GILLILAND DOES NOT ESCAPE PORTLAND ATTRITION

ANAHEIM, CA (August 16, 1999) -- The body shops will be busy this week, following the Grainger 200 race at Portland Speedway. "It was a battle out there", said Gilliland. "I think everyone came out with massive damage to their cars."

This weekends race proved to be tough, as we were involved in an early race accident, which was totally unavoidable. "The 32 car spun right in front of me, and I had no where to go", said Gilliland. "I think someone came down on him and spun him out." The team hurriedly tore the front body off the car and made a few slight mechanical repairs and got the car back out on the track, but the immense damage kept bringing the car back into the pits for minor repairs.

On the way home from Portland the team made a quick stop at Mesa Marin Raceway to do a shake down on their back up car, which they plan to run at next weeks race in Irwindale. "The test went really well, and we have a pretty good handle on the car", said shop manager Ron Hearidge. Next week the team will just have to go down the road to Irwindale Speedway, where Gilliland and the No. 1 car currently hold the track record for fastest time. The Portland race will be televised on SpeedVision Saturday October 2nd at 11:00am PST.