Jimmy Kite will be back in action this weekend replacing injured driver Paul Dana in the Suntrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway driving the No. 91 Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing Dallara/Toyota/Firestone. However, there were several changes within the Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing Team over the past two weeks.

Kite is coming off an up and down weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The team qualified the fastest they have all year, but an unexpected mechanical failure turned the car quickly sideways into the turn two wall on lap six of the race. Kite was back on the track the next week testing at Richmond International Raceway with a few new changes to his pit crew.

The Ethanol Hemelgarn team announced changes to their pit crew. Brian Hornick takes over as crew chief. Mike Colliver is the new chief engineer. Hornick's career in racing started in 1987 when he was the Chief Mechanic on Danny Smith's World of Outlaws Sprint Car team. Hornick moved into the Indy Car Series in 1990 with Shearson and driver Arie Luyendyk who won the Indy 500 that year. His career spans several teams including Panther, Team Menard, Kelley Racing, Hemelgarn Racing and Treadway Racing where he was part of the 1997 Indy 500 1-2 finish with Arie Luyendyk and Scott Goodyear. Along with his two Indy wins, Hornick has a total of 6 Poles at Indy and numerous wins at various other tracks.

Colliver was with the team at the time of their 1996 Indianapolis 500 win, and he brings 11 years of racing experience along with a B.S. in Engineering from Purdue to his new position. After starting out as a mechanic at Skip Barber Racing in 1994, Colliver worked his way into data acquisition with Patrick Racing and Treadway Racing. He built shocks for the Indy 500 pole winning entry of Arie Luyendyk in 1999 prior to moving into a Race Engineer position with Treadway Racing in 2000. Colliver engineered the 2001 IndyCar Series entry for Felipe Giaffone, who won Rookie of the Year honors. He then moved to Kelley Racing in 2002 to work with Al Unser Jr. and Tony Renna, winning Texas in 2003 with Al Jr. In 2004 he engineered Mark Taylor at Greg Ray’s Access Motorsports.

In addition, the team has hired mechanics, Brad Brewer and Joe Baird.

"We've been making a lot of changes internally to try to improve our competitiveness. We had a good test last week at Richmond and I think we're seeing progress. Bringing Mike Colliver on board has been a big help, and we've got some mechanics on the crew. We're starting to see a turnaround,” said Team Manager, Lee Kunzman.

"I'm really looking forward to this weekend with the Ethanol-Remy-Life Fitness Toyota. Richmond has always been one of my favorite tracks,” said Kite. “It's tight and fast and you cover so much track in the blink of an eye that you have to be really on top of what you're doing as a driver. Setup will be really important here because it is so fast and lap times are so quick. I grew-up driving Saturday night, short-track races so I am really comfortable with this. If we have a good car, it's going to be a fun night. The team and I had really good communication at Texas and that showed with our lap times so I am pretty eager to get to Richmond and see what we can do. We all want a top-ten, top-five finish. It isn't easy but I think it's in the team.”

Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing is backed by a group of companies within the fast-growing ethanol industry, led by the major ethanol design-build firms Fagen Inc., ICM Inc., and Broin Companies. Ethanol is a high octane, high performance fuel that is clean burning, renewable and made in America. As a growing component of the United States' gasoline supply, it delivers improved vehicle performance while reducing emissions and improving air quality. The IndyCar Series has announced that it will switch to ethanol as its fuel source beginning with a 10% blend in 2006 and moving to 100% fuel-grade ethanol in 2007.

The team's 2005 roster of supporting partners under the ethanol banner was announced earlier this week and includes nearly 30 equipment and process technology vendors and suppliers to the Ethanol industry.

A major ethanol industry sponsor on the 2005 roster is Ethanol Products. Major associate sponsors are Dakota Gold Marketing, Flottweg, Novozymes, and Victory Energy. Associate sponsors are A&B Process Systems, Advance Tank Construction, Alfa Laval, Brown Tank, Invensys Foxboro, J&D Construction, Laidig Systems, McCormick Construction, Mid America Steel, Monsanto, and WINBCO Tank. Supporters include the American Coalition for Ethanol, Blackburn Construction, E&I Specialists, the Ethanol Promotion & Information Council, the Illinois Corn Marketing Board, New Energy Corp., the Renewable Fuels Association and Tranter PHE. Other friends of the program are Barr-Rosin, Felker Fabrication, Malloy Electric Bearing Supply, SBI Mechanical, Wanzek Construction, and Westfalia Separator.

To learn more about the Ethanol industry and how ethanol can be used in the passenger car you are driving today visit www.drivingethanol.org. Team and driver information are available at www.hemelgarnracing.com, www.pauldana.com, and www.jimmykite.com.

Remy International, Inc. and Life Fitness are associate sponsors for the #91 Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing entry. Remy International, Inc. is headquartered in Anderson, Ind. (USA). The company designs, manufactures, remanufactures and distributes electrical, powertrain and related components and provides core exchange services for automobiles and light trucks, heavy-duty trucks and other heavy-duty, off-road and industrial applications. Products include starter motors, alternators, engines, fuel systems and hybrid drive systems. The company serves the aftermarket and original equipment manufacturer market, principally in North America, as well as Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Additional information is available at www.remyinc.com.

Life Fitness invents, manufactures and delivers the world's most advanced fitness equipment to both commercial and home markets. They are the global leader in providing industry-tailored solutions to world-class fitness facilities and training centers. Their industry leadership transcends three decades and includes some of the most celebrated advancements in the history of fitness. Additional information is available at www.lifefitness.com.

Josh Weissman, The GEM Group, 310-482-3315