ENGLISHTOWN, N.J., Oct. 3, 2004 - In a spectacular display of drag racing performance, Nelson Hoyos drove his Ecotec-powered Chevy Cavalier to his fourth Pro FWD victory of the season, and a new national-record elapsed time of 7.406 seconds during today's running of the K & N Filters Sport Compact Fall Nationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. The win moved the defending NHRA Summit Sport Compact champion into first place in the Pro FWD standings for the first time this season with just race remaining on the 2004 docket.

Hoyos, Chevrolet, Take Over
First Place In Pro FWD Standings -
Ecotec-Powered Cavalier Runs 7.406
Seconds!

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J., Oct. 3, 2004 - In a spectacular display of drag racing performance, Nelson Hoyos drove his Ecotec-powered Chevy Cavalier to his fourth Pro FWD victory of the season, and a new national-record elapsed time of 7.406 seconds during today's running of the K & N Filters Sport Compact Fall Nationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. The win moved the defending NHRA Summit Sport Compact champion into first place in the Pro FWD standings for the first time this season with just race remaining on the 2004 docket.

"Fantastic isn't a strong enough word to describe what this GM Racing team achieved here this weekend," said Hoyos. "What we accomplished was exactly what we set out to do and I'm so proud of everyone on this team. We wanted this Chevy Cavalier to run fast, set records and go as far into the eliminator as we possibly could today, and this team made it happen. It's a great honor to be associated with this program. They know how to work, they know how to make this Chevy Cavalier run fast, and the horsepower put forth from our turbocharged Ecotec engine is just incredible."

Hoyos came into today's race with the orange and cinnamon Chevrolet qualified in the No. 1 position after posting what was then the quickest Pro FWD elapsed time ever at 7.549 seconds. But in round one of today's eliminator, Hoyos' Cavalier lowered the quickest-ever mark even lower to 7.407 seconds, and then established a new national record of 7.406 seconds in a round-two win over Jerrold Rhodes. With a bye run in the finals, Hoyos came back with another outstanding time of 7.478 second en route to his fourth victory in the last five races, his 12th career win in the category and his 18th final-round appearance in the last two race seasons.

"This Chevrolet put together three straight runs in the 7.40s that were just awesome," said Hoyos. "We knew we could run fast here this weekend, and we were all shooting for something in the 7.55 range, but we were a little surprised by those kind of numbers. This car just hooked up today and took off.

"We've come a long way since we were last here in May. We let some close races get by us but we never gave up. Denver was the turning point of our season and since then we've been able to keep the championship in our sights. This race team has so much momentum, and so much confidence that there's no looking back now. Even after the wreck in Dallas, a situation that could have put our season away for good, this team's never-say-die attitude kept us going and alive in the points race. We win together and we lose together and the results are what you saw today."

After posting a career-best elapsed time of 7.950 seconds during Saturday qualifications, 2004 HOT ROD champion Marty Ladwig made a rare, round-one exit after losing to Gary Gardella. It is the first time this season that the two-time NHRA Summit Sport Compact champion has lost in the first round.

"Sure it's disappointing," said Ladwig. "We were looking to build on the 7.95 that our Pontiac Sunfire ran yesterday, but unfortunately a little mechanical problem in the first session made for an early end to our afternoon. Any time you push production parts to their limit like we do under these type of conditions, every now and then, things are going to break. You never like to lose, but when you can learn from it, and make the parts more durable in these type of extreme conditions, sometimes it's actually okay. In the long run though, we'll only get better because now we can go back and see what went wrong and where, and get it fixed.

"We had a good weekend and we've had a great season. We have one more race to go in Pomona and you can bet that we'd like to end the year right by putting this Pontiac Sunfire back in the winner's circle."

After yesterday's career-best run of 6.593 seconds during qualifying, Matt Hartford's GM high-feature V6-powered Chevy Cavalier advanced to the semifinals before bowing out to eventual race winner Ara Arslanian.


General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, employs 325,000 people globally in its core automotive business and subsidiaries. Founded in 1908, GM has been the global automotive sales leader since 1931. GM today has manufacturing operations in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in more than 190 countries. In 2003, GM sold more than 8.6 million cars and trucks, nearly 15 percent of the global vehicle market. GM's global headquarters is at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit. More information on GM and its products can be found on the company's consumer website at www.gm.com.


"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about
the former." - Albert Einstein

ya...I was there on the 6th and they mentioned the broken records.....and all the carnage that was happening

they said they were picking up little pieces of aluminum for hours apparently! HA! <br>

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