CHAMPCAR/CART: Alex Barron with Arciero-Blair final two races

INDIANAPOLIS (October 17, 2001) -- Arciero-Blair Racing announced today that former Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) FedEx Championship Series driver Alex Barron will race at Australia and Fontana. Barron, instead of Brazilian driver Max Wilson, will pilot the Driving 101 Ford-Lola. Barron challenged for the win at both of these events in the 2000 CART series.

"I am looking forward to the opportunities that Arciero-Blair is giving me at Australia and Fontana," said Barron. "Last year, I was in contention to win both events; then we had a mechanical problem. 2001 has been a long year not racing a Champ car. But I have kept myself in shape by working out, testing the 2002 Atlantic chassis and testing for Firestone at the new tracks in Germany and England. It will be good to be back in CART competition and to race for this new team."

"Alex has already proven himself at both of our remaining venues and that is attractive to me as a team owner," said Larry Blair. "For a first year team, this has been a season of change with ownership, engines, engineers and driver change. While Max has had wonderful runs on permanent road courses, the experience and valuable input that Alex will bring is needed for the team at this time. I am continuing to make changes to Arciero-Blair Racing to improve and expand the team and its knowledge in this highly competitive series. We are working hard on our plans and sponsorship for the 2002 season; we feel that good on-track results can expand our potential for the future."

Arciero-Blair Racing is preparing to race on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia on Sunday, October 28. It is the feature event of the CART grand prix weekend on the temporary street course in Surfers Paradise. The broadcast time for the Honda Indy 300 in Australia, Round 20 of the FedEx Championship Series, has been changed. Originally slated to air live on ESPN at midnight ET on Sunday, Oct. 28, the race will now be broadcast via 13-hour tape delay on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 1:00 p.m. ET. The broadcast will continue to air on ESPN. Check local listings. It will also air on the CART Radio Network and on CART's official website, at www.cart.com.

The final round of 21 CART events will take place the week following Australia at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The 500 presented by Toyota, will be held on Sunday, November 4. It will air on the ESPN television network live at 3:30 p.m. EST.

ALEX BARRON
BORN: June 11, 1970, in San Diego, CA.
RESIDES: Menifee, Calif.

CAREER PATH:
Karts -- 1979-1995
Formula 2000 -- 1996
Toyota-Atlantic --1997 - Series Champion Rookie of the Year

CART 1998-2000
FIRST CART YEAR: 1998
1998: All-American Racers
1999: All-American Racers
1999: Marlboro Team Penske
2000: Dale Coyne Racing
2001: Dale Coyne Racing
Best CART Start: 12th / Best CART Finish: eighth, Fontana, 2000
Total laps led: 22 / Total Career points: 14

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

KARTS
Barron got an early start at competition at age nine, when he began racing karts. By the time he moved up the ladder, he had won a truly impressive number of races and championships, including three National titles in 1995 and the U.S. Gearbox Championship in 1997, the same year he also won the Toyota-Atlantic Championship.

1996 - F2000
In 1996 the opportunity came to move up to Formula 2000 with the DSTP Team. A podium, a fastest lap and six top ten finishes let him to a seat in the championship winning Lynx Racing Team for the 1997 Toyota-Atlantic season.

1997 - TOYOTA ATLANTIC
Barron won the coveted Toyota-Atlantic Series Championship with five wins, four poles, six fastest laps, nine podium finishes as well as being crowned Rookie of the Year.

1998 - CART / ALL AMERICAN RACERS, (AAR), 17 CART starts
Barron's impressive 1997 achievements caught the attention of Dan Gurney and in 1998 he made his Champ Car debut driving the # 36 for AAR. Barron led the 1998 Vancouver for race for 12 laps, and earning the Racer Magazine award for Most Promising Road Racer of the Year.

1999 - CART / AAR and MARLBORO TEAM PENSKE, nine CART starts
In 1999, AAR was downsized to a one-car effort, with Barron left to do the job of both developing the car and racing running a partial season. Roger Penske called Barron to test at Michigan. By all accounts the test went well with the Penske/Goodyear/Mercedes package and it earned Barron a seat in the #3 Penske car for Michigan and Fontana. While the race package in Michigan was very competitive, the engine let go on lap 120. At Fontana, after a good start, Barron made contact with the wall on lap 20.

2000 - CART / DALE COYNE RACING, six CART starts
Barron was called by Dale Coyne to replace the injured Takuya Kurosawa behind the wheel of the # 19 car, starting with the Vancouver race. Australia was to be a big turnaround. While catching the leader Adrian Fernandez and going for the win, the engine expired with three laps to go. In Fontana, the Sunday race did not start well after loosing the injectors on the turbo charger, Barron was a lap down 30 laps into the race, but the event was rained out. On Monday the race resumed and keen pit strategy got the team back on the lead lap. He eventually gained the lead on and off for a total of ten laps. On the last restart, going for the win once again the engine expired with ten laps to go.

-abr-