80cc shifter kart standouts Cole Whitt, and Ryan Phinny spent today testing in the WSM/MMI FTR 1600. “Both drivers were outstanding, said Telo Stewart World Speed Motorsports team owner. With the amount of race experience these kids have, it is to be expected, but it always is surprising how much feedback that they are able to give us after only a couple of sessions.”

Bill Mayer President of MMI had these comments for the drivers and their parents; “The idea behind our helping young karters move up the ladder and into cars is that through the experience they will learn a lot about life in general. I call it Building Kids Through Motorsports and things like this test are experiences that will, hopefully, give these kids something to shoot for and an idea what it takes to succeed. The drivers were hand-picked at the 2003 SuperNats by Michael McDowell who won many races in the same car Cole and Ryan tested.