Thousand Oaks, California -- Lauchlin O'Sullivan (San Francisco, CA), 1999's winningest U.S. rally driver, and John Dillon (Thousand Oaks, CA), PGT co-driver champion for the Southern Pacific Division, will not be competing in the Sno*Drift ProRally after all. Sno*Drift is the first SCCA National rally on the 2000 U.S. schedule, scheduled for 29 Jan 2000 in the northern Michigan town of Atlanta. "We were really looking forward to racing in Michigan," said Dillon, "but we weren't able to complete the necessary sponsorship arrangements in time."

O'Sullivan, the 1999 California Rally Series champion and the Northern Pacific Divisional champion, was equally disappointed. "We planned to run the entire National series," he said, "so naturally it's a letdown to miss the first race." Nonetheless, with the next National race not until April (the Oregon Trail ProRally) the team is confident they can still secure the championship.

Wagen Werks Racing, led by crew chief Kevin Pennington, has teamed up with the Widget Rally Team for the year 2000. The team website www.WidgetRacing.com is sponsored by Shults Dot Com, with brakes provided by Porterfield Enterprises.

An announcement is expected soon regarding the new sponsor and vehicle package.