Channellock Challenge at Bristol to Make Outlaws History

MEADVILLE, PA (February 15) -- Channellock, Inc., the leading manufacturer of high-quality hand tools, will be the title sponsor for the Channellock Challenge at Bristol, a historic Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series event scheduled for June 9-10 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The announcement was made simultaneously by Channellock Chairman and CEO, Bill DeArment; Pennzoil World of Outlaws President, Ted Johnson; and O. Bruton Smith, Chairman of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the owner and operator of Bristol Motor Speedway. As part of an aggressive motorsports partnership, Speedway Motorsports and the World of Outlaws have combined to present four of the premier sprint car racing series' special events in 2000. The biggest undertaking of these will be the Channellock Challenge at Bristol. This historic and radical new event will see Bristol Motor Speedway's 1/2-mile concrete racing surface covered with more than 14,000 cubic yards of dirt to accommodate the famous winged sprint cars. "As I have said before, I think this race is a pretty wild idea," Smith said. "But when you think about it, hosting the Channellock Challenge at Bristol is a natural. Bristol Motor Speedway is the country's most popular short track and Channellock is the world's most popular manufacturer of high quality hand tools. It will be a great relationship and an exciting event." "The Channellock Challenge at Bristol will be spectacular," Johnson said. "Channellock is a significant and long-time supporter of our series. As a leading sponsor, we think it's tremendous they will sponsor what will become one of the biggest and most talked about events in motorsports." Channellock obviously shares Smith's and Johnson's enthusiasm. "Channellock maintains an active role in motorsports to showcase the quality of our tools and to promote the Channellock brand to the millions of race fans who buy them," DeArment said. "This event is a great fit for us. We know Bristol is a super race track and when we became aware of the aggressive plans to literally change the surface of the race track and bring in the Pennzoil World of Outlaws, we just had to be a part." Conversion of the concrete surface to dirt will begin in early May to provide the Bristol Motor Speedway development team an opportunity to roll out the dirt surface and get it into top condition. Once the track is ready, the Hav-A-Tampa Series will run a dirt late model event June 2-3. The Channellock Challenge at Bristol for the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series will be held June 9-10, with Saturday's racing being televised live on TNN beginning at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. A variety of special activities are being planned to promote the Channellock Challenge at Bristol. One of the highlights will be three- time Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series champion Sammy Swindell driving his #1 Channellock Stealth sprint car around Bristol Motor Speedway in conjunction with the March 26th Food City 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race. WoO