INDIANAPOLIS, (August 28, 2003), Starting with this
weekend's 49th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the New York Yankees/Berryman
Products sponsored Top Fuel dragster team will promote a newly released
biography of team owner Darrell Gwynn through special graphics on its 330 mph
race car.
The premiere event on the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series tour, the event will be held August 27-Sept. 1 at historic
Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Darrell Gwynn: At Full Throttle is the personal and revealing
story of Gwynn's life on and off the drag strip. Written by award-winning drag
racing journalist Erik Arneson, the book includes Darrell's own detailed
accounts of his most important races, and the ultimate insider's perspective on
the technology and teamwork behind a winning Top Fuel car. It is just as candid
in describing Gwynn's long struggle to recover from the injuries that ended his
career as a driver but also led to a new role as a team owner, businessman,
philanthropist, and father.
Gwynn will hold a series of trackside book-signing sessions
throughout the event. A portion of proceeds from the book sales will benefit the
Darrell Gwynn Foundation to Cure Paralysis.
On Thursday, August 28, the Indianapolis-based Rehabilitation
Hospital of Indiana will host Gwynn and his wife, Dr. Lisa Gwynn, as
motivational guest speakers before a gathering of staff, patients and their
families.
In conjunction with the event, the Darrell Gwynn Foundation
to Cure Paralysis and Quickie Wheelchairs will present a $10,000 power
wheelchair, specially designed and painted to Gwynn Racing specifications to
Thomas Dickson, 17, of Greenfield, Indiana.
Darrell with wheelchair giveaway
recipient Thomas Dickson
On Friday, Gwynn Racing will host Dickson and his family, as
well as a sizable contingent of Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana and Quickie
Wheelchair guests at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The wheelchair giveaway program is part of an ongoing
national Quality of Life initiative by the Darrell Gwynn Foundation. The
foundation's creator, Darrell Gwynn, was a leading NHRA Top Fuel driver until
suffering career-ending injuries including paralysis as a result of a racing
accident in 1990. Since then Gwynn has continued to field his own race team as
well as serving as a tireless spokesperson and fundraiser on behalf of
scientific research targeted at curing paralysis.
No city in the world is more synonymous with auto racing than Indianapolis,
said Gwynn. As a driver, so many of my greatest experiences played out here, so
there seemed no place better to introduce the book telling my personal story.
Like nearly everyone else in our sport, our driver Cory McClenathan feels the
same way about the prestige and mystique associated with the U.S. Nationals our
sport's biggest
event.
McClenathan enters the Indy event currently fifth in NHRA's
Top Fuel point standings.
Professional qualifying sessions for the Mac Tools U.S.
Nationals are slated for 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 29. Qualifying resumes for
the pros on Saturday with sessions slated for 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday's
sessions are slated at 12:45 and 4:10 p.m. Pre-race ceremonies begin at 10:00
a.m. on Monday followed by Final Eliminations starting at 11:00 a.m.
A wealth of TV coverage is on tap including Saturday evening
from 7:30-8:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Sunday's coverage includes two hours of ESPN
coverage from 1:00-3:00 p.m. Later, ESPN2 will give continuing coverage from
9:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Monday's race day coverage starts from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
on ESPN2 before shifting for concluding round coverage on ESPN from 8:00-11:00
p.m. All times are Eastern.
Darrell Gwynn Racing fields the New York Yankees-sponsored
dragster in NHRA POWERade Drag Racing's Top Fuel division. Darrell Gwynn and his
father, Jerry, each former NHRA world champions, lead the team. The team's race
car is driven by Cory McClenathan and tuned by crew chief John Stewart. Major
Associate and Associate sponsors include Berryman Products, MBNA America Bank,
Dyn-O-Mat, Winnebago Industries, Inc., Negley Electric, GMC, Mac Tools, Don
Steves Chevrolet and Fabtech Motorsports.
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