver Tomy Drissi, who won the 1999 Trans-Am "Rookie of the Year" title, lives in nearby Hollywood, and is looking forward to starting the season on home turf. "I'm very excited. This is my hometown and my friends get to join in for the Long Beach race. It's a street fight and I've done well here in the past. (2000 win).
"I'm on a great team. I've got Tommy Kendall to work with and we'll be able to help each other. There's a good field of drivers this year, so it should be a great race. I'm looking forward to having Boris and TK to my right and left... on the podium," challenged Drissi.
"We're also very excited to welcome 20th Century Fox to the Jaguar XKR. They have four to five movies being introduced this year starting with "The Day After Tomorrow - Only in Theaters."
Four-time Trans-Am champion, Tommy Kendall returns to the series he dominated, with three-straight Trans-Am titles, from 1995-1997 along with his first in 1990. Kendall holds the record for most consecutive wins, with an 11-race win streak in 1997, that also earned him the record for most victories in one season.
"It's good to be back in the car," said Kendall. "I consider Long Beach my hometown race, having been born and raised a Californian. "I am really happy to be driving the 4-valve Jaguar XKR for Rocketsports, it's a great team. I tested for two-days earlier this week and it felt good to be back in the car. I was thinking that I would take '04 to get back in shape to drive in '05, but when this opportunity with Rocketsports presented itself, it seemed like the right thing to do."
The 51 lap Motorock Trans-Am Series season-opener is set to begin at 3:45 PM on Sunday, April 18, 2004.
-rsr-
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