Another one goes over to the dark side

Schumacher adds Funny Car racer Toliver to team roster

http://www.nhra.com/content/news/26368.htm

Gregarious personality Jerry Toliver will drive the Rockstar Dodge Charger
R/T Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series, beginning Feb. 7-10 at the 48th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts
NHRA Winternationals, it was confirmed Monday by team owner Don Schumacher.
A native of California, Toliver returns to his first full year of Funny Car
competition since 2004. The popular, articulate, and outgoing racer skipped
the 2005 and 2006 seasons and ran all but four national events in 2007 under
as an independent with Rockstar backing.

Rockstar Energy Drink returns as Toliver's primary sponsor on the Dodge
Charger R/T Funny Car, a major associate sponsor on the NAPA Auto Parts
Dodge driven by Ron Capps, and as an associate sponsor on the rest of the
Don Schumacher Racing teams.

Phil Shuler, who, along with Todd Okuhara in 2007, tuned the Mail Terminal
Services Dodge for Jack Beckman and the Mopar/Oakley Dodge for Gary Scelzi,
was named crew chief.



"Rockstar had expressed a desire to expand their operation and their
footprint in NHRA," Toliver said, "and they had a conversation with Don some
time ago regarding Don Schumacher Racing. In 2007, Rockstar and I were
looking for new and better ways to improve our entire program and, of
course, we decided going to Schumacher Racing was certainly going to help us
in performance as well as being able to get the brand out there in a big way
with all the other associates and teams we would be working with.

"We feel Rockstar will have a much bigger footprint, a lot more visibility,
and if we get the performance up to a level that I'm absolutely confident
will happen, Rockstar will certainly get the return on their investment
they're looking for.

"Don's got a great winning history," continued Toliver, whose NHRA career
record shows five wins in 10 final rounds since 1998. "He's done a great
job. He's built this organization over the last 10 years from one team to
what it is today. To succeed in the real world, as in NHRA, you need all the
help you can get and all the resources you can muster. With Schumacher
Racing we have all the help and all the resources I think we need to have in
order to make this car a championship contender."

"It is truly exciting to help synergize Jerry Toliver with Don Schumacher
Racing, which now will generate massive brand visibility for us in all the
right ways," said Jason May, Rockstar's Executive Vice President of
Marketing. "Don is a legend, he has an amazing presence within the sport,
and has the top talent in the pits, which we need to propel Toliver onto the
podium this year. Additionally, we are excited for our associate sponsorship
of the dynamic drivers on Don's roster. We are looking forward to a fruitful
and exciting season, to say the least."

"I've always said that NHRA drag racing needs personalities and characters
in its driver lineup," Schumacher added, "and Jerry Toliver certainly fits
that bill. He is also a veteran businessman and a talented racecar driver.
He understands how this sport and business work, from every aspect, and that
is a major asset to our team.

"Working together with Jerry and Phil Shuler, we promise we'll do our best
to provide all the necessary resources for the team to be a championship
contender."