LONG BEACH, Calif., December 15, 2004 – Craig Stanton has been given the unique distinction of earning two 2004 TheRaceSite.com awards this week. The 2004 Grand-Am Cup Grand Sport (GS) champion earned Rising Star accolades in both the Grand-Am Cup Series and the Super Grand Sport (SGS) class of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series. The Long Beach, Calif.-resident was the only individual to win multiple honors in the prestigious, yearly awards given out by TheRaceSite.com. The two Rising Star titles were bestowed on Stanton as result of a vote accrued from the ballots of motorsports media, full season teams and Grand American officials.

The Rising Star Award goes to the driver in each class that displayed he/she is on the verge of “becoming stars in the sportscar racing world.” The award is restricted to drivers who have not won a professional title and that have never won the Rising Star Award. Stanton was chosen from a list of multiple drivers as well as a write-in option in both the Rolex Series SGS class and Grand-Am Cup GS class.

In 2004, Stanton competed in the Rolex Series SGS class with AASCO Motorsports and co-driver David Murry (Cumming, Ga.) taking one win. Tim Sugden (Leeds, Great Britain, UK) joined Stanton and Murry for a top-ten at the Rolex 24. Stanton also contributed his skill to the No. 86 G&W Porsche to help Mae Van Wijk (Kingwood, Tex) to her first top-five in SGS class. He piloted the Grand-Am Cup GS Porsche of TheRaceSite.com with Murry for three wins and with Terry Borcheller (Gainesville, Ga.) for three wins. The driving force of Stanton and Murry also joined to compete the full ALMS season in the No. 31 Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing Porsche. There they stood on six of nine podiums and won four IMSA Cups as the highest finishing privateer team.

Craig Stanton: “This is quite an honor and a real surprise. 2004 has been an incredible year. The competition was really strong out there all season. To be picked for even one, let alone two, Rising Star awards is really satisfying. What makes it even more gratifying is that the vote came from the people that really saw you run all year; the teams, the Grand American officials and the media that were there every race. That tells you it was really about your performance on the track. The awards might be for Rising Star but there is no way I could have received this without a group effort. From the start of the year I had a lot of support from individuals and teams. The Nonnamakers at TheRaceSite.com and Planet Earth, everyone at G&W, Dennis [Aase] and the guys at AASCO, the Petersen/ White Lightning team in the ALMS and everyone at Porsche are the reason that my name appears on the trophy. On top of that, my co-drivers were the best, David [Murry] was the best teammate a guy could ask for and helped every step along the way. Terry [Borcheller] and Mae [Van Wijk] played key roles. I am just the lucky guy that got singled out.”