AIS: AIS to Participate in Los Angeles Street Race

Indy Cars to Participate in Ford Sponsored "FORD L. A. Street Race" Salt Lake City - Pan American Motorsports, Inc. President, Bret Decker, signed an agreement on January 7, 1999 with Dr. Wm. Burke, President of L. A. Special Event, LLC to have the American IndyCar Series participate in the 1999 Labor Day Weekend event, the FORD L. A. Street Race. The FORD L. A. Street Race will provide three full days of racing on a temporary street circuit laid out on the public roads near the Los Angeles Coliseum. Ford, through the Southern California Ford Dealers Association, sponsored this event in 1998 and based on its success has entered into a 5-year sponsorship agreement with L. A. Special Events, LLC. for this event. The announcement of the 5-year sponsorship agreement was made on December 28, 1998 at the L. A. Auto Show. Along with the American IndyCar Series high tech and powerful Indy Cars racing on Sunday, September 5, 1999,the NASCAR Featherlite Tour Stock Cars will race on Monday, September 6, 1999. Saturdays support races are yet to be announced. The Indy Cars raced in the AIS are the same Lola, Reynard and Swift Indy Cars that compete in the CART Series. Many of these cars have raced in the INDY 500. The AIS rules allow Indy Cars competing in its Series to change the 2.65 liter turbo-charged engine required by CART to the larger 3.9 liter turbo-charged V-6 or 5.9 liter naturally aspirated V-8 racing engine. Though horsepower remains similar between the AIS, CART and IRL cars (approximately 800 h.p.), the torque output of the 1650 pound AIS Indy Cars far exceeds that of the CART and IRL cars. Discussions are underway with several networks for live and delayed broadcasts of this event. With a population in excess of 12,000,000 the Southern California market is one of the largest in the world. To effectively penetrate this major market, L. A. Special Events, LLC, promoter of the event, and the American IndyCar Series entered into a $1.5 million television and direct marketing campaign with HBO, ShowTime and Century Cable to promote the FORD L. A. Street Race. "This will be a great event for the American IndyCar Series and a spectacular event for our Sponsors," commented Mr. Decker. "The FORD L. A. Street Race appears to be taking on the flavor of the Long Beach Grand Prix, the CART Indy Car event held in the Spring of each year in Long Beach, CA. We are very enthused about being involved with this great event!"