Indianapolis, Ind. (January 13, 2002) - In a surprising announcement Saturday night at the Kendall Late Model Series Awards Banquet, it was announced by Champion Racing Association officials that the Kendall Late Model Series would be immediately renamed the CRA Sunoco Super Series with the signing of new series sponsor Sunoco Mid-America, which markets Sunoco Gasoline Products in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio

"We are losing a great partner that has helped establish this series since it's beginning five years ago," announced series Director Glenn Luckett, "Kendall Motor Oil has been sold and involved in two other corporate mergers in a little over a year." "It was a corporate decision to not spend any marketing dollars on the Kendall product for 2002 and beyond at this time." "I believe it was a winning relationship for the series and for Kendall, the Kendall Late Model Series became a recognized name by race fans all over the country."

Sunoco Mid-America, based in Toledo, Ohio, has signed a three-year agreement to be the title sponsor of the series. Sunoco Mid-America is a division of the Sun Oil Company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

"We have been involved with the series for several years as a car and an event sponsor," remarked Bud Talbot, Area Manager for Sunoco Mid-America, "we have had tremendous success using the car and series events to grow the Sunoco customer base in this region." "When we were presented with the opportunity to take over as the title sponsor of the series, we saw it as an opportunity to further grow the Sunoco business using the series as a marketing tool to attract new customers and more repeat business to the Sunoco Convenience Stores through out this region."  

The new series logo will be released in the next couple of weeks. The series will also have a new web site in the near future at www.sunocosuperseries.com !

The 2002 CRA Sunoco Super Series schedule was also announced at the awards banquet on Saturday. The series will have 18 events on the schedule again in 2002. For the first time ever, the series will host an event in Michigan. On Wednesday, July 3 the series will visit Kalamazoo Speedway located in Kalamazoo, Michigan for a 150-lap event. The series will visit Michigan again on September 21 when it will present a 100-lap event at US 131 Motorsports Park located in Martin, Michigan.

The series will have five events at Anderson Speedway, two events at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Toledo Speedway, Angola Motor Speedway, Shadybowl Speedway and Winchester Speedway. Plymouth Speedway, Kalamazoo Speedway and US 131 Motorsports Park will each host one series event. The longest event on the schedule will be the traditional Anderson 400 at Anderson Speedway on Saturday July 13th.