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KARTING: The Ironman at 100 -- Mph, That Is...

26 December 1998

"Ironman" triathlon events have become a recognized, respected form of athletic competition in recent years, and next week a totally unique kind of Ironman event will be held at a similarly unique place and time -- December 27-30 at the Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California.

Rather than the usual running, swimming and bicycling, the first annual "Castrol and the Willow Springs Kart Classic Present -- The Ironman" will feature hundreds of the finest racing drivers from around the country competing in a first-of-its-kind three-day karting event that will test the limits of a driver's physical conditioning as thoroughly as running a trio of marathons back-to-back.

One of the featured drivers in the event, and a prime candidate to take the overall Ironman victory, is Lynx Racing driver Memo Gidley, 29, of Novato, California. Gidley, a national karting champion and factory driver for TrackMagic Karts, won the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic support race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach earlier this year and is in discussions with several teams about moving up to CART or the IRL in 1999.

"Almost every top racing driver today got their start in karting, and many of them still use karting as a way to keep their physical conditioning and reflexes sharp in between races and during the off-season," says Gidley. "People don't tend to think of racing drivers as athletes, but driving a car at 200 mph for several hours requires the strength and coordination of an Olympic athlete. And racing a kart is in many ways even more physically demanding."

In addition to Gidley competing in the Ironman event, CART FedEx drivers Alex Barron and Richie Hearn (both former Lynx Racing drivers) will be racing in the "Castrol Celebrity Challenge", a celebrity kart race featuring entertainment notables such as Sean Patrick Flannery, Alfonso Ribiero and Grant Show.

The Hollywood stars will be joined on track by racing drivers such as drag racing champions John Force and Tony Pedregon, motorcycle legend Eddie Lawson and famed driver/racing school owner Bob Bondurant.

The Castrol Celebrity Challenge will be a 25-lap race beginning at 11:00 a.m. Sunday, January 27. All the celebrities will be driving Margay karts identically prepared by Mike Manning Karting and powered by 100 cc, 18-hp Horstman engines capable of propelling the karts at speeds up to 70 mph.

The Ironman event is comprised of four classes of karts competing in three separate races, each on a different track, on successive days from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The first event, featuring four 25-lap races (one race for each class of kart), will be held on the 'Sprint' track on Sunday, December 27. The second race, four 30-minute events held on the big 'Enduro' track, will be on Monday, December 28. The final Ironman event, four 30-minute races on the "Streets of Willow" track, will be on December 29.

The results will be decided by totaling up the points scored by each driver in each event, with the overall winner being the driver with the largest total. Of the four classes of kart eligible for the Ironman event, the 125cc 'shifter' class, with speeds in excess of 100 mph, is the fastest and most spectacular. This is the class in which Memo Gidleycompetes, and will run from 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. each day.

The Ironman is a major part of what is expected to be one of the biggest events in kart racing. In addition to the Ironman, all four tracks at Willow Springs Raceway will be in use all day every day as more than 1,000 karters compete in more than a dozen different classes.

Willow Springs Raceway is located 10 miles north of Lancaster on Hwy. 14. Take the Rosamond exit and turn left at the light.

Meanwhile, Gidley's 1998 Lynx Racing teammate, Buddy Rice, 21, of Phoenix, Arizona, will represent the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic series at the World Karting Association trade show in Hickory, North Carolina on January 29-31.

"Future generations of Lynx drivers are racing karts today, and the team has made a commitment to get involved and help promote karting at every opportunity," says Rice. "All of us Lynx drivers are still actively involved in karting, both for our own benefit and because one of the obligations we take on in signing with Lynx is to reach out and help those younger drivers for whom an encouraging word or a piece of timely advice might make all the difference."

Lynx Racing is one of the most unique and successful 'driver development' programs in auto racing today. Now entering its ninth year of operation, Lynx is owned by two women, Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty. The team's mission is to seek out young drivers with the potential to succeed at the highest levels of auto racing, and provide them with the resources and training to realize their championship potential.

Lynx Racing competes in the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship, where the team won back-to-back championships in 1996 and 1997. Atlantic serves as a final training ground for drivers who want to move up to the CART FedEx Championship or the IRL, a relationship much like that of triple-A baseball and the major leagues.

Lynx driver Memo Gidley has completed his two-year stint with the team, and will be moving up to the majors in 1999. Gidley's Atlantic teammate, Buddy Rice, 22, of Phoenix, Arizona, will return for his second year with the team next season.

The Lynx Racing 'junior team', DSTP Motorsports, competes in the U.S. F2000 Championship, which equates to college-level baseball. DSTP is also owned by a woman Dede Rogers, and team drivers for 1999 include karting champion Bobby Oergel and 1998 Star Formula Mazda Champion Ian Lacy.

Lynx also has a rising star in Sara Senske, 20, a college student and karting champion from Kennewick, Washington. Senske races in the Star Formula Mazda Championship, and will move up, first to the DSTP team and then the Lynx Atlantic team, in coming years.

For further information on Lynx Racing and its drivers, please visit the team's web site at www.LynxRacing.com, or telephone P.R. Manager Peter Frey.

For further information on the first annual "Castrol and the Willow Springs Kart Classic Present -- The Ironman", or to obtain media credentials for the event, please call Mike Manning at Mike Manning Karting.