Double the Pleasure: Brooke Tatnell sweeps “Best Appearing”
Monday, August 15, 2005
Knoxville, IA (August 14) -- Rain kept the 45th Knoxville Nationals at bay until Sunday, but no delay was made in the decision of who “had the look” for the 2005 XR Nationals “Best Appearing” Car & Crew presented by Hy-Vee.
Brooke Tatnell, the Aussie who was hired in 2005 by Rush Racing out of Washington, took not only the honors of “Best Appearing” Car but also “Best Appearing” Crew in the first ever fan vote. Attendees of the Knoxville Nationals along with visitors to www.sprintcarxr.com spoke up, and were loudly heard. Tatnell, Shane Stewart, Chad Kemenah, Terry McCarl, Craig Dollansky, and others battled for the fans' vote with special paint schemes and uniforms, in a promotion that had an exceptional turnout for the first year of fan involvement.
“My car owners are into promotion and being seen and people take notice. They are interested into promoting Brooke Tatnell, Rush Racing and our sponsors with this one-off paint scheme. There is a $13,000 paint scheme, $ 7000 in crew apparel - a $ 20,000 investment to win the honor of Best Appearing Car & Crew. They do it right and are trying to raise the bar to the next level” said an elated Tatnell.
The Rush Racing TRU FIRE #8 was the talk of the weekend, not only for it's appearance, but the appearance of the team's scantily clad “Steel Dream” girls. “We worked extremely hard on this promotion with the addition of the Steel Dreams girls, the specially painted fire car and the uniforms from Awesome” stated Tim Hanson , co-owner of Rush Racing.
The owners of Rush Racing commissioned famed artist Mike Lavallee of Killer Paint to create what has been described by the many fans that witnessed the debut as “the coolest car I’ve ever seen”. Lavallee, who is headquartered in the Northwest where the #8 Rush Racing team originated, is world famous for his innovative concept of painting his signature theme of TRU FIRE for the likes of Jesse James, Kid Rock, Jake Osbourne, Chip Foose, WWE Pro Wrestler “The Undertaker” Ford Motor Company, Muscle Machines, The Discovery Channel, Mac Tools, AOL and more.
Fans took the opportunity to say “Who Had the Look” over www.sprintcarxr.com and it tallied close to 1200 votes in all.
2005 Best Appearing Car Votes:
Brooke Tatnell 287
Shane Stewart 115
Terry McCarl 57
Kenny Jacobs 55
Chad Kemenah 41
Stevie Smith 39
Craig Dollansky 27
Brian Paulus 26
Randy Hannagan 2
Lynton Jeffrey 1
Bob Bennett 1
2005 Best Appearing Crew Votes:
Brooke Tatnell 191
Shane Stewart 130
Terry McCarl 71
Sammy Swindell 56
Brian Paulus 31
Stevie Smith 18
Ricky Logan 16
Chad Kemenah 15
Craig Dollansky 10
Jason Sides 2
Roger Crockett 1
2005 XR Nationals “Best Appearing” presented by HyVee sponsors include: Flat Out Magazine, Race Outfitters, Awesome Racewear, Taylor Wings, Hoosier Tire Midwest, Aerotech Styling, Fast Wings, Mediacom, Power 110 Race Fuels, Budweiser, Horizon Federal Savings Bank, Iowa State Savings Bank and Dirt Track Fury.
The XR (X-Celerated) line of websites (www.racexr.com) delve into the life and industry of each form of motorsports that we cover. XR features online “web-logs” known as “blogs” that are a staple ingredient in the XR potion. Participants are hand-selected for each XR website and their live-wire personalities are featured. All sites in the XR brand offer an unapologetic, unbiased look at the motorsports industry and are backed by a high-performance software contingent to give users an unprecedented racertainment experience. XR is a featured product of the AXR2 Motorsports Media Agency (www.axr2.com).
Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating more than 220 retail stores in seven Midwestern states. We provide career opportunities for 47,000 employees and generate annual sales in excess of $4.6 billion, ranking us among the top 15 supermarket chains in the nation. For more information visit www.hy-vee.com.
For more information, contact Barry Braun at AXR2 Motorsports Media Agency
320-237-1264, barry@axr2.com, www.axr2.com www.sprintcarxr.com.
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