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NASCAR Winston Cup Series UAW-GM Quality 500 Preview: #35, Todd Bodine

1 October 1997

 #35 Todd Bodine, Team Tabasco Pontiac Grand Prix
 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
 UAW-GM Quality 500 Advance
 Charlotte Motor Speedway
 
      TEAM TABASCO RACING TO MAKE DEBUT AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY 

 
CONCORD, NC - The #35 Team Tabasco Pontiac Grand Prix will make its official 
debut at the Sunday, October 5, UAW-GM Quality 500 race at the Charlotte 
Motor Speedway. 

The race, which begins at 1:10 pm, will be the first NASCAR competition for 
Team Tabasco and its primary sponsor McIlhenny Company, makers of Tabasco 
brand Pepper Sauce. 

"We are really looking forward to this first event," explains Team Tabasco 
Driver Todd Bodine. "The team has been working very hard preparing for this 
event and I'm proud to be a part of it." Bodine continues, "We really 
appreciate the folks at the McIlhenny company making it all possible and look 
forward to a long and successful relationship with them. I definitely feel 
that this is the best, and hottest, opportunity of my career."

Team Tabasco Racing is lead by ISM Racing President L.G. "Bob" Hancher, Jr. 
of Noblesville, Indiana. When asked recently what kind of impact Tabasco 
would have on the sport of auto racing, Hancher replied, "Team Tabasco is 
going to raise the temperature on NASCAR's tracks."

Race qualifying will take place under the lights at the speedway, owned by 
Bruton Smith, on Wednesday, October 1, at 7:00 pm. Other 1997 plans for the 
Team include entering the NAPA 500 November 16 race at the Atlanta Motor 
Speedway. 

McIlhenny Company announced Team Tabasco's entry into the NASCAR Winston Cup 
scene on August 1 at the Winston Cup Brickyard 400. The company also signed 
an agreement for Tabasco brand Pepper Sauce to become the first "Official 
Marketing Partner" of the 50th Anniversary of NASCAR in 1998."

By Team Tabasco Racing Public Relations