Team USA Scholarship Winners Gain More Opportunities

The scope of the Valvoline Team USA Scholarship program continues to broaden. Prior to representing their country in Nations Cup VIII at Donington Park, England, on October 18/19, Buddy Rice and Matt Sielsky will spend the early part of next week pursuing two different but equally exciting opportunities.
On Tuesday, Rice will test-drive Redman & Bright Racing’s Formula 3000 Lola-Zytek T97/50 at Snetterton, England.

Formula 3000 is the European equivalent of Indy Lights and features a 450-horsepower V8 motor.

Redman & Bright is a new team formed this year by Brian Redman, who has accumulated a long list of accomplishments during more than 30 years in the sport, including three U.S. Formula 5000 Championships in the 1970s and the 1981 IMSA Camel GT title; and John Bright, himself a top-line Formula 3 racer in the 1970s who, coincidentally, was team manager for Redman during the successful 1981 IMSA campaign with the Cooke-Woods Racing Lola-Chevrolet T-600.

Redman & Bright this year has entered Uruguayan driver Gonzalo Rodriguez, who, despite relatively meager experience, has qualified among the top 10 for each of the five most recent races in the hotly contested F3000 Championship.

“I can’t wait to drive the car,” said Rice, 21, from Phoenix, Ariz., who finished fourth in this year’s United States Formula Ford 2000 National Championship with LynxtRacing. “I had a seat-fitting in the car yesterday and I was surprised how much room there was inside the cockpit. It’s huge! It also has at least twice as much horsepower as anything I’ve ever driven in the past, so it should be fun.”

Sielsky also was originally scheduled to drive the F3000 car but instead will take up an offer to visit one of the top Italian Formula 3 teams, RC Motorsport, which is interested in fielding a car next season for the talented 19-year-old from Northbrook, Ill.

If time permits, Sielsky may test-drive the team’s Dallara F397 at Monza on Tuesday before flying back to England for the Nations Cup.

“It’s very exciting” said Sielsky, who finished second in this year’s U.S. F2000 series, driving for Team KOOL Green/Dave Conti Racing. “I hadn’t really thought about racing in Europe next year but I think it would provide a great opportunity. The competition is extremely tough and I know I would learn a lot.”

The third Team USA Scholarship winner, Paul Edwards, 19, from Santa Maria, Calif., will contest the Formula Ford World Finals next weekend at Brands Hatch and later will test one of the same John Village Automotive-prepared Formula Opel cars that will be driven in the Nations Cup by Sielsky and Rice.