©1998 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
Indianapolis, IN (January 29, 1998) — Patrick Racing Team announcedtoday that Scott Pruett's #20 Patrick Racing Reynard Ford would besponsored by Visteon Automotive Systems during the 1998 FedExChampionship Series season.
Visteon Automotive Systems, an enterprise of the Ford Motor Company, isan automotive systems developer and provider of powertrains, chassis andelectronics along with other systems. The deal is multi-year andprovides for Visteon to contribute key racing technology to PatrickRacing.
"We are very pleased to be associated with a company the caliber ofVisteon. They bring a lot of experience and technological expertise toour team. We look forward to a mutually beneficial and successfulrelationship in the coming years," said owner U. E. "Pat" Patrick. Patrick Racing will be a two car effort again in 1998. In addition toPruett's Visteon/Patrick Racing car the team will also field an entry tobe piloted by Adrian Fernandez and sponsored by Tecate Beer inpartnership with Labatt USA and Quaker State Oil Mexico (#40Tecate/Quaker State Reynard Ford). Patrick Racing also receives supportfrom Firestone, Duralast, Pepsi, UTLX, Clausing, Unigraphics, Craftsman,Bosch Spark Plugs, and Garrett.
Patrick Racing is one of the most successful teams in CART racing with37 victories. Team owner U. E. "Pat" Patrick is a co-founder of CART andthe "father" of the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights series which has producedmuch of the top young talent now competing in the PPG CART World Series.
Patrick Racing Notes:
Patrick Racing has also reached agreement with two additional sponsorsfor the 1998 FedEx Championship Series season. First Finance, a MichiganCorporation, which is the nation's third largest mortgage broker and thepremier marketer of the mortgage by mail concept, has signed on withScott Pruett's #20 Visteon/Patrick Racing car. The team has also enteredinto a sponsorship arrangement with ICI Polyurethanes, a business of ICIAmerica Inc.
Patrick Racing driver Scott Pruett will run this weekend in the Daytona24 Hour race. Pruett, who has two class wins (1987 and 1988) and anoverall victory (1994) has not participated in the race in a number ofyears. "I'm going back this year because driving for Mr. Panoz is agreat opportunity. He reminds me very much of Pat Patrick, my CART teamowner. At this stage of the game, I'm only going to go back and run if Ican win overall. The fact that Visteon is going to be involved with thePanoz program as well as my CART program makes this an even moreexciting opportunity." 
Source: Patrick Racing
