SIRIUS-XM and SPEED Get Fans Ready for Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream
Catch “Tony Stewart Live” on SIRIUS-XM Radio Tuesday Night and
SPEED “Prelude to the Dream Countdown Show” Wednesday Prior to Live HBO Pay-Per-View® Telecast
ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 8, 2010) – Fans waiting for Wednesday night’s Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream at the legendary Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, can whet their collective appetites tonight when Tony Stewart host’s “Tony Stewart Live” at 7 p.m. EDT on SIRIUS-XM Radio. The broadcast will be available to listeners nationwide on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, SIRIUS Channel 128 and XM Channel 128 with the “Best of SIRIUS” programming package.
And in the lead-up to the live 7 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. PDT) HBO Pay-Per-View® telecast of the sixth annual Prelude to the Dream on Wednesday, SPEED is airing a one-hour live pre-race special – the Prelude to the Dream Countdown Show – at 6 p.m. EDT (3 p.m. PDT).
Prelude drivers Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Ricky Carmichael, Tony Kanaan and Travis Pastrana will be guests on SIRIUS-XM’s “Tony Stewart Live,” which will be hosted by Stewart and FOX/TNT reporter Matt Yocum.
SPEED’s Prelude to the Dream Countdown Show will feature NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chiefs Darian Grubb and Steve Letarte as pit reporters, where they’ll join veteran reporters Dick Berggren and Yocum. Grubb is Stewart’s crew chief and Letarte calls the shots for four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Stewart will also don a headset and contribute to the Prelude to the Dream Countdown Show while SPEED personality and Prelude driver Kenny Wallace provides in-car commentary.
Throughout the one-hour broadcast, SPEED will provide behind-the-scenes access to the drivers’ arrival and the driver’s meeting, coverage of practice, an overview of Eldora Speedway, scouting reports, and features on event newcomers, which includes Carmichael, who earned the nickname “GOAT,” as in “Greatest Of All Time,” by scoring an incredible 15 American Motorcycle Association (AMA) championships – 10 consecutive Motocross titles and five Supercross titles – and becoming the winningest rider in history with 150 victories before retiring from the sport at the end of 2007 to embark on a career in stock car racing.
The 2010 Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream will be presented live on Wednesday, June 9 to the entire nation on HBO Pay-Per-View with net proceeds from the telecast supporting four of the nation’s top children’s hospitals:
• Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis: www.RileyChildrensHospital.com
• Cincinnati Children’s: www.CincinnatiChildrens.org
• Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C.: www.LevineChildrensHospital.org
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.: www.StJude.org
HBO Pay-Per-View’s racing telecast has a suggested retail price of $24.95 and is available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming in the pay-per-view industry. Ordering information and up-to-the minute racing information is available at either www.PreludeToTheDream.org or www.HBO.com.
The event is headlined by the Gillette Young Guns: Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Edwards and Joey Logano. All will join Stewart and many others, including fellow Sprint Cup champions Jimmie Johnson, Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte and Bill Elliott. Action sports legends Travis Pastrana and Carmichael will also participate along with 2004 IZOD IndyCar Series champion Kanaan. All will pilot 2,300-pound dirt Late Model stock cars capable of putting out more than 800 horsepower.
Beyond the charity element, this year’s Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream is a team event. There will still be an individual race winner, but there will now be a race within the race, with the field broken up into four teams, each representing a children’s hospital:
• Team Riley: Bowyer (captain), Ryan Newman, Gordon, A.J. Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Wallace and Ron Capps.
• Team Cincinnati: Kahne (captain), Logano, Stewart, Labonte, Elliott and Cruz Pedregon.
• Team Levine: Busch (captain), Johnson, Kenseth, David Reutimann, Dave Blaney, Marcos Ambrose and Pastrana.
• Team St. Jude: Hamlin (captain), Edwards, Ken Schrader, Aric Almirola, Carmichael, Kanaan and Ray Evernham.
Each hospital will receive a donation, with the payout breakdown as follows:
• Winning team receives 45 percent of net money raised.
• Second-place team receives 25 percent of net money raised.
• Third- and fourth-place teams each receive 15 percent of net money raised.
The lowest team score wins, and only the top-five drivers from each team will be scored. For example, if Team Riley has finishes of first, fourth, seventh, 11th and 18th, respectively, from its top-five drivers, its score will be 41. In the event of a tie, the sixth driver will be scored.
Drivers from all types of disciplines, some with lots of dirt track experience and others with hardly any, will participate in hot laps, qualifying, heat races and a 30-lap feature, all of which will be televised live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
With no points and no pressure, the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream is a throwback race, allowing drivers to step back in time and compete for the reasons they all went racing in the first place – pride and a trophy. And they’ll do it on the same surface that racing legends and past Indianapolis 500 regulars Foyt and Mario Andretti competed on throughout the last 56 years.
Complete event information can be found in the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream online media kit at www.TrueSpeedMedia.com.
