Somis, California -- Husband and wife team Wolfgang Hoeck and Julie Lin of Mozart Racing (MozartRacing.com) have invited Widget codriver John Dillon to substitute for Julie at the final race of the year, the Ramada Express International Rally, headquartered in Laughlin, NV December 10-12, 2004. Hoeck and Lin won the Group N class in 2003 and finished third overall. Dillon recently earned his first national championship, as a codriver in the Open class. He's finished on the podium twice before at the Ramada Express, in 2000 and 2001, both times with Lauchlin O'Sullivan driving a PGT-classed Mitsubishi Eclipse.

"I think I'm coming down with something," reported Lin, "so rather than get in the car and feel sick, we talked it over and decided to see if John would like the ride. He's a good friend of ours and a pretty talented codriver too, we think."

"I wasn't sure whether I'd make it to Laughlin," observed Dillon. "Leon [Styles, with whom Dillon raced all season] is not able to run the full rally this year, and my work situation has changed, so it was sketchy at best. Everything came together at the last minute, but I feel really badly for Julie. It's so much fun watching the two of them work together in the car."

"Even though we're down on horsepower compared to the Open cars, we have a shot at the overall win," noted Hoeck. "On the other hand, it'll be my first time racing in an American rally with someone besides Julie so we'll start off a bit slowly. Fortunately he's used to racing with different drivers so I think we can get up to speed soon enough to be real contenders at the end."

About the Sport
Rallying is the ultimate team motorsport where street-licensed cars are raced at high speed on dirt trails with two people in the car, a driver behind the wheel and a codriver describing every bend in the road. Competitors are not allowed to pre-run the roads so they are racing "blind," navigating from a route book provided just hours prior to the event. Cars can easily reach speeds above 100 MPH as they snake between trees and along the edges of cliffs in this sport of strength and stamina.

About the Teams
Mozart Racing campaigns a Mitsubishi Evolution VII prepared by Clean Racing and sponsored by Sparco (www.sparcousa.com) and Mobil (www.mobil.com.)

The Widget Rally Team, that "serious team with a whimsical name," is supported by Perforce Software (www.perforce.com/wrt), makers of high performance software for computer professionals; 7-24 AirX (www.7-24airx.com), a domestic and international trucking and air cargo company; Worr Games (www.worr.com), manufacturers of tournament-quality paintball guns; and Tombstone Paintball Park (www.tombstonepaintball.com). The team insists on brakes by Porterfield Enterprises (www.porterfield-brakes.com) and utilizes the web services of Shults Dot Com (www.shults.com) for its internet needs. Satellite phones are provided by WCC Global Satellite Communications (www.wcclp.com).