—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—

JUPITER, Fla., Friday, July 12, 2002 - Shane Lewis is set to take to the
streets of the United States’ capitol city in support of the first
professional auto racing event to be held in Washington DC. As lead driver
of the #45 American Viperacing Dodge Viper GTS-R, the Jupiter,
Florida-resident will be competing in round five of the American Le Mans
Series’ (ALMS) 2002 season. The race, which will start at noon (EDT),
Sunday, July 21, will be a 2-hour and 45-minute timed event.

“I have been excited about this event since they announced it last year,”
offered Lewis about the upcoming Cadillac Grand Prix of Washington DC. “We’
ll have to drive the track but it looks like they have done a good job
designing a street course that we’ll be able to race on. You sure can’t beat
the backdrop. Being in the heart of this country’s political world is pretty
inspiring and humbling at the same time. I’m eager to get the Viper out
there and see what we can do. This will be our first street race of the
season and these tracks always put a unique set of challenges on the car,
driver and crew.”

Lewis currently sits fifth in GTS-class points and has earned three top-five
finishes thus far in the season. The team has been undergoing heavy
development of the Viper since the beginning of the year and expects the
effort payoff soon.

“The AVR guys are giving all they have,” commented Lewis on the program. “We
have had some OK results but I think we are getting closer to finding the
right combination for the car. This car is no longer anything like it was in
2001 and nothing like the Vipers of 1999. All of us have put a lot of blood,
sweat and tears in closing the gap between us and the pure-breed racing
Saleens and factory Vettes. This will be the usual, hard-fought, knife at a
gunfight-type of event for the Viper.”

The patriotic Lewis hopes that the red, white and blue of his car will run
well on the track that has been carved out of the area immediately
surrounding RFK Stadium. “I can’t think of a more American car than the
Viper. What is more American than a big, front-engined sports car sending
big horsepower to big rear tires? Wrap all that up in a red, white and blue
package and it screams ‘I’m American and proud of it!’”

Shane Lewis has been racing since 1989. He is the 1998 Professional Sports
Car Rising Star award winner and has multiple race wins in the IMSA Supercar
and SCCA Pro series. Lewis has ALMS podium finishes at Silverstone,
Nurburgring and last season at Portland. This former Daytona Endurance
Champion has driven in 16 24-hour races including two 24 Hours of Le Mans,
six 24 Hours of Daytona and six 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2002, he is
competing as the lead driver for the #43 Orison Marketing - Planet Earth
Corvette Z06 in the GS I-class of the Grand-Am Cup Street Stock Series and
as lead pilot of the #45 American Viperacing Dodge Viper in the ALMS
GTS-class.

For more on Shane Lewis please see www.ShaneLewis.com.

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