Shane Lewis will return to Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) this Saturday for the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series' third round of 2004. Increasing Lewis' usual optimism this weekend is the amount of progress that the Steve Southard-owned team has made to No. 7 PAP Parts BMW-FABCAR since the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in February. The white BMW-powered FABCAR made substantial headway with Lewis behind the wheel at the most recent Rolex Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS) breaking into the top-five of competition. With further refinements made between the two events, Phoenix could be the meeting point of preparation, hard work and luck for Lewis and the PAP Parts/ Southard Motorsports team. Lewis, lead driver at Southard Motorsports, lived in Phoenix for severalyears before moving to Florida. He considers the famous desert facilityone of his favorites on the circuit. He has two victories on the1.5-mile, 11-turn track including an overall victory in the 2001Grand-Am Cup event and has regularly shined there. Shane Lewis, About racing the BMW-FABCAR at Phoenix: "I've had a lot of success inPhoenix. I have won a couple of races there. It's a driver's track but,it takes more than just the driver. Because the track is so short andlap times are so quick, pit stops are real important. The crew, thesetup and driver skill all have to be combined to make a winning packageeverywhere we go, but at Phoenix it is all magnified. Every piece has tobe in place to be successful at PIR." About the anticipated high temperatures: "The heat is going to play afactor even though it's a night race. It's going to be hot inside theseDaytona Prototypes. The crew keeps telling me it's a dry heat though. Ikeep asking them; 'you mean like a sauna?'."About the progress being made at Southard Motorsports: "I'm reallyexcited about the future here at Southard Motorsports. Steve has reallyspearheaded this program and gotten the entire crew focused on makingthe improvements that we need. The entire PAP Parts crew is excited andwe are all working in the same direction right now. I believe that Miamiwas a turning-point for our program. We were fast there. We want to bethe team that puts FABCAR and BMW back into victory lane."Shane Lewis has been racing since 1989 with multiple race wins inGrand-Am sanctioned events, in the IMSA Supercar and SCCA Pro Series andthe Historic SportsCar Series. He has starts in ARCA stock carcompetition, at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and is a former DaytonaEndurance Champion and Formula Ford Festival winner. He has driven insix Rolex 24s and three 24 Hours of Le Mans- leading the race in GTclass in 2003. He has two overall and one class-victory at the 24 Hoursof Nelson Ledges. Lewis was honored as the 1998 Professional Sports CarRacing Rising Star award winner. Lewis also serves as a test driver andprivate coach.