Sports car and open-wheel racer Max Papis tested the #91 Dodge Intrepid research and development NASCAR Winston Cup car for Evernham Motorsports today at Kentucky Speedway. It was a very good experience being in a Winston Cup car. It is different than anything I have driven in the past, said Italian Max Papis. The car is a lot lighter than I thought and has a different feeling with the downforce. I enjoyed every lap. Mad Max did about 82 laps around the 1.5-mile tri-oval Kentucky Speedway. His quickest time was 31.1 seconds [173.633mph], with the fastest of the day being a 30.6 [176.471mph], just five-tenths of a second off of Bill Elliotts time. Of course, it was just a test and Max spent most of the day getting a feel for the Dodge and getting acquainted with Winston Cup oval racing. Papis not only had to familiarize himself with the car and the circuit, but he also had to test on a circuit with some seasoned pros like Elliott, Jimmy Spencer, Ricky Craven and Johnny Benson. There were eight to ten NASCAR Winston Cup cars testing at Kentucky. Sammy Johns, Test Team and Research & Development Coordinator oversaw Papis test for Evernham Motorsports. Ray Evernham chose Max Papis to do the NASCAR Winston Cup test for him as part of his test team and driver development program, based on Papiss driving credentials. Papis met Evernham last year in Bristol, right after he had done a test for Travis Carter at Lakeland [FL]. Adding NASCAR Winston Cup to his racing portfolio is a desired goal of Papis’.( Max Papis Site story is dated March 16th but testing was yesterday)(4-18-2003)
