ORANGE COUNTY, CA. -- (National Distribution) May 20th, 2008.

O'Connell Racing (OConnellRacing.com http://oconnellracing.com/ ), a southern California based Grand-Am Rolex Series and NASCAR road racing team announced today a sixth place finish in the Rum Bum.com 250 at Laguna Seca over the weekend.  Going back to a set up that worked for the team at Daytona earlier in the year, team engineers Kerry Caldwell and Steve Parker were able to get the General Environmental Mgmt/Taleo Grill Porsche 997 balanced even though the Friday practice sessions were cut short due to the consistent cautions caused by cars going off course and getting stuck in the sand traps.

Team driver Kevin O'Connell qualified the car after taking less than 5 green flag laps in practice.  O'Connell commented, "I needed some more time on the track prior to qualifying the car but you don't always get the time you need on a race weekend."

After starting P-17 on the grid the team moved up through the field.  As anticipated by Montgomery and O'Brien there were early cautions that fell right into the team’s race strategy.  Roush took over driving duties for O'Connell and re-entered the field P-11.  Roush moved up through the field and by mid race was running P-3 when a full course caution was thrown and the team called Roush in for fuel and tires.  

During the stop, the team had long delay with a tire change.  Right side tire changer Eddie Bernabeo had a problem when a lug nut was jammed in his thunder gun prohibiting him from tightening the lugs on the right rear.  He called for another gun and was ultimately given teammate Rick Toth's gun to complete the stop.  Roy Montgomery commented, "These things are going to happen, but I give the guys credit for reacting quickly to get car out of the pits.”

Roush re-entered the track P-11 and began to work his way up through the field. Late in the race the team was back in contention for a top five when a Daytona Prototype slammed into Roush on the exit of turn 9 and spun the car into the gravel.  Fortunately, Roush was able to drive out of the gravel debris and rejoin the race in P-8.  At the checkered flag the team finished in P-6 in GT for the team’s best finish in the Rolex Series since its P-8 finish at the Sunchaser 1000 in 2007.         

The team heads to Watkins Glen New York for the 6 Hours of the Glen in the first weekend in June.

About O'Connell Racing: O'Connell Racing is a professional California based road racing team that competes in North America in the Grand Am Rolex Series and in the NASCAR Nationwide series. The team races in select events in both of these respective series in a focused effort to bring the highest visibility, media and branding opportunities to its marketing partners and sponsors: General Environmental Management, Inc., Taleo Grill, Mothers Polishes-Waxes-Cleaners, Rubb-n-Repair, Wrenchmints,  MicroFiberStuff.com http://microfiberstuff.com/ , Neo Synthetics, Sparco USA, General Pacific Group,LLC. Xoodlz, Inc, PAOCO and Arnett Designs.

Contact:
Roy Montgomery (949) 721.1769