(Elk Mound, WI, May 2, 2000) Persistence paid off again for Jimmy Mars this past weekend, as the determined young driver scored another top-10 run in Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series action at Texas Motor Speedway. Overcoming adversity in the preliminary action, which forced Mars to use a provisional starting position in Saturday night’s featured event, Mars blasted off in his ParkerStore sponsored dirt late model to wind up the weekend with a solid ninth-place finish.

"It could have been a little better, but we feel like we got out of Texas with a decent result considering the problems we encountered early in the evening," commented Mars on the weekend trip to the Bruton Smith owned dirt oval, which is part of the Texas Motor Speedway complex in Ft. Worth.

Mechanical woes forced Mars to the pits during one of the B-main qualifying races on Saturday. Jimmy along with crew chief and brother Chris Mars, unloaded their backup car and placed it on the last row of the grid for the 100 lap feature event. After using a heavy right foot to work through the competitive field, Mars had blasted his Rocket Chassis prepared machine into a battle for a top-five spot, before eventually ending up in ninth in the final rundown.

"We’ve just got to keep working to get the bad luck off of our back," added Mars. "It’s all a part of this sport and we can weather the storm like we did this weekend and still come out with a somewhat decent showing, then we know that we’ll still be in the hunt over the long haul. Overall there have been a lot of positive aspects to the early part of this season and we just want to capitalize on our potential and win some more races."

Mars has faired well so far in his year 2000 return to dirt late model racing, after taking the 1999 season to claim the Rookie of the Year award on the NASCAR Remax Challenge Series in asphalt competition. A win at Speedweeks 2000 in Daytona, and a Pole Award on the Hav-A-Tampa tour have highlighted a good start to the season.

Following the first 12 events of the grueling 46 race season on the Hav-A-Tampa circuit, Mars is posted 16th in the national rankings and only 113 points out of the top-ten in the championship points standings. Jimmy has tallied a total of 4 top-five and 6 top-ten runs in the early going. As a former winner of the $100,000 to win Dream Race at Eldora Speedway in Ohio and the famed USA Outlaw Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway near Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, Mars is eager to hit some familiar dirt tracks where he has previous experience in the coming weeks.

"There is a long way to go yet," concluded Mars. "One of the biggest challenges on the Hav-A-Tampa Series is the ability to adapt to new tracks while also dealing with some of the toughest competitors in motorsports. We like challenges and with the support that we are getting from the folks at ParkerStore, we know that we will be in contention for the full season.

This weekend (May 5-6) Jimmy Mars Racing heads to the Tennessee hills of Tazewell Speedway for Hav-A-Tampa action in the "Ray Neely Memorial 100" which will yield $20,000 to the race winner. For additional information on the event and the Hav-A-Tampa Series, visit the tour’s web site at www.havatamparacing.com.

(Article by Ozzie Altman)

Official Results for the Wolf Brand Chili 100

1. 4 s9 Dan Schlieper Pewaukee, WI Chev. 100 $20,500
2. 6 18 Shannon Babb Decatur, IL Chev. 100 $10,000
3. 11 0 Scott Bloomquist Mooresburg, TN Ford 100 $6,500
4. 21 15 Steve Francis Ashland, KY Chev. 100 $4,500
5. 24 21 Billy Moyer Batesville, AR Pont. 99 $3,700
6. 15 6m Wendell Wallace Batesville, AR Pont. 99 $3,500
7. 1 15b Brian Birkhofer Muscatine, IA Pont. 99 $2,500
8. 10 24 Rick Eckert York, PA Pont. 99 $2,750
9. 22 1m Jimmy Mars Elk Mound, WI Chevy 99 $2,000
10. 18 99 Donnie Moran Dresden, OH Pont. 99 $2,250
11. 19 30 Steve Shaver Parkersburg, WV Chev. 98 $1,700
12. 7 53 Ray Cook Brasstown, NC Ford 96 $1,800
13. 8 53k Joe Kosiski Omaha, NE Chev. 96 $1,200
14. 13 5a Michael Coleman Tyler, TX Pont. 94 $1,100
15. 14 00 Freddy Smith Knoxville, TN Chev. 93 $1,500
16. 23 84 Roger Best Maryville, TN Chev. 59 $1,000
17. 5 89 Marshall Green Dalton, GA Chev. 58 $1,000
18. 9 31 Skip Arp Georgetown, TN Chev. 46 $1,200
19. 16 28 Dennis Erb Jr. Carpentersville, IL Chev. 45 $1,500
20. 3 96 Terry English Benton, KY Chev. 45 $1,500
21. 20 66 Bill Frye Greenbrier, AR Pont. 41 $1,350
22. 2 1j Davey Johnson Greensburg, PA Chev. 25 $1,000
23. 17 17m Dale McDowell Rossville, GA Chev. 14 $1,550
24. 12 32 Bob Pierce Oakwood, IL Chev. 8 $1,000