Paulsen, C&R Racing Announces New House Driver of the C&R Special – PJ Jones

Courtesy Debra Crowley

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Chris Paulsen, President & Owner C&R Racing, Inc., announces today that PJ Jones will drive the C&R house car for the 2006 USAC Silver Crown Series presented by K&N.

“I’m very excited to have PJ in our car, the C&R Racing Special,” states Paulsen. “At this point it is a one race deal, he will race for us at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. PJ is a great driver that will give our car a good run he can race anything anywhere. He stands on the gas and that is certainly the style I like.”

Jones, no stranger to USAC Silver Crown racing, has twelve career starts and four top ten finishes with three top five finishes. PJ’s inaugural race was August 4, 1994 where he claimed the pole and the victory at Indianapolis Raceway Park; a career best for him in the USAC Silver Crown Series. Jones also has 2 midget car victories and 16 USAC Western Series Midget Car Series victories, tying him with Rusty Rasmussen. PJ also has an established racing career in NASCAR Busch and Truck Series, Champ Car, Score Off-Road, IMSA GTP and the former Indy Lights Series.

The decision to run Jones came after C&R made the decision to no longer run Shane Hmiel. NASCAR recently suspended Hmiel for life.

Chris unaware of the ban until the official announcement made by NASCAR, “I’m still fact finding on the details, I continue to believe Shane is a good kid and a heck of a racer. My concern is what is best for Shane and his family and it just isn’t the time to put Shane in a race car.” Chris continues, “When deciding on the original driver for the C&R Racing Special PJ was always at the top of my list. I’ve known PJ for a long time and watched his racing career evolve, I made the call, he was available and I happy to have him on our team. I’m looking forward to working with PJ and the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.”

C&R did not run the house car at the season opener, the historical Copper World Classic. Four of the twelve cars that ran Copper World were a C&R chassis. C&R Racing proved the power of the C&R Silver Crown chassis with our teams claiming pole, leading all race laps, and winning the race. Drivers powering behind the wheel of a C&R Silver Crown chassis at Copper World were Brian Tyler #21 (pole), Dave Steele #1 (race winner), Jerry Coons Jr. #99, and Tim Barber #28.

C&R continues to be the preferred builder and supplier to NASCAR Nextel Cup teams and supplies products to several of NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck Series teams, as well as teams from the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, Champ Car, USAC Silver Crown, National Sprint and Midget Car Series, and top Off-Road Racing teams.

The Homestead-Miami event is the second race of the 14 race series and is scheduled for March 24-25. Homestead-Miami is the series’ first venture on a 1.5-mile track.