"CAR WARRIORS" RETURNS to SPEED(TM) WITH 48 HOURS of CAR-BUILDING INTENSITY

SPECIAL PREVIEW REVEALS NEW FORMAT FOLLOWING SEASON-OPENING NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES RACE, FRIDAY, FEB. 24

Popular SPEED series Car Warriors returns for its second season with the same intense attitude and an even-more competitive format. Watch competing teams of customizer shops put their reputations on the line in a 48-hour, no-holds barred, head-to-head build-off to create America's next dream ride and impress So-Cal Speed Shop's tough-minded lead builder, Jimmy Shine.

A special preview episode, immediately following the season-opening NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race from Daytona International Speedway (Friday, Feb. 24; 7:30 p.m. ET), kicks off the new season.

The weekly Car Warriors presentations can be seen Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET, starting with Episode 2, Feb. 29.

Car Warriors is among the series rolling out new seasons on SPEED, featuring Dumbest Stuff on Wheels (Wednesday nights, 8:30 p.m. ET), My Ride Rules (premieres Feb. 28 at 10 p.m. ET) and Pass Time (premieres Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. ET).

Jimmy Shine's role on Car Warriors has expanded - dramatically. This season, he not only judges the vehicles but hosts the show and renders a final decision on who wins or loses. With more than 30 years in building, tuning and racing inventive custom cars out of the most famous speed shop in the world, his penchant and drive for excellence makes him perfect for the job.

"This is super tough," said Shine, who also starred in television series, Hard Shine. "I want to see what the guys can do in a ridiculously short amount of time. And I need to be able to drive this thing and not die. That's the truth.

And if you thought last season's 72-hour, car-building competitions were tough; an entire day has been cut for Season 2's contests. That's right, an entire custom car built in just 48 hours.

''We know these guys can build these cars, but can you do it in 48 hours?" Shine added. "Sometimes people have different ideas and 48 hours doesn't sound like much. When you really stack it end to end, 48 hours in a row and no breaks, it's like running a couple of marathons. These guys come in with visions of grandeur, but for some, it's all they can do to stand up and keep going. It's a test of human endurance."

Gone is the All-Stars team, so that two new top build teams from around the country can enter the Ultimate Garage every week. To help them through one of the toughest tasks they'll ever undertake, industry experts Ray McClelland and Brad Fanshaw join Car Warriors as Lead Technicians. Each is assigned to one of the teams, providing guidance, mental support, build assistance or whatever is needed to help each of the given teams succeed.

"Depending on the episode, I'm their coach, their consultant, their nanny or their psychologist; it's one of those things where if you want to see a grown man cry, tune into Car Warriors," Fanshaw said. "It's overwhelming. They come in thinking they've built cars time and time again, but when they do it in 48 hours and are trying to build the caliber of cars I'm pushing them towards, and what the show demands, that's more than some of them can take."

"It's not a question of whether the teams can build these cars - we know they can - the question is can it get done in 48 hours?" McClelland added. "That's the hard part. You just don't know these teams coming in. Right from the engine challenge at the very beginning, you can start to see how these teams work together.

"You can see who's strong or weak. I then formulate their individual focus points. I let them stay focused on that, do their build all the way up to the last three or four hours. If they are not on target, that's when I come in full force, running for parts, dabbling and doing whatever has to be done. It's a genuine appreciation for helping them out at the end too. To me, that's very rewarding."

Fanshaw, the current owner of Bonspeed Wheels (http://www.bonspeedwheels.com/) and Bonspeed 'The California Speed & Design Studio' (http://www.bonspeed.blogspot.com/), is the former president and business partner of legendary car builder Boyd Coddington. Together they owned and ran Boyd's Wheels and Hot Rods By Boyd. As a duo, they won hot rodding's most prestigious award, "America's Most Beautiful Roadster," four times. Recently, his studio captured both the General Motors and Ford design awards.

"I've had some of the best guys in the world work for me - Chip Foose and Jesse James are both past employees of mine," Fanshaw said. "I think I bring a lot of knowledge and a very well-rounded look at everything from hot rods, sport trucks to Pro Touring-type cars."

From a different perspective comes McClelland, who's also a very accomplished car builder. He currently owns and runs the highly successful speed shop, Full Throttle Kustomz (http://www.fullthrottlekustomz.com/), which produces industry leading Pro Touring vehicles. The most notable being a Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords cover car revolutionizing three-valve, V8 engine output. The tangerine-hued, 2007 Mustang convertible game-changer was named the Fastest Street Car & Best of Show at the 2007 Stang Fest.

"It was a great challenge, and we went for it," McClelland said. "We actually made ridiculous power, to the point where there were a lot of people in the industry that said there was no way it made that type of horsepower. We had 1,243 rear-wheel horsepower in that car. You could drive it on the street and get 24 miles to the gallon with a twin turbo, direct port nitrous. People couldn't conceive of it because there's no way that block should be able to handle it."

Even so, the help of Fanshaw and McClelland might not be enough to help the Car Warriors teams survive the challenge.

"That 48-hour time clock kicks all of them in the knees," Fanshaw said. "They are not only competing against the other team, but they are competing against that clock. It doesn't give any mercy."

Full episodes of Car Warriors, along with biographies, photo galleries, best of and behind the scenes clips can be found at http://www.speedtv.com/programs/car-warriors/.

About SPEED(TM)

SPEED, anchored by its popular and wide-ranging coverage of NASCAR, is the nation's first and only cable television network dedicated to automotive and motorcycle racing, performance and lifestyle. Now available in nearly 84 million homes in North America, SPEED, a member of the FOX Sports Media Group, is among the industry leaders in interactive TV, video on demand, mobile initiatives and broadband services, including SPEED2, a groundbreaking new broadband network featuring live, streaming and on-demand events complementing offerings of the linear network. For more information, please visit SPEED.com, the online motor sports authority.

About FOX Sports Media Group

FOX Sports Media Group (FSMG) is the umbrella entity representing News Corporation's wide array of multi-platform US-based sports assets under Chairman & CEO David Hill. Built with brands that are capable of reaching more than 100 million viewers in a single weekend, FSMG includes ownership and interests in linear television networks, digital and mobile programming, broadband platforms, multiple web sites, joint-venture businesses and several licensing partnerships. FSMG now includes FOX Sports, the sports television arm of the FOX Broadcasting Company; Fox's 19 regional sports networks, their affiliated regional web sites and FSN national programming; SPEED and SPEED2; Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus; FUEL TV; and Fox College Sports. In addition, FSMG also includes FOX Sports Interactive Media, which comprises FOXSports.com on MSN, whatifsports.com and scout.com, reaching over 30 million unique visitors monthly. Also included are Fox's interests in joint-venture businesses FOX Deportes, Big Ten Network and STATS, LLC, as well as licensing agreements that establish the FOX Sports Radio Network, FOX Sports Skybox restaurants and FOX Sports Grills.