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The Road to Indy: Logan Dernoshek Pumped for Hooters ProCup Event
 
CANONSBURG, PA (May 13, 2004) –The month of May is always a special time for anyone near Indianapolis. After all, the entire month is filled with practice, time trials, the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day weekend, and a number of races by various sanctioning bodies at Indianapolis Raceway Park. This weekend the Hooters ProCup Series will invade the .686-mile oval at IRP for the third time in four years and Logan Dernoshek will be making his first start of 2004 in the unsponsored No. 10 Pontiac.

Dernoshek goes to IRP with a new outlook for 2004 after running three events in 2003. In order to improve his understanding of the truck-arm style cars after graduating from the three-link, coilover late model-style chassis, he spent a week with chassis builder Billy Hess over the winter and gained much more information to help him excel at the ProCup level.

"I'm a lot more confident in my knowledge of the car this year," said the Gannon University mechanical engineering graduate. "We took the car completely apart over the winter, changed some things and upgraded others. I still have a lot to learn but now I feel I have a solid base of knowledge to build off of."

IRP is a very unique track on the Hooters ProCup schedule. It's the largest track that the Northern Division will run on in 2004, but its sweeping corners and short straightaways put a premium emphasis on handling and taking care of tires. Its immense size, as far as short tracks are classified, still lends itself to high speeds in excess of 130mph entering the corners. For Dernoshek, however, the high speeds and wide racing surface remind him of some of the dirt tracks he raced on before moving up to pavement late models in 2000 and have him excited about his first trip to the Indiana facility.

"The only things I know about IRP are from watching the races on television and running it on the computer. I think I'm going to like it though," Dernoshek said. "I always enjoyed the big half mile dirt tracks with the modified and Jennerstown with the late model."

The next three events for the No. 10 team will set the tone for the year as after IRP, the team will go to their home track in Jennerstown followed by Lake Erie Speedway, only a short drive from the team's shop. A solid run at Indianapolis will begin a surge of momentum that Dernoshek hopes will carry through the entire year.

"Indy is a little bit of a drive, but after that we get to stay close to home," the driver of the No. 10 Pontiac explained. "I have some laps around Jennerstown which is only two hours away and I went to college in Erie at Gannon University so I'm hoping to have my Fraternity brothers and friends at the track cheering me on. I'm confident that the fans are going to see some great racing at all three events. I think we can be a contender at all of them."

The Naturally Fresh Foods 200 presented by Lucas Oil is scheduled for a 1:30pm CT start with tickets still available through the IRP ticket office at 317-291-4090, or through the IRP website at http://www.irponline.com. For those unable to attend, the event will be broadcast on Speed Channel at 8pm ET on May 20.

Logan Dernoshek Racing, Inc. is actively seeking sponsors and marketing partners for the 2004 season and beyond. Interested parties can contact the team through USAR or through team marketing rep Tony Stevens at (412) 225-0348 for more information. More information about Logan Dernoshek and the team can be found online at www.logandernoshek.com.

 

 
 

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