Petersen and Interstate Batteries Announce Motorsports Partnership at SEMA

4 November 1997
Petersen and Interstate Batteries Announce Partnership at SEMA

  Co-Sponsorship of Joe Gibbs' Funny Car/Top Fuel Teams and NASCAR Announced

    LAS VEGAS, Nov. 4 -- Petersen and Interstate Batteries have
announced here today at the annual Specialty Equipment Manufacturers
Association (SEMA) trade show in Las Vegas that they will celebrate the 50th
Anniversary of Hot Rod Magazine by teaming up in a motorsports sponsorship
deal involving Joe Gibbs Racing's Funny Car and Top Fuel teams and NASCAR
Pontiac.
    "We're excited to team up with Hot Rod because they're the number one hot
rodding racing magazine, Interstate Batteries is the number one battery
marketer and Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the leaders in the racing industry,"
says Interstate Batteries chairman Norm Miller.  "Rarely do all the elements
of a racing sponsorship program fall into place so neatly and offer such
exciting possibilities for the future.  We're looking forward to a long,
mutually-profitable and victory-filled relationship."
    Interstate Batteries has been a major sponsor in both NHRA and NASCAR
since 1992.  The Joe Gibbs Racing Team's Pontiac Firebird funny car, sponsored
by Interstate Battery and driven by Cruz Pedregon, will run under the banner,
"Interstate Batteries Presents Hot Rod Magazine."  And the Hot Rod Magazine
logo will also appear as an associate sponsor on the team's top fuel car
sponsored by McDonald's and driven by Cory McClenathan.
    "Sponsorship, not just the money, but the image, involvement and energy
the company puts into the program, is critical to a success of a team," says
Gibbs.  "Having Interstate Batteries, Petersen Publishing and Hot Rod Magazine
on board for 1998 opens up exciting new marketing possibilities and provides
us with a direct connection to the fans that are the grass roots of all
racing."
    In addition to the NHRA aspect of the sponsorship, the Interstate
Battery/Hot Rod Magazine/Joe Gibbs Racing relationship also includes a three-
race NASCAR deal, beginning with the Daytona 500, in which the Interstate
Battery-sponsored Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac driven by Bobby LaBonte will carry
special 50th Anniversary of Hot Rod Magazine graphics on the hood.
    "Hot Rodding and drag racing are as American as jazz, apple pie and
baseball," says John Dianna, president of the Petersen Automotive Group and
Executive Publisher of Hot Rod Magazine.  "This sponsorship program is both
good marketing and a return to the magazine's long history of hands-on
involvement in the sport that dates back to 1958 when we sponsored Bobby Unser
in a 1957 Ford stock car at Riverside and 1967 when we backed a Plymouth that
Wally Parks and Ray Brock ran at Daytona."
    Another element of Petersen Publishing's growing involvement with
motorsports was announced in September; the creation of two NASCAR-licensed
titles -- NASCAR Garage and NASCAR Trucks.
    NASCAR Garage will be a quarterly insert in seven of Petersen Publishing's
leading automotive titles, including Hot Rod, Car Craft, Circle Track, Sport
Truck, Chevy High Performance, and Richard Petty's Stock Car Magazine.  NASCAR
Trucks will complement the existing television program, radio show and
website.
    "This is the beginning of a vigorous new era at Hot Rod and Petersen,"
says Justin McCormack, president of Petersen Enterprises.  "This new
relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing and the NASCAR titles are examples of the
company's new philosophy of relationship marketing.  We expect these programs
to develop over a period of years, and to be the catalyst for developing a
much broader involvement with both the NHRA and NASCAR."
    Petersen Publishing Company, as well as NASCAR, is celebrating its 50th
Anniversary in 1998.  As one of the world's largest special interest
publishers, Petersen produces more than 75 magazines, including Hot Rod, Motor
Trend, Motorcyclist, Skin Diver, Teen and Sport, reaching more than 40 million
male readers and more than eight million teenage women monthly.
    The Petersen Companies, Inc. is listed on the New York stock exchange
under the symbol PTN.


SOURCE  Specialty Equipment Market Association