Cindi Lux - Lux Performance Group - Lux Tabbed by Dodge and KUMHO to Make ALMS Start at Mid-Ohio

Lux Tabbed by Dodge and KUMHO to Make ALMS Start at Mid-Ohio

Cindi is no stranger to ALMS competition. Photo by Jeff Boerio.

ALOHA, Ore., July 11, 2007 – Aloha, Oregon’s very own Cindi Lux will make her return to the top level of professional motorsports next week in the American Le Mans Series Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. Lux will be part of an exploratory program examining the viability of the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe in the GT2 class of the Series. The 2003 Oregon SCCA National Driver of the Year will be co-driving with Stan Wilson of Mt. Juliet, Tenn. in the No. 13 Mopar/KUMHO Tires/Dodge Motorsports Viper Comp. Coupe under the Woodhouse Performance banner. Lux, who will be making her third start in the American Le Mans Series GT2 class (formerly known as the GT class), was brought to the program by Dodge Motorsports and KUMHO Tires due to her expertise in car and tire development. The program is currently slated for only one event, the July 21 race at the 2.258-mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

“An experimental program like this will be a first for me,” said Lux about the Mid-Ohio effort. “Taking a new car into a class that it has no history in will be mind boggling. The goal of this race will be just doing as many laps as possible to gather some good data for Dodge.”

The two hour and 45-minute race marks the first time that Lux has driven in North America’s premier sports car series since a sixth-place finish in the prestigious Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in 2000. However, her relationship with the Series goes beyond those two events. Lux became the first of only two female drivers to win an American Le Mans Series-sanctioned championship when she took top honors in the inaugural Women’s Global GT Series in 1999. That Series, in which Lux finished in the top-three at five of the six events, ran for two seasons as the premier support event to the American Le Mans Series.

“I cannot wait to get back to the American Le Mans Series,” offered an enthusiastic Lux. “There are so many good people in this series. They are more like family. If it wasn’t for Don Panoz [American Le Mans Series founder] having the guts to create the WGGT Series back in 1999, I would have never had the opportunities that I have enjoyed over the past seven years.”

The event marks not only Lux’s return to the American Le Mans Series but Dodge’s first foray back since 2005 when it closed-out a privateer program with its Viper GTS-R. That iteration of the Viper holds second-place on the all-time list for most wins (16) by a manufacturer in the GT1/GTS class. This is the first time that the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, a race-built version of the V10 road car, has competed in the American Le Mans Series. Lux currently drives a similar machine in the hotly contested SPEED World Challenge GT Series for NayKid Racing with teammate Scotty B. White (Lake Tapps, Wash.). Earlier this year she earned Rookie of the Race honors at Miller Motorsports Park in the NayKid Racing Comp. Coupe.

KUMHO Tires has long been associated with Lux. As a test and development driver for the company, she has won all four of her SCCA T1 class Divisional championships racing on KUMHO tires. The Mid-Ohio event will be KUMHO’s first foray into the GT2 class of the American Le Mans Series though they have competed in the Le Mans Prototype Two (LMP2) class since 2005 and in the top LMP1 class starting this season. Their accolades include several class victories including an LMP2 class win at the world-renown 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this year.

Lux looks forward to the weekend with two of her closest motorsports relationships; “Returning back to the American Le Mans Series with KUMHO and Dodge is so comforting. I have worked so closely with each of them over the years and know and respect their products. These companies are so loyal to their drivers it’s really an honor to be associated with them. Both Dodge and KUMHO have first class products and people to go along with it.”

Lux’s return to the American Le Mans Series can be seen on a tape-delayed basis on CBS Sports at 2 PM (ET), Sunday, July 22. Live radio coverage as well as race reports and live timing and scoring are available through www.AmericanLeMans.com.

NEXT RACE

Sunday August 10 2008

SPEED World Challenge GT - Road America

Road America

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