Number One and Two in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup to Battle F1 Leader Schumacher and WRC Leader Loeb
The 2004 Race of Champions-Nations Cup – the motorsports equivalent of soccer’s World Cup – is set to draw the attention of fans from every major racing series in the world to Paris, France on December 4th, 2004. This year’s competition marks the first year that the points leaders from the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Formula One and the World Rally Championship will come together to battle for their country’s right to claim they are “the World’s Fastest Nation.”
Today, at California Speedway, NEXTEL Cup points leader Jeff Gordon and second place driver Jimmie Johnson, running just 24 points behind Gordon, announced that they will lead Team USA’s effort to reclaimthe ROC Nations Cup.
Gordon and Johnson are intimately familiar with the challenge the ROC Nations Cup presents, having both been on the 2002 winning team that claimed the first Cup ever for the U.S. The ROC Nations Cup offers theultimate test of a driver’s skills, and is the only opportunity for racers from different countries and disciplines of motorsports to compete in equal machinery and on an equal track. Four-time NASCAR Champion Gordon and 10-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner Johnson are attempting to capture the United States’ second Nations Cup title, but it will not be an easy task considering the stiff competition that includes seven-time Formula One Champ Michael Schumacher driving for Germany and current World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Loeb behind the wheel for France.
“In this Olympic year, this is our chance to compete for our country,” said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. “The atmosphere surrounding the event is relaxed and fun, but every driver who straps on a helmet wants to win. In this case, we want to win for ourselves and for our country.”
“Jeff (Gordon), Colin (Edwards) and I had a blast in 2002 and when the opportunity presented itself for Jeff and me to go back and compete for Team USA, we just couldn’t pass it up,” said Johnson, driver of the No.48 Lowe’s Chevrolet in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. “Fredrik (Johnsson, president of International Media Productions) continues to bring together the best drivers in the world. We’re looking forward to thechallenge and we hope to regain the Nation’s Cup.”
“This event has the opportunity to become a point of international focus without parallel in motorsports, and its potential for growth in the U.S. is remarkable,” said Jim Hancock, event promoter in the U.S. “WithGordon and Johnson on board, the 75 million fans of NASCAR now have the chance to see their best drivers go head-to-head with the world’s best.”
Immediately following this year’s NASCAR banquet, Gordon and Johnson will board a plane provided by Learjet, Inc, a subsidiary of Bombardier, Inc. and travel to Paris, France for the competition. “We are very proud to be playing a role in these great athletes’ effort to recapture the title they first won for the United States in 2002,” said Dana Arnold of Learjet.
At the ROC Nations Cup, teams are eliminated based on the number of heat wins and combined time (in the event of a draw). In every match, racers go head-to-head against their counterparts, resulting in extremely close action and finishes often separated by only fractions of a second. The team emerging from Saturday's final lays claim to "the World's Fastest Nation" title.
