NA-F2000: Kimball named to Team USA

Zetec Championship driver wins prestigious Team USA Scholarship

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. (December 18, 2003) - Former Formula Ford Zetec Championship driver Charlie Kimball has been awarded the prestigious Team USA scholarship.

Kimball has been awarded the scholarship along with Joe D'Agostino, of Plantation, Fla. and Ryan Millen, of Newport Beach, Calif. The trio will contest the six-race Talley's New Zealand International Formula Ford Series, which will be held over three consecutive weekends in January 2004. The Team USA winners will drive identically prepared Stealth Van Diemens, which will be run by the Canterbury Motor Racing School team, based in Christchurch. Past winners in New Zealand, include Formula One stars Stirling Moss, Bruce McLaren, Sir Jackie Stewart and Sir Jack Brabham. The last time Team USA contested the series in 2002, former Zetec Championship Champion Bryan Sellers finished second, winning two races.

Kimball becomes the Seventh Zetec Championship driver to win the Team USA scholarship, following in the footsteps of Mike Borkowski, Memo Gidley, Jeret Schroeder, Buddy Rice, Andy Lally and Sellers. In only his second year of car racing, the 18 year-old finished an impressive third in the Zetec Championship, part of the Cooper Tires Championship Series. After winning two races in the Zetec Championship, Kimball contested the British Formula Ford Zetec Winter Series Championship, finishing third.

"I'm really looking forward to racing in New Zealand," said Kimball. "I saw how much A.J. Allmendinger and Bryan Sellers gained from racing in this series two years ago, and I can't wait to follow in their footsteps."

Begun in 1990, the Team USA Scholarship was created to assist aspiring up and coming American drivers. By establishing contacts in the racing industry, meeting various team, chassis and engine representatives, and contesting winter series championships, past winners have benefited extensively from this program and moved up the racing ladder.

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