Ice racer Menard to tackle Sears on WC debut.

There are a lot of NASCAR drivers with backgrounds in go-karts, legends, sprint cars or midgets, but one rookie's background in racing came from the frozen lakes of Minnesota and Wisconsin, where he competed in the IIRA International Ice Racing Association.

Paul Menard will this weekend attempt to qualify for, and race in, NASCAR Winston Cup's SaveMart 350 at the Infineon Raceway, making his Winston Cup debut driving for Andy Petree in a Turtle Wax/Menards Chevrolet.

The 22-year old began racing on ice at the age of 14 with his father John and cousin Charlie, running on tracks ploughed through the snow atop northern lakes with a minimum of 18" of ice pack. In his career, Menard has competed in over 20 events, winning roughly half of them. Last February, Paul and Charlie competed at Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota, where they won two of three events entered. Menard normally races two different cars in two different classes - one a front-wheel drive Toyota FX16, the other a turbo-charged Mercury Capri; both use studded tyres - and he feels his experience in ice racing gives him a better feel for car control.

"With the fully studded tyres, the cars feel like they're on very loose gravel," Menard explained, "To be fast on ice, you have to be very careful to not charge the corners too hard and you're constantly changing your line to avoid the ruts. Sometimes, at the end of a race, certain corners look like they have geysers shooting out of them as the tyres cut the track down to open water!

"The tracks themselves are road courses ranging anywhere from 1.5miles on the small lakes to several miles when we go up to Lake Superior. It's hard to beat going 100mph+ on ice, then trying to slow down and downshift to make a corner sideways....

"It's a lot like driving a stock car on a road course actually. These stock cars don't like to be driven hard as they react so slowly - it's all about how well you can keep the car from getting upset and how smoothly you can apply power out of a corner. I know the ice racing has taught me a lot about being smooth. My dad, cousin and I try and get in a race or two each year, depending on how the ice is and what our schedules will allow. It's so much fun and, sometimes in the winter, when it's 20 below, you can't do much else but go ice racing!"

Menard is in the middle of an 18-race summer schedule of NASCAR events with Andy Petree Racing. Last weekend in Kentucky, he raced in his second straight Busch Series event, finishing 14th for his second top-15 in as many weeks. He will be making his first attempt at a Winston Cup race this weekend for Andy Petree Racing but had prior experience of the California track as, in 2002, he led the Infineon Raceway Southwest Tour event and appeared headed to victory with only nine laps to go before he had a tyre go down and force him to the pits. He finished eighth.

"Last year at Sonoma was disappointing, we had the race won and the tyre went down," Menard admitted, "This year, to come back and have a chance to race in the Winston Cup event, will be a huge challenge.

"Andy has always had good road racing programmes and we've done some testing leading up to the race, so I'm comfortable in the Cup car. I feel like we can be competitive with these guys, even though I realise there are a lot of good road racers out there. Don't get me wrong, we've got our work cut out for us, but that's what it's all about."

Along with Menard's ice racing experience, he has also competed in SCCA Trans-Am and Grand-Am events. In 2002, he recorded four top-ten finishes in five Trans-Am events, qualifying on the front row at the Denver Grand Prix. In two Grand-Am races, Menard won both driving a modified Chevrolet Corvette in the AGT class. He was also a winner in 2001 on the Road America road course in the NASCAR ReMax Challenge series.

"We know Paul can hold his own on the road courses," said Petree, "Winston Cup is the top of the heap as far as talented drivers go and I think Paul will do just fine up at Sonoma. We had a very good test with him recently in South Carolina, and he showed us how smooth and unfazed he can be. That's the thing, he doesn't panic and he doesn't get over his head. At a place like Sears Point, you need to be fast, but you also need to be patient and hit marks all day long without spinning your tyres too much."