Powell Motorsport to camapaign Corvette

Powell Motorsport is delighted to announce that Sunoco Ultra 94 has renewed as major sponsor of the Powell Motorsport Corvettes for 2001. The Powell team has raced with Sunoco and its fuel for the past three years, delivering championships in each year.

The team is revitalized this year with the 2001 " millennium yellow" Sunoco Corvette Z06s now displaying white noses and a checkered flag design, and identifying both Sunoco ethanol enhanced Ultra 94 fuels and a new sponsor/ partnership with Encompass Corporation.

"Sunoco is proud to continue its support of the Powell team as racers prepare for the historic Daytona Rolex 24 event," said John Wright, Brand Marketing Manager of Sunoco Inc, a subsidiary of Suncor Energy. "The Rolex 24 and Daytona International Speedway are racing icons. Sunoco has a rich motorsport heritage too, with Roger Penske's Trans Am Camaros in the '60s, Mark Donohue's Porsche 917k Can Am car in the '70s, and Ron Fellows' TransAm accomplishments in the '80s and early '90s. Sunoco is pleased to continue this heritage with sponsorship of the Powell team."

Driver Devon Powell, the 1997/98 Grand Sports Driving Champion, was solely responsible for building the new Sunoco Corvette ZO6 racing car. Using some salvaged parts rescued from the remains of Devon's massive qualifying wreck at Mosport last year, the 23 year old Port Perry Ontario driver built a new car from a new C5 rolling chassis supplied by the GM Performance Parts division.

Team Owner John Powell is pleased: "Devon did a fine job. Drivers should have to fix their own wrecks! Devon went one better and made the new car, with Z06 components, even better than last year's. The Wheel to Wheel folks have really helped with a really stout LS6 new generation V-8 engine"

Wheel to Wheel is a leading prototype shop in Detroit, responsible for the Sunoco Corvette's race engineering, design modifications and engine preparation. Developed by Dan Van Auken, the race version of the new 2001 LS6 engine is a more powerful (500 h.p.) version of the all aluminum 385 h.p LS6 that is fitted to the new Corvette Z06 performance hardtop model, available at Chevrolet dealerships across the country.

In 2000, Powell Motorsport campaigned the Sunoco Corvette for the first year and were the only Corvette to win races (2) in the Motorola Cup. The drivers will continue to be Devon Powell and Doug Goad.

"I'm delighted to once more be a part of the Powell Motorsport effort," said Doug Goad. "The car is good, the team members are a great bunch of pros, and I am confident that we will be a competitive team even though it looks like we will be running just one car."

"We are also delighted to welcome Encompass Services Corporation (ESR) as a new sponsor/partner to the team," said Powell. Encompass provides mechanical, electrical and/or janitorial services in each of the 100 largest U.S. markets and employs over 30,000 staff at 250 locations. Encompass is the largest provider of facilities systems and solutions in the United States.

The Motorola Cup season starts off where Powell Motorsports gave the Chevrolet Corvette C5 its first win in Motorola Cup, at Daytona International Speedway on February 2nd as the support race to the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

-powellmotorsport.com