Krohn sits out Phoenix due to Katrina

Tracy Krohn to Sit Out Phoenix Due to Hurricane Katrina

Petaluma, California -- Tracy Krohn, co-owner of Krohn Racing/TRG, will not be behind the wheel of his Daytona Prototype for the Phoenix round of the Grand American Rolex Series due to the damage that Hurricane Katrina has caused in New Orleans.

Krohn's business W&T Offshore (NYSE-WTI) maintained offices in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. In addition to the office, the company also operated production oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico and had employees affected by the damage.

Krohn explains what his company has been through this last week. "I have relocated all of our associates from our Metairie office to our headquarters office in Houston. We have arranged for additional office space and have secured temporary housing as well. I am very happy to report that we have no fatalities within our company and all families are accounted for. This is not our first time to the dance and we have always had a backup plan for this eventuality, although admittedly, we never anticipated a total relocation with such short notice. I am very proud of our staff and have always known they were "all stars".

The real difficulty from this point forward is the mental shift that needs to be made for our employees. They have been traumatically uprooted from their homes and many have lost everything. Production from our wells in the Gulf of Mexico is continuing to increase and we have no well damage,but some minor damage to infrastructure on our operated fields. Non operated fields have sustained some damage as well, but most of the damage overall is to the downstream infrastructure such as pipelines, processing plants and refineries, that we do not control. All in all we have fared quite well and have all of our personnel either working or ready to work."

"Unfortunately my racing activities will have to take a back seat for the foreseeable future. I wish my teammates and crew the best of the luck."

Max Papis will move over to the number 67/Krohn Racing/TRG/Pontiac Riley for the Phoenix race this Saturday night.

-kr/trg-