Coming off its best night ever last week, the gritty, winner-take-all PINKS has been renewed for a third season on SPEED according to VP of Programming Robert Ecker.

"Response to the new episodes of Pinks has been overwhelming," said Ecker, co-Executive Producer for PINKS. "The series showed continued ratings growth while in repeats over the winter, and Season Two is delivering very significant increases in household ratings and in all our key demographics.  This show taps into something that truly resonates with the SPEED audience.  We are thrilled to announce that Season Three will be launched this summer, with 13 brand new episodes premiering within weeks of the conclusion of Season Two."

Scoring an average Nielsen Rating of .78 (515,000 households) and peaking at a .90 (590,000 HH) during its first telecast at 9 :30 p.m. ET last week, PINKS is proving to be a rock solid anchor for SPEED's Wednesday night automotive lifestyle lineup, which includes Unique Whips, Redline TV and Sports Car Revolution.

Season Three of PINKS will begin airing this summer, with the production team already busy scouting race sites.

"I never thought people would enjoy going to a PINKS taping, I was very wrong," said Rich Christensen, the show's colorful creator and host. "People love the live event as much as the show.  We hope to see bigger and bigger crowds as we go forward with the show."

Using the setting of a classic 1950's drag race, PINKS pits contestants in a best three-out-of-five format, with the loser handing over the title (pink slip) to his or her vehicle. The rules are simple: two vehicles show up and drivers negotiate head-start distance in car lengths. The cars line up after they warm up their tires and Christensen starts off each race. After each round, the drivers have the opportunity to re-negotiate lengths. All events are run on approved tracks with safety personnel present.

Unique Whips also scored record numbers last Wednesday, hitting an average rating of .66 (431,000 HH) and peaking at a .74 (486,000 HH).

"The marriage of PINKS and Unique Whips is proving to be a very happy union," Ecker said. "We are excited by the prospect of further developing Wednesday into a night of appointment television for SPEED."