ANN ARBOR, MI — NASCAR’s Pre-Season Thunder at Daytona International Speedway hosted the second round of the Clevite Engine Builder Showdown on January 19 and 22.

The event was the second record setting event of the season, when Mike Maiwald, long time Showdown participant and last year’s runner-up, shattered his own record setting time of 20 minutes and 20 seconds. Maiwald and his build partner Shane Parsnow set a new record build time of 18 minutes and 54 seconds.

The competing engine builders assembled 357 cubic inch Ford engines – similar in design to those used by NASCAR’s Ford race teams. The first round of the Showdown, which was held January 5 and 6 at Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, N.C., served as a qualifying round. The eight fastest times advanced to Round Two – beginning the head-to-head competition.

The first build saw Mike Maiwald and Shane Parsnow of Hendrick Engines against Ken Swanson and Robert Scott of Bill Davis Racing. With Maiwald’s record-breaking time of 18 minutes, 54 seconds beating out Swanson’s time of 20 minutes, 56 seconds.

Next up was last year’s Showdown champs Lanny Barnes and Todd Hamm of Richard Childress Racing versus Kevin Webber and Shane Parsnow (standing in for Tom Karas, who was ill at the time) of Hendrick Engines. Kevin Webber and Shane Parsnow took the build with a time of 21 minutes, 36 seconds.

Roush/Yates Racing Engines’ Randy Hewitt and Mike Kasch met Mike Lanci and Jesse Hardee of Ernie Elliott Engines in the third build of Round Two. Mike Lanci and Jesse Hardee sealed their spot in Round Three by posting a build time of 24 minutes, 27 seconds.

The final build of Round Two saw Paul Vanderlaan and Shawn Hughesman of Evernham Engines against Todd Hamm and Greg Gunnell of Richard Childress Racing. Todd Hamm standing in for Showdown veteran Danny Lawrence, helped the Childress team post an impressive build time of 19 minutes, 51 seconds.

The winners of Round Two received cash awards of $1,500 and will proceed to Round Three. While the date and location of Round Three is yet to be determined, the winners will receive $2,000 and proceed to the fourth and final round on May 24, 2005 at the prestigious NASCAR Technical Institute (NTI) in Mooresville, N.C.

The final round’s runner-up will receive a cash award of $5,000. The first-place winner will receive a cash award of $20,000 and the title of 2005 Clevite Engine Builder Showdown Champion. The winning team will also be immortalized alongside past Showdown Champions on the new Randy Dorton Memorial Trophy.

For more information about Clevite and the Engine Builder Challenge, go to: www.engineparts.com.

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