FROM NASCAR PR:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 1, 2009) – While NASCAR celebrates its traditional Independence Day weekend events at Daytona International Speedway, four cars and drivers will participate in another racing tradition thousands of miles away – the annual Festival of Speed at Goodwood Estate in West Sussex, England.
Held since 1993, the Festival celebrates historic cars from all forms of racing. The three-day event, hosted by the Earl of March at his family’s estate, features a 1.16-mile hill-climbing competition for all classes and types of race cars and motorcycles, plus a 2.5-kilometer course for historic rally cars. This year’s Festival runs from July 3-5.
Four NASCAR teams will participate in the three-day event – Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Team Red Bull and Rusty Wallace Inc.
Landon Cassill, the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year, will drive Hendrick Motorsports’ “T-Rex” – the then-revolutionary No. 24 chassis that four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon drove to victory in the 1998 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
Taylor Earnhardt, the 20-year-old daughter of seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, will drive the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing chassis that her father drove to his last career win in October 2000.
Rusty Wallace Inc., is sending its namesake – 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace, whose organization currently fields two NASCAR Nationwide Series teams. Also an ESPN commentator, Wallace will drive a No. 2 chassis fielded by his long-time former team, Penske Racing.
Mike Skinner, the 1995 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, will drive a former NASCAR Sprint Cup chassis fielded by Team Red Bull, for whom he’s driven on a part-time basis while competing full time for another NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title.
Cassill, Earnhardt, Wallace and Skinner are among this year’s Festival-record 103 drivers and riders.
Also attending the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed: Jim Hunter, NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications. Hunter has over 40 years of experience in the sport, as a journalist, promoter, track president and administrator.
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