Miller Smokin' Wheels
Protruck Challenge of Guam

Protruck Teams to Race on Guam at New Motorsports Park
Nine Protrucks from U.S. Mainland
to Challenge Pacific Rim Competitors
at the 20th Smokin' Wheels® Event

El Cajon, Ca, July 16 -- Protruck Racing Organization, Inc. (PRO) and the Guam Racing Federation (GRF) have announced a special Protruck Challenge® off-road race on the island of Guam on August 4-5, at the new Guam Motor Raceway Park, in the Village of Yigo. Nine Protruck teams will compete for a $24,000.00 purse in the Protruck Challenge, and those Protruck competitors will also run against off-road racers from Guam, Saipan, the Philippines, Japan Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea in a two-hour off-road enduro, known as the Miller Smokin' Wheels event. Also competing in the 20th Smokin' Wheels Weekend will be open and 1600cc buggy classes, two and four-stroke motorcycles, quads, pee-wee motorcycles (kids) and even a class for offroad mountain bicycles.

With the completion of the one-mile off-road course, 1/4 mile oval and motorcross portion of the multi-phase, multi-year construction project, the Guam Motor Raceway Park was officially opened in July. Miller Brewing's on-island distributor, Mid-Pac, will sponsor an eight-race "Miller Off-Road Racing Series" at the raceway for 2001, which includes the reintroduction of the Miller Smokin' Wheels event - a Guam racing tradition for 19 years. Along with Miller, the Guam Visitors' Bureau, KUAM-Radio, South Pacific Petroleum, Matson Navigation, NAPA Auto Parts and Pepsi Co. are the initial sponsors of the inaugural Miller Smokin' Wheels Weekend this year.

The Smokin' Wheels (previously sponsored by RJR's Winston Brand, henceforth the name) event was established in 1978, with previous champions including Malcolm Smith, Walker Evans, Roger Mears and the GRF's own president, Henry Simpson. Racing on Guam has been on hiatus since 1997, when the old raceway property was sold to investors for a golf course development. The new Raceway Park began construction in 2000, with a 250-acre land grant from the government. The next phase of development at the raceway will include a paved NHRA-approved drag strip and the third and fourth phases will incorporate a FIA-approved paved oval, road racing course and a Kart track within the next five to eight years.

The tropical island of Guam is a U.S. Territory, located 13-degrees north of the equator, strategically situated between Hawaii, Japan, Australia and Asia in the Marianas Island chain in the Pacific Ocean.

Off-roading has been popular on Guam since the introduction of the Jeep in World War Two. The Guam Visitors' Bureau is a strong backer of the Raceway project, seeing the potential for expanded tourism via motorsports from the Mainland and Pacific Rim for competition and off-season testing. PRO and GRF have a three-year agreement for the Protruck Challenge/Smokin' Wheels event.

"After watching Protrucks race on television, and seeing the popularity of Ivan's spec V-8 trucks grow on the Mainland, I just knew that they would be a great addition to the Smokin' Wheels tradition on Guam," stated Simpson. "Jerry Garrett, of Arrow Productions, had co-produced a one-hour television program of the event in 1990 on ESPN Network, and he's responsible for the idea of Protrucks coming to Guam," said Steward after his logistics visit in April. "The island hospitality is awesome and the raceway is built right in the middle of a tropical jungle sweeping out above the Pacific Ocean with a fast, wide and scenic course that will be perfect for a Protruck. it's going to be a real treat for the nine invited Protruck teams!"

The Miller Smokin' Wheels event will be a non-points race for Protruck competitors. Entered in the Protruck Challenge is: Dwight Lunkley, #52 Ford of Brownsville, CA with Dennis Dugan driving for the bilateral amputee truck owner; Rick Johnson, #43 Ford of Barstow, three time PRO Points Champion; Tony Licitra, #42 Chevy from La Habra, CA; Tom Koch, #29 For from Ridgecrest, CA, who will be running his new Protruck for the first time; Jason Cobb, #25 Ford from Glendale, AZ; Bob Shepard, #82 Chevy from Phoenix, AZ a recent winner of the Baja 500 event; and Colorado's Gary Magness will have his two-truck team (Ford #40, #50) competing with he and Rob Kittleson from Palm Springs, CA. Off-road champion Larry Ragland will make a special appearance, piloting Stewart's Protruck in the Challenge Event. And Stewart will pilot his Toyota Tundra Protruck in the two hour Smokin' Wheels Enduro in the open class ranks. The Protruck group will enjoy a week on Guam, staying at the luxurious Marriott Resort on Tumon Bay and flying via Hawaii on Continental /Air Micronesia Airlines.

PRO has three events remaining on their 2001 points schedule, with the Best in the Desert's Vegas to Reno on Sep. 27-30 and the Las Vegas 200 in December and a short-course event at Firebird Raceway with th Truckin' Nationals in October.

For more information call ProTruck Racing Series at (619) 449-6252
Or visit there website: http://www.protruck.com/