Kenseth Breaks Ground On New Gatorade Facility

NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth joined Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry & officials from The Gatorade Company to break ground Friday on a new manufacturing & distribution facility in Mayes County, Oklahoma.

The facility will be the company's 9th plant, & will produce both the Gatorade Thirst Quencher & Propel Fitness Water, & is set to open in the fall of 2007. Parent company PepsiCo announced earlier this year that a new manufacturing facility was needed to help keep up with growing demand for the country's No. 1 sports drink & No. 1 enhanced water.

The ceremony was given a twist by Kenseth, who drove a bulldozer onto the site to kick-off the official groundbreaking. The facility is expected to bring 280 jobs to the area.

Construction on the facility is expected to continue through approx., Sept. 2007. The new Gatorade plant will be located on 160 acres in the town of Pryor on Highway 69A at MidAmerica, west of the existing Covalence (formerly Tyco) plastics plant. The development will have a collective size of approx., 1.4 million square feet which will include a 300,000 square-foot production facility & a 1.1 million square-foot warehouse/distribution center.

Other Gatorade manufacturing facilities are located in Atlanta, Ga.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Dallas, Texas; Mountain Top, Pa.; Kissimmee, Fla.; Oakland, Calif.; Tolleson, Ariz. & Wytheville, Va.