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Widget Crew Member Rewarded with Rally School

14 September 2002 - For immediate release
For more information, contact: John Dillon
Widget Rally Team
P. O. Box 1231
Thousand Oaks, CA 91358-0231
Phone: 805.906.7797
Widget web site: www.WidgetRacing.com
e-mail: John @ WidgetRacing.com

Widget Crew Member Rewarded with Rally School

Ridgecrest, CA. Widget Rally Team principals John Dillon (Thousand Oaks, CA) and Leon Styles (Mission Viejo, CA) thanked their newest crew member Rob Marssdorf (Portland, OR) by sending him to rally school on Sept 14th. The school, hosted by the California Rally Series and sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America, is designed to teach the basic skills of competing in a rally as well as providing extensive in-car training for both drivers and navigators.

This is the third time the Widget Team has entered crew members into the school. Previously Chris Shields and Aaron Laeng have gone through the training. Laeng, 16, put his newfound skills to good use last May when he codrove for Lauchlin O'Sullivan to a national Group 2 victory at the Rim of the World rally in Palmdale, California. Shields won the Ridgecrest RallyCross the day after his class was over.

Rob joined the team last April and provides assistance at all the northwestern U.S. events. "I've wanted to get involved in the sport for a long time," reports Marssdorf, "and I kept reading and hearing about the Widget team. I thought it would be good to hook up with a professional-caliber operation like theirs so I volunteered my services. This has been a wonderful experience and I'm learning a lot about how a good team is run."

Leon Styles, driver for the team, praised his newest crewman, saying "Rob really jumped in. He's been a huge asset to the team. He pays close attention to detail and maintains a positive attitude regardless of the tasks he's assigned. It's been wonderful to have him and his wife Corine on board."

The team's co-driver, John Dillon, echoed Leon's sentiments, pointing out that Marssdorf shows initiative at every rally. "Last weekend at Wild West, our team debuted a brand new sponsor board for Parc Exposés built by Rob." (A Parc Exposé is a place where the race cars are displayed prior to the rally's start.) "His careful design and meticulous work gave us plenty of space to provide information about our sponsors and the team to the general public. Spectators and fans were constantly around the car and picking up brochures about our business partners, all thanks to Rob." By the way, Rob's design is clever enough that the board folds in reverse so the literature boxes are protected while in transit.

The Widget Rally Team is supported by Tombstone Paintball Park, Sampson Racing Communications, Porterfield Enterprises, and Shults Dot Com. The team recently won the Gorman Ridge Rally and took home a pair of second place trophies at the two Wild West rallies. Their car, a 1990 Audi Quattro prepared by George Plsek of Tato Motorsports, has proven to be a competitive machine even when pitted against modern-era factory-backed rally cars. The Widget Team's next event is the Prescott Forest Rally in Arizona.

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