McDONALD’S® DRIVER WILSON AND HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER RAHAL HAPPY TO BE ON THE ROAD AGAIN FOR THIS WEEKEND’S CAMPING WORLD GRAND PRIX AT THE GLEN

WATKINS GLEN, New York (July 2, 2008) --- McDonald’s driver Justin Wilson and Hole in the Wall Camps driver Graham Rahal will encounter another new track for the eighth time this season when they arrive to Watkins Glen International for this weekend’s Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen but this learning curve is sure to put a smile on their faces. The 11-turn, 3.4 mile course will mark the first time for the road/street course veterans to compete on a track other than an oval in an Indy car since the April 6 race on the streets of St. Petersburg which Rahal won. Both drivers are excited to get back on a road course.

“I’m really looking forward to going to Watkins Glen,” said Rahal, who became the youngest winner in IndyCar Series history with his win in his series debut in St. Pete. “We’re going back to our bread and butter – a road course. Obviously a lot of transitioning teams should be more competitive there. I don’t know if the win (in St. Pete) has hit me yet. It’s cool when people talk about it, to hear my name and things like that. But it’s not something that I have thought about much. Obviously we have a huge task at hand this weekend at Watkins Glen. I’m looking forward to getting back to some road courses for the team and myself because I think that’s the type of place where we can capitalize on our experience and go out there and do our best.”

Prior to St. Petersburg, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) had only tested their Indy cars on a road or street course for approximately 10 laps in Sebring before rain ended the session. The team was pleasantly surprised when Wilson qualified third in his Indy car street course debut in St. Pete and went on to lead 18 laps in the rain soaked event but finished ninth due to alternate pit strategies brought on by the rain. Rahal qualified ninth, but was hit on Lap 37 of 83 which dropped him to 23rd. Alternate pit strategy helped him get to the front and he utilized one of the fastest cars on the track to hold off veterans Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan for three restarts and the win. In addition to the team’s win this season, Wilson brought them a pole on the streets of Long Beach in the Champ Car finale but his engine failed on Lap 13 and he was unable to capitalize on having the best race car throughout the weekend.

“Going to a road course is going to be good,” said Wilson, the 2006 and 2007 Champ Car runner up to four-time champion and NHLR driver Sebastien Bourdais. “It’s what we know, what we have experience with. I think its going to be fun and I’m looking forward to driving the McDonald’s car there. The Glen is a higher speed track so it is different than St. Pete because you get more into aerodynamics but hopefully we can have the same kind of performance. It will be good to turn left and right; it’s what we are used to. Before we went to St. Pete we hadn’t had a chance to run the car more than a few laps on a road circuit so I wasn’t expecting to do that well but it turned out the car was very good and very fast so I was pleased with the result in qualifying. With a bit more luck with the strategy we could have had a much better result but generally we were pleased with the progress. Watkins Glen is going to be a similar situation as we still haven’t had a chance to test this car on a road circuit yet so we’ve got some work to do but I’m hoping we will be up there fighting for a pole position.”

Seventh-nine of the team’s 106 wins and 89 of their 107 poles have been earned on a road or street course. The previous road course race for the team was on November 11, 2007 in Mexico City where Bourdais brought the team their 105th victory in his final race before moving to Formula One and Rahal finished fourth after running third. Rahal went on to bring the team their 106th win in St. Pete this season and Wilson earned the 107th pole on the streets of Long Beach on April 19. Five of the next eight IndyCar Series races will be on road and street courses and Wilson, who has earned four wins, seven poles and 14 of his 15 podium finishes of his 55 starts in Champ Car on this type of course, was NHLR’s first choice as a replacement for departing champion Bourdais.

“Watkins Glen looks like it is a great road circuit with high speeds,” said Wilson. “I have seen the different configurations of the track back in the Formula One days, from many years ago until now. I have driven on the track in computer and simulator games but I am looking forward to driving a real race car around there. The elevation change is one of the things that make the track very cool to drive. It gives you a great sensation especially when you are driving a car like we have now with high downforce and high power. It’s a cool feeling to go over some of these high speed corners; you feel the (G-force) loads. It feels like a roller coaster ride but you are in control. I’m looking forward to it."

Only 15 of the 27 drivers entered in this weekend’s race have competed in previous IndyCar Series or Firestone Indy Lights events held at this track since 2005. Although NHLR, Wilson nor Rahal have experience on this track, Rahal believes the team’s previous road course experience will come in handy – to a point.

“Even though a Champ Car is a different car from the Indy car, we went to St. Pete with the belief that it is road course racing and that the Indy car is another race car,” explained Rahal. “We tried to use the same theories and the same setups that we would have in Champ Car. That process can be used to a certain extent but all of the bits and pieces of the Indy car are different and the characteristics are different in the handling of the car so there is quite a lot of learning that needs to be done still and I think that is going to come with testing and we haven’t really done that yet. It may be a road course but it is certainly going to be quite a challenge. A lot of people might feel that maybe we have a bit of an advantage because we are road racers but, truth be told, there is quite a lot of learning for us to do in these next couple of race on this type of track.”

Although Wilson, at 6’ 3-1/2” tall is hard to miss, fans will be seeing more of him in the central New York area. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have created approx. 403,000 commemorative cups that feature the driver and his No. 02 McDonald’s race car. In addition, 142,500 tray liners that feature Wilson and the Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen have also been created for distribution at 95 restaurants in the area. On Saturday and Sunday, Wilson will make an appearance at the McDonald’s Family Zone area at the track.

This weekend’s Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen can be seen on live on Sunday, July 6 at 3:30 p.m. EDT on ABC. The event will get underway with practice on Friday, qualifying on Saturday and the 60-lap race will begin at 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday. As always, fans can follow the action from every on-track session via the official website of the IndyCar Series, www.indycar.com <http://www.indycar.com/> . It will also be broadcast live on IMS Radio Network and XM Radio Channels 144 and 145.



JUSTIN WILSON, driver of the #02 McDonald’s Dallara / Honda / Firestone:
AT WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL: Will be his first race here.

SO FAR IN 2008: Qualified 17th but started 15th in the season-opener in Homestead due to two cars having their qualifying speeds disallowed. Dropped one lap down when he was hit by Will Power on a restart after approx. 22 laps and had to pit to replace a deflated tire but rallied to finish 15th…Started third in his street course ICS debut in St. Pete but alternate fuel and tire strategies dictated by intermittent rain led to a ninth place finish after he led a total of 18 of 83 laps…Was the pole winner on Friday and Saturday in the Long Beach Champ Car finale and dropped to second on the start but engine failure on Lap 13 ended his race and he finished 19th …Gained valuable experience after he was first to qualify and started 22nd in Kansas, led five laps after staying on track while others pit and finished ninth…Qualified 16th for his first Indy 500 and ran as high as second place but made contact after completing 133 of 200 laps and retired in 27th place…Steadily moved to the front in Milwaukee after starting 22nd but as he was about to pit, a caution came out and he had to make an extra stop from ninth place for a splash of fuel in a closed pit and dropped to the back of the field. Charged back to a seventh place finish…Qualified 23rd in his first race on a high-banked oval at Texas and was in 14th place when he brushed the Turn 2 wall and retired in 27th place with suspension damage…Started 20th in Iowa based on point standings when qualifying was rained out. Ran in the top-10 for most of the event including as high as seventh and finished 12th after struggling with the handling in the final stint…Was first to make a qualifying attempt in the hottest part of the session in Richmond after showers and non-compatible rubber was left on track from sprint cars. Qualified 23rd but drove to a seventh place finish in a crash-filled race…Is ranked 16th in the point standings with 161 points.

2006 & 2007 RUNNER UP TO THE CHAMPION: Finished runner up in the Champ Car championship to the driver he recently replaced, four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, in 2006 and 2007. Was a championship contender until the conclusion of the penultimate race of each season. He also finished third to NHR drivers Bourdais and Oriol Servia in 2005.

PERSONAL: Justin Boyd Wilson was born on July 31, 1978 (29) in Sheffield, England…He married the former Julia Coggins in England on 12-29-2006 and reside in a suburb of Denver with their newborn daughter Jane Louise (born 4-12-08; expected 6-1-08)…His father Keith was an amateur Formula Ford racer in England but retired before Justin was born due to a crash that broke his back and legs. Instead of taking interest in mother Lynne’s love of horses, Justin followed his father’s passion and began racing karts when he was eight…In order to help finance his 2003 season in Formula One, Justin created a company -- Justin Wilson PLC – and approx. 900 investors “bought shares of Justin” which raised $2 million. A portion of his earnings go toward repaying the debt…He has conquered the challenges of dyslexia and, if he wasn’t a race car driver, would be a designer of cars or etc. because he is curious about how things work or how to improve them…Hobbies include cycling, miniature golf, video games, karting and trying to fly one of his two RC Helicopters…He spends his free time plotting and completing home improvement projects as well as trying to find time to mow the yard between races…His typical day begins at 7 a.m. and he calls the U.K. and checks his email before spending an hour at his local gym with Julia. After lunch he rides his bike for 1.5 hours and devotes the remainder of the day to home projects, reading 50+ pages of NHLR engineering reports and hanging out with friends…At 6’ 3-1/2” he is the tallest IndyCar Series driver…Listens to Coldplay, Stereophonics, The White Stripes and dance music.

JUSTIN WILSON, No. 02 McDonald’s Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Going to a road course is going to be good. It’s what we know, what we have experience with. I think its going to be fun and I’m looking forward to driving the McDonald’s car there. Watkins Glen looks like it is a great road circuit with high speeds. I have seen the different configurations of the track back in the Formula One days, from many years ago until now. I have driven on the track in computer and simulator games but I am looking forward to driving a real race car around there. The elevation change is one of the things that make the track very cool to drive. It gives you a great sensation especially when you are driving a car like we have now with high downforce and high power. It’s a cool feeling to go over some of these high speed corners; you feel the (G-force) loads. It feels like a roller coaster ride but you are in control. I’m looking forward to it.

“The Glen is a higher speed track so it is different than St. Pete because you get more into aerodynamics but hopefully we can have the same kind of performance. It will be good to turn left and right; it’s what we are used to. Before we went to St. Pete we hadn’t had a chance to run the car more than a few laps on a road circuit so I wasn’t expecting to do that well but it turned out the car was very good and very fast so I was pleased with the result in qualifying. With a bit more luck with the strategy we could have had a much better result but generally we were pleased with the progress. Watkins Glen is going to be a similar situation as we still haven’t had a chance to test this car on a road circuit yet so we’ve got some work to do but I’m hoping we will be up there fighting for a pole position.

“My spare car is going to be making its debut in Watkins Glen. After Richmond the team still had to put an engine in the car and finish it to have it ready in time which I’m sure wasn’t easy and was pretty time consuming but I think it will be good to get the new car out and running and put ourselves in a position of having another car to rely on.”



GRAHAM RAHAL, driver of the #06 Hole in the Wall Camps Dallara / Honda / Firestone:
AT WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL: Will be his first race here.

YOUNGEST WINNER IN SERIES HISTORY: Became the youngest winner in IndyCar Series history when he drove to victory in his IndyCar Series debut in St. Pete at the age of 19 years and 93 days old. The previous mark was held by Marco Andretti who won at Infineon Raceway at 19 years, 167 days old. Rahal had only run 10 laps at testing speed in an ICS car on a road course (Sebring) due to a pre-race three hour test (4-1) being cancelled due to rain. Nelson Philippe holds the Champ Car record for his ’06 win in Australia at 20 years, two months and 29 days old. With his second place finish in Houston in 2007, he became the youngest Champ Car driver (1979-2007) to finish on the podium at 18 years, three months and 18 days.

SO FAR IN 2008: Missed the series opener in Homestead due to a lack of time and parts to repair his lone race car after a testing crash the Tuesday prior to race day…Progressed to Group 2 in qualifying for his debut on the street course in St. Pete but was unable to get a clear lap and qualified ninth. The race began under caution while standing water was cleared and once the green flag flew he progressed up to third place before his first pit stop a race that saw multiple pit strategies. He was hit on Lap 37 by Will Power which caused a spin and he dropped to 23rd but the team elected to gamble and keep him on track while others pit on Lap 60 under caution and he moved into second before the restart on Lap 65 and took the lead and held it through two more restarts including one with three laps to go while holding off two-time St. Pete winner Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan. He won by a 3.5 second margin to become the youngest winner in series history at 19 years, 93 days old after he led a total of 19 of the 83 laps and moved to fourth in the standings…Started ninth in Champ Car series finale in Long Beach and was up to fourth when he was alongside Franck Montagny during an attempt to pass for third and was spun which dropped him back to 12th place. While setting the fastest laps of the race, he charged through the field and into seventh before he hit the tire barrier on the final lap to drop to 13th place and ninth in the ICS standings and second in the ROY by 17 points…Made his oval debut in Kansas, qualified 20th and finished a competitive 12th only one lap down to the leaders…Was the highest Indy 500 starter of the Champ Car transitioning teams with his 13th place qualifying position in his Indy debut but made contact on Lap 36 after driving high to avoid the slower car of Alex Lloyd. Retired in 33rd place…Missed his first pole at Milwaukee by 2/10th of a second over a four lap average and started a career best second to Andretti in what was the first Andretti/Rahal front row since 1992 in Loudon, NH. Ran between second and fourth until Lap 130 when he drove over “marbles” and lost control of his car after trying to go around the slower car of Manning. Retired in 25th place…Started 18th and finished 11th, one-lap down in his high-banked oval debut in Texas…Started 16th in Iowa based on point standings when qualifying was rained out and earned his highest oval finish to date of 10th place…Earned his second highest start of the season with third in Richmond and held the position through his first stint but crashed on Lap 132 of 300 and retired in 18th place…Is ranked 17th with 159 points.

PERSONAL: Graham Robert Rahal, 19, was born in Columbus, Ohio on 1-4-1989 and resides in New Albany, Ohio…The 6’2” driver is one of four children of Bobby Rahal, three-time open wheel champion, Indy 500 winner and Hall of Fame race car driver…Has two sisters (Michaela and Samantha) and one brother (Jarrad)…Became the youngest IndyCar Series winner with his victory in his series debut in St. Pete on 4-6-08 and appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman" on 4-16-08 to discuss the feat…Graduated from New Albany High School with a 3.8 GPA on 6-3-07 despite missing over 80 days of school that year due to racing. ESPN The Magazine covered his graduation… When not racing he likes to work on cars, hang out with friends and family or play other sports for fun…Is a self-proclaimed “Car Guy” and still has the first car he received when he was 16 – a Subaru WRX sti – and is in the process of turning it into a race car with a Cosworth race engine. He purchased an ’07 Atomic Orange Corvette Z06 with his prize money but later sold it and now has an ’07 Ron Fellows limited edition Corvette Z06 as well as an ’08 Chevy Trailblazer SS. In addition he has a 1964 Mini Cooper that he restored for his high school senior project. He also temporarily owned a Porsche GT3 and an Audi he earned by graduating high school with a GPA of 3.5 or above…To prepare for the physicality of racing he spends many hours doing cardiovascular training and weightlifting, skiing, running or bicycling… His favorite type of clothing is anything made by Puma… His favorite food is sushi and his weaknesses are ice cream and white chocolate mocha drinks at Starbucks…His favorite books are those written by Lance Armstrong (and anything he read other than for school)…His favorite thing to watch on TV is any Ohio State Buckeye game, his favorite actor/actress are Owen Wilson and Eva Longoria and favorite movie is “Wedding Crashers.”

GRAHAM RAHAL, #06 Hole in the Wall Camps Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I’m really looking forward to going to Watkins Glen. We’re going back to our bread and butter – a road course. Obviously a lot of transitioning teams should be more competitive there. It is a very historic circuit for us and for the history of American auto racing overall. I’m looking forward to going there for the first time ever.
“I don’t know if the win (in St. Pete) has hit me yet. It’s cool when people talk about it, to hear my name and things like that. But it’s not something that I have thought about much. Obviously we have a huge task at hand this weekend at Watkins Glen. I’m looking forward to getting back to some road courses for the team and myself because I think that’s the type of place where we can capitalize on our experience and go out there and do our best.

“I have seen the track on race tapes quite a lot before so I know the circuit itself pretty well. You can never know the place 100 percent until you drive there yourself so there is still quite a lot to be learned once we get there. It may be a road course but it is certainly going to be quite a challenge. A lot of people might feel that maybe we have a bit of an advantage because we are road racers but, truth be told, there is quite a lot of learning for us to do in these next couple of race on this type of track. If we look toward the future I believe that is the way the IndyCar Series wants to go – more of a 50/50 split between road and street courses and ovals and it will be important for us to learn more about running the cars on this type of course as quickly as possible.

“Even though a Champ Car is a different car from the Indy car, we went to St. Pete with the belief that it is road course racing and that the Indy car is another race car. We tried to use the same theories and the same setups that we would have in Champ Car. That process can be used to a certain extent but all of the bits and pieces of the Indy car are different and the characteristics are different in the handling of the car so there is quite a lot of learning that needs to be done still and I think that is going to come with testing and we haven’t really done that yet.”