CHAMPCAR/CART: PPG Pace Car Team Tuning Up

(February 22, 1999) - Members of the all-female PPG Pace Car Driving Team, which paces the field at all FedEx Championship Series events, recently completed their annual refresher course at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix, Ariz. Thirteen members of the team participated in three days of testing at the Bondurant facility, driving Ford Mustang GTs on both the 1.6-mile Bondurant circuit and the 1.1-mile West course.

Ken Lowe, veteran coordinator of the PPG Pace Car program, directed the workout. "The most important thing they have to do now is be ready to drive to an exacting standard," Lowe said. "The driver pacing the race has be to comfortable doing an average speed of 82 miles per hour on The Milwaukee Mile and 140 miles per hour at Michigan Speedway. They have to be able to adjust to driving any one of 22 cars in the [pace car] stable, and they're all different. We've been coming to the Bondurant School for five years for this pre-season tuneup. I believe it gives us better credibility, and the drivers love their one chance to go as fast as they feel like going. They're all race drivers, and what we have them do at CART races is controlled driving under a lot of pressure."

Participants in the refresher course included Lea Bartlett of Marlboro, Vt.; Margy Eatwell of Phoenix; Marybeth Harrison of Vancouver, B.C.; Pattie Hughes of Columbus, Oh.; Joanne Loh of Boulder, Colo.; Terry MacDonald-Cadieux of Oshawa, Ontario; Stacy Marchant of Denver; Melanie Paterson of Highsburgh, Ontario; Linda Pobst of Melbourne, Fla.; Allison Stewart of Murrieta, Calif.; Rhonda Trammell of Indianapolis; Gail Truess of Brooklyn, Mich. and Kelly Williams of Inglewood, Ontario.

Source: CART Online