Thousand Oaks, California -- The Widget Rally Team, known as "partners in speed on the performance rally circuit," announced today that Leon Styles would become a Widget driver for selected events in 2002. Styles, who has been a U.S. rallyist for several years, first learned gravel driving techniques while in his early teens in Auckland, New Zealand. Styles finished the 2001 season third in the California Rally Series championship despite mechanical problems early in the year.

Codriving for Styles is John Dillon of Thousand Oaks. "John is one of the top codrivers in the country and I'm delighted to have him on board," said Leon. Dillon has competed at the U.S. national level since 1998 and has been on the podium in several classes of car over the years. In 1999 he won a Production GT championship and for the last two years has co-driven to overall podium results at the Ramada Express International Rally in Laughlin, Nevada.

Primary sponsor for the new effort is Tombstone Paintball Park (www.tombstonepaintball.com) with additional product support from Porterfield Brakes (www.porterfieldbrakes.com) and Shults Dot Com (www.shults.com) web services. The team will campaign a 1990 Audi Quattro S2 provided by George Plsek and serviced by Road Race Engineering. "We plan to do extensive testing before our first event to develop confidence in the car," noted Styles. "We know it's got plenty of power and handling. I just need to learn the different characteristics of the Audi as compared to my old car."

"I'm looking forward to racing with Leon," stated the co-driver. "I've been racing mainly in Production GT for the last three years. Moving into the higher-performance Open class with a talented driver like Leon is bound to be exciting and a lot of fun." Dillon raced once with Anton Musev in Open at Gorman Ridge Rally in 1999, where the two finished first overall. They attempted to reprise their victory in 2000 but a roll-over on the second stage ended their day early. It happened while John was on his honeymoon with new wife Donna.

Business commitments and a new addition to the Styles family means that the two only plan to race selected rallies in 2002. "My goal is to win the California Rally Series championship," declared the driver, "then move up to a full national season in 2003." In addition to five CRS events, the two are tentatively scheduled to compete in the Oregon Trail and Wild West rallies as well as the Pike's Peak Hill Climb.

The Widget Rally Team has a tradition of victory. The addition of Leon Styles to the team should help to further build on that tradition.