The 2011 season proved to be a tough year for Brian Keselowski, owner of K-Automotive Motorsports and the #92 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, but he is not about to give up or call it quits. Instead, K-Automotive Motorsports is moving their shop from their Statesville, NC location to a new facility in Mooresville, NC this January and will expand the company into the ARCA Racing Series to help new and upcoming drivers break into this ever growing sport. Keselowski is excited about kicking off the 2012 season as an owner in the ARCA Racing Series and looks forward to working with these new drivers. “I concentrated on my Cup racing all year and we’ve seen how that went. It was very hard to do with little sponsorship and as an owner I want to keep my company going and I’d like to be able to keep racing my Cup car too. I think expanding the company will be the way to do it. I really enjoyed my time when I raced in the ARCA Series and I’d like to help new drivers who are looking to get into this sport, the chance to be able to do it too. I have the cars and parts and they will not help me by sitting on a shelf or under a car cover. They are here to be raced, so let’s go racing” stated Keselowski.(K-Automotive Motorsports)(12-19-2011)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
K-Automotive Motorsports Expands Company into the ARCA Racing Series With New Driver Announcements for 2012.
Huntersville, NC (December 15, 2011) – The 2011 season proved to be a tough year for Brian Keselowski, owner of K-Automotive Motorsports and the No.92 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, but he is not about to give up or call it quits.
Instead, K-Automotive Motorsports is moving their shop from their Statesville, NC location to a new facility in Mooresville, NC this January and will expand the company into the ARCA Racing Series to help new and upcoming drivers break into this ever growing sport.
Brian Keselowski is excited about kicking off the 2012 season as an owner in the ARCA Racing Series and looks forward to working with these new drivers. “I concentrated on my Cup racing all year and we’ve seen how that went. It was very hard to do with little sponsorship and as an owner I want to keep my company going and I’d like to be able to keep racing my Cup car too. I think expanding the company will be the way to do it. I really enjoyed my time when I raced in the ARCA Series and I’d like to help new drivers who are looking to get into this sport, the chance to be able to do it too. I have the cars and parts and they will not help me by sitting on a shelf or under a car cover. They are here to be raced, so let’s go racing” stated Keselowski.
In November, K-Automotive Motorsports put the word out that they were looking for new drivers who wanted to come to the Daytona International Speedway for the open ARCA test to be held December 16th, 17th, and 18th and the responses were overwhelming. “It is amazing what we were able to put together in a short amount of time. I have a whole program set in place for how I want my drivers to test so they can come back in 2012 to race” said Keselowski.
K-Automotive Motorsports would like to welcome and introduce their drivers who will participate in the open ARCA test at the Daytona International Speedway this weekend.
Driver: Sam Edwards
Birth Date: September 4, 1988
Current Residence: Cullman, Al
Sam attended his first NASCAR race at the young age of 18 months old at Talladega Speedway and it’s been in his blood ever since. He started racing at the age of 6 with go-karts. Throughout high school, he raced motorcross on quads and ran in the pro class in the southeast. He attends Jacksonville State University, located in Jacksonville, AL, majoring in Business Management.
Sam is a current employee of the Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure as a professional instructor at different race tracks across the country. He has been with DJRA for almost two years and will continue to work there in 2012 on his non-racing weekends. Sam is also a noted SIM racer in the iRacer.com Series. He likes the stiff competition of SIM racing because it gives him the opportunity to race with competitors just as fast as him, and he likes the fact that you can learn different disciplines, such as road racing. He spends anywhere from 15 to 25 hours a week sharpening his skills on iRacing.com
Sam’s hopes for 2012 are to run the full season in the ARCA Racing Series, provided he can find the sponsorship to do it. If he is unable to secure sponsorship for the entire season, then he would like to run as many as he can with the proper per funding.
“In my spare time I enjoy playing guitar, upright bass, and the mandolin. My dad has played his entire life and I learned how to play these instruments from him. I also do a lot of racing online with iRacing.com. My biggest enjoyment in life is talking to people. I’m always interested in what people do and hearing their life story. It’s truly amazing how much one can learn from another person”, stated Edwards.
Driver: Andy Jones:
Birth Date: October 3, 1988
Current Residence: Princeton, MN
Andy Jones comes from a well known family in the racing community. His dad and uncle have been racing all over the U.S. Andy’s passion for racing started at the age of six. He started racing go karts and won the championship that year. He won back to back titles at Thunder Hill Raceway and in 2 years he had successfully achieved over 30 victories.
Jones continued to follow his passion for racing and in 2006 he traveled throughout the upper Midwest racing a Wissota Midwest Modified. Over the next 3 years he achieved 25 feature wins and over 75 heat race wins. A majority of the wins were won at prestigious races that are considered to be the “crown jewels” of racing in our Midwest region. Some of the biggest Midwest Modified wins of my career were the “Mighty Axe Nationals” and “The Legendary 100” at Cedar Lake Speedway.
In 2009, Jones started racing a Wissota Modified throughout the upper Midwest.
One of the biggest highlights of his career was winning his first ever Modified feature at Cedar Lake Speedway. “It was my first night ever in the car and I had started the feature from the 4th row. I charged to the front and went on to win that night. That night, I had beaten the best of the best in our area of Modified racing”, stated Jones.
He decided to run the COMO Modified Series in 2010, where he finished third in the series as a rookie. That same year, Jones also drove a 360 Sprint Car on a limited basis in the UMSS series. He started out his 2011 season by purchasing a 2010 maxim from Craig Dollansky. He participated in 23 shows, four of which were feature wins. His season concluded with 10 heat race wins, multiple top five’s, and various top 10’s. Jones finished second in UMSS Series points.
For the 2012 season, Jones plans on having two race ready sprint cars. He will be racing with the ASCS Midwest Series, going for rookie of the year. He would like to run a few 410 races around the Midwest too.
In his spare time, Jones likes to shoot pool, snow board, work on cars, and is the owner/operator of Jones vinyl graphics.
Driver: Sloan Henderson:
NASCAR Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award 2010!
Birth date: July 17, 1992
Current Residence: Ohio
www.sloanhenderson.com
In early 2011, Sloan was invited to Daytona for a road course test by Continental Tire in the Grand Am Series. During the test at Daytona, Sloan posted the quickest lap time for that car tested that day.
Sloan followed the test for Continental Tire by staying at Daytona for the A.R.C.A. series tests. Sloan “flat footed” the first lap on the high banks at Daytona to earn her A.R.C.A. license.
Sloan joined Coulter Motorsports as a signed development driver.
Later in the year, Sloan stepped on the other side of racing and was an assistant coach for the CMT TV series “Made”. She had the privilege of joining NASCAR racing legend Ernie Irvin as they teamed up to teach a 40 year old housewife how to race.
Sloan is currently a freshman at Wright State University. She is an alumni of Dayton Christian School having graduated in June 2011. Sloan was active in the, “Worth Waiting For” program at Dayton Christian. She is also active with “Make A Wish”. Sloan traveled to Cleveland in 2009 to grant a wish to a young boy. On December 15, 2008, the City of Franklin honored Sloan with the “Sloan Henderson Day”. The City of Franklin also chose Sloan as the grand marshal for the July 4th Parade held in Franklin, OH. She was also given the privilege of re-dedicating the historical “Lyon’s Bridge.”
Sloan also has done a weekly update on her racing on the Rebel 105.9 radio station and has co-written weekly stories in 5 local newspapers for the Miller Publishing company. Sloan has also been a featured writer in the e-magazine “The Voice of the Miami Valley.” In addition, Sloan is printed in England in an e-magazine called RacerGirl. She also makes numerous personal appearances plus interviews on radio and TV news programs. Sloan’s combined FaceBook page and fan page numbers have exceeded 11,000 members as of May 25, 2011.
Sloan is not ashamed of the Gospel and supports corporate prayer before every race. In fact, she and her father pray before every race and most practices. “This doesn’t mean we are perfect. It means we know what direction we are all heading toward”, stated Henderson.
This year Sloan hopes to run the full season in the ARCA Racing Series and run some Camping World Truck Series races. Ultimately, she dreams of becoming the first woman to win the championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
She likes 4 wheeling, loves her dogs & enjoys some shopping time with her friends.
Driver: Bobby Pelland:
Birth Date: July 30, 1993
Current Residence: Cranston, Rhode Island
Bobby Pelland started his racing career in 2009 at the age of 15. He wanted to follow in his father and grandfather’s footsteps. Pelland’s father, Robert Pelland won the championship at Seekonk Speedway, located in Seekonk, Massachusetts in 1994. Compelled to be like his dad, Pelland began racing street stocks at Seekonk Speedway also. His first year was full of accomplishments. He placed 12th in the points standings for the season, had one feature win which made him the youngest winner at Seekonk Speedway. He had 4 top five’s and 7 top ten’s which landed him the Rookie of the Year title.
In 2010 he moved on to late model racing at Oxford Plains Speedway, located in Oxford Maine and Lee USA Speedway, located in Lee, New Hampshire, where he finished 6th in the point standings. He earned 6 top five’s, 12 top ten’s and once again he won the title of Rookie of the Year. His 2011 late model season produced a 3rd place finish in the point standings, 2 featured wins, 16 to five’s and 19 top ten’s.
Pelland’s goals for 2012 are simple, “I want to win the Seekonk Speedway Late Model Championship” stated Pelland. He also hopes to run as many races as he can in the ACT Traveling Series and run a handful of ARCA races as his funding permits.
Pelland is determined to be a success both on and off the track. He is currently a freshman at the University of Rhode Island, where he is studying to become a lawyer. He is very athletic and likes to play basketball and football. He is serious about his workout regimen too.
Pelland enjoys spending his free time with his friends and he is a very outgoing individual with a great personality. He’s very people orientated and will take the time to talk to his fans at the track and answer their questions. “I can talk to anyone about anything and I like meeting new people and fans at the tracks, it’s a lot of fun” states Pelland.
DRIVER: Bob Bryant:
Birth Date: January 6, 1988
Current Residence: Ocean Springs, MI
Bob Bryant is not your typical racer. He did not start a racing career as a young child and he did not have family members involved in the sport to support him with a thriving racing career. Bob Bryant started out being a typical fan of NASCAR. He grew up watching his favorite driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. race every weekend on T.V.
In 2002, Bob got into SIM racing. He started SIM racing on Dale Earnhardt Jr’s, DMP online racing league. In 2005 and 2006, he won two championships on the popular DMP league. It was the most competitive kind of racing he had experienced up to that point, which made him really want to turn that “hobby” into something more. So at the tender age of 22, he bought himself a Sportsman Car and went racing in the local division at Mobile Speedway in AL, and Five Flags Speedway in FL.
Bob became friends with Brian Keselowski about 5 years ago when they met through an online football fantasy league and also raced together on another SIM racing league.
When Bryant saw Keselowski’s announcement that he was looking for people interested in testing for ARCA at Daytona International Speedway, Bryant saw this as an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. So he did what he had to do and got himself approved to attend the test. This will allow Bryant his dream come true of driving on the historic track at the Daytona International Speedway, and he can cross it off his bucket list.
As for Bryant’s racing future hopes and goals, he is optimistic. “I don’t know what my racing future holds, but honestly, as long as I don’t wreck the car or get hurt, I’m going to keep it as a hobby I am passionate about and see what other opportunities present themselves down the road” stated Bryant.
Bryant is grateful for the way things have turned out for him and wants other fans to know that just like him, anyone can do it. You can be a fan of the sport, standing on one side of the fence one day and be involved in the sport on the other side of the fence sitting in the driver’s seat the next day.
In Bryant’s spare time he enjoys working on his race car, jet skiing & anything with a motor attached to it.
K- Automotive Motorsports is looking forward to a great year filled with excitement, new beginnings and trips to Victory Lane. We are actively seeking all levels of sponsorship for our ARCA teams and our NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team. We will work with any company or individual. Packages will include some or all of the following: decal of their company’s name or any name they would like to be placed on various parts of the race car, complimentary all access passes for the entire race weekend of their choice and experience an ultimate garage tour for a chance to meet their favorite ARCA / NASCAR personalities and other hospitality amenities.
