GRAND-AM Road Racing

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - All around versatile driver Memo Gidley will be joining Team Sahlen at next weekend's Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen International in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.

Memo has raced everything from BMX Bikes to Go-Karts to Daytona Prototypes to Open Wheel Indy Cars to Front Wheel Drive Sedans, and achieved success in every discipline. Gidley's versatility is not just limited to land, as his first form of racing was in small sailboats. And recently Memo has taken up the sport of Jet Ski racing with considerable success.

"I am very excited to get a chance to drive the Mazda RX-8 in my first Rolex Series GT race," Gidley said. "I have always had a huge amount of respect for the GT class racers. I know that the cars can be difficult to drive fast, the racing is very close, and all the while they have to contend with Daytona Prototypes blasting by...I'm sure that is a very challenging combination. I love a challenge and I'm really looking forward to this experience with the Sahlen Team. And although we don't know much of each other, I have always gotten a great feeling about Joe Sahlen and liked what I have seen and heard about the team. I'm also really looking forward to working with Wayne and Will Nonnamaker and learning about GT cars. I can't wait for the weekend!"

Buffalo resident Joe Sahlen, who drives for and sponsors the team, is looking for the opportunity to have Gidley on the team.

"I have been watching Memo race in the Daytona Prototype class for the past several years," Sahlen said. "He has shown great speed along with the ability to bring the car home in one piece. Our goal all year long has been to assist Mazda in winning the GT class Manufacturer's Championship. And we hope that having Memo on board with us will give us that extra boost to get to the front of the GT field. Especially since Watkins Glen is Sahlen's home track."

"Team Sahlen will be entering the No. 42 and No. 43 Mazda RX-8s for the event at Watkins Glen International," said driver Will Nonnamaker. "For the past three races, Team Sahlen has run in the top five in the later stages of the race. Team Sahlen has been working to capitalize upon this continued pattern of increased competitiveness into race results at end of the event. Everyone on the team is putting in extra hours to achieve the quest of a top three finish at the Glen."

The Crown Royal 200 at The Glen will air live on Saturday, Aug. 7 at 6 p.m. ET on SPEED.

The 2010 Team Sahlen campaigns in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series and GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will be supported by Mazda, Mazdaspeed, HRPWorld.com, HAWK Performance, Cool Shirt, Racetech Seats, BBS, Racing Print Media, Alcon, Mothers Polish, EMCO, TheRaceSite.com, Grassroots Motorsports, Holliday Canopies, Alcon, CM Racing, Genesis Technologies, Endurance Karting, Bell Helmets, Castrol, Ianetti Design, and SpeedSource Engineering.