SONOMA, California -- Jose Luis Ramirez will attempt to make history at Infineon Raceway during the Dodge/Save Mart 350, June 24-26, by becoming only the second Mexican-born driver in history to compete in a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event.
Ramirez, who is participating in a two-day NASCAR test session at Infineon Raceway Tuesday-Wednesday, is currently a full-time competitor in the NASCAR Grand National West Series and finished 10th in points in 2004. He’s had two West Series starts in 2005 and is currently 16th in points. Ramirez also competed in the Telcel MOTOROLA 200 NASCAR Busch Series race in Mexico City this year, starting 33rd and finishing 31st.
The Dodge/Save Mart 350 will mark Ramirez’s first-ever NEXTEL Cup event, if he qualifies, and he feels the weight of an entire country (Mexico) on his shoulders.
“It’s a lot of pressure but I’ve been dreaming of this moment all my life,” Ramirez said in his first visit to the 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course in the Sonoma Valley. “I’ve always wanted to drive a Cup car and to also represent my country is an honor.”
Other NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers participating in the two-day test are Carl Edwards (Office Depot Ford) and Kasey Kahne (Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge). Travis Kvapil (Kodak EasyShare Dodge) will take part in Wednesday’s second day of testing.
The car Ramirez will drive in Sonoma is sponsored by Pro30.com, a Northern California-based mortgage bank/software technologies company. The team (Ware Enterprises Racing) is running a five-race schedule in 2005.
“Pro30.com is proud to be a leading lender within the Hispanic community, and we are excited to have Jose compete at Infineon Raceway in front of our hometown crowd,” said Novato resident Bill Coleman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Pro30.com.
Ramirez would become the 18th foreign-born driver to compete in a NEXTEL Cup Series event. Pedro Rodriguez became the first Mexican-born NEXTEL Cup driver after competing in six events between 1959-1971. Infineon Raceway has also hosted the series’ first Japanese-born driver, Hideo Fukuyama, as well as Klaus Graff, who was born in Germany.
