CART Recognizes Fan's Champ Car Devotion With 'CART Biggest Fan Award'
20 September 2000
CART Recognizes Fan's Champ Car Devotion With 'CART Biggest Fan Award'
Announced Winner Will Spend Day With Real Champ Car Drivers Michael Andretti,
Christian Fittipaldi and Tony Kanaan and Their Teams
Erik Petersen of Manchester, TN Selected Winner by CART Drivers and Fans
DETROIT, Sept. 19 Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc.
(CART) and Quokka Sports, Inc. , a leading provider
of sports entertainment for the digital world(TM), today announced the winner
of CART's Biggest Fan Contest at http://www.CART.com. Erik Petersen, of Manchester,
Tennessee and a guest, will receive an all-expense paid trip for two to the
final race of the year in Fontana, California, on October 29, 2000. They will
spend half a day with Newman/Haas Racing and drivers Michael Andretti and
Christian Fittipaldi, and half a day with Mo Nunn Racing and driver Tony
Kanaan. The award marks the end of the CART season and recognizes the loyalty
and passion of its fans.
"We are literally putting the fan in the drivers seat," said John Schram,
General Manager of http://www.CART.com, part of the Quokka Sports Network.
"CART.com's goal is to create an experience that brings fans as close as they
can to the race without actually being there. The Biggest Fan Contest is
CART.com's way of giving back to all of our devoted fans."
The online essay contest held at http://www.CART.com in June and July invited
CART fans and enthusiasts to put their passion for CART racing on the
Internet. More than 750 fans entered the contest, proclaiming why they were to
be named CART's Biggest Fan. Fans and 4,000 visitors to http://www.CART.com voted
online to select the winner after a panel of CART drivers selected finalists
for the award.
"CART fans are the most passionate in all of auto racing," said Patrick
Leahy, Senior Vice President of Marketing for CART. "The Biggest Fan Contest
allowed us to recognize our faithful fans for all their dedication throughout
the season."
Erik Petersen, CART's Biggest Fan, has "motor oil in his veins" and refers
to his wife as "Timing and Scoring." Petersen writes: "You say you want
'someone with motor oil in their veins'. Well let me finish my morning cup of
methanol and I'll give it ten tenths for the next 150 words. I may have been
born and raised in the mid-south where NASCAR is a way of life but for me no
motors please. It is 40 inches of boost fed into a 161 CI engine that lights
me up. Championship Auto Racing is my life, just ask my wife whom I fondly
refer to as 'Timing and Scoring.' Have you ever been black-flagged and
penalized to thirty minutes on the mower? Maybe Paul Tracy has. Finally,
before the checkered flag approaches, I'd like to mention my personal best
CART moment -- spending fifteen minutes with driver/engineering legend Jim
Hall. P.S. Get well, Tony."
Colorful declarations from other essays include...
-- "I can't breath unless the air includes the smell of methanol."
-- "I celebrate Rick Mears' birthday every year, but sometimes forget my
own."
-- "I am CART's Biggest Fan, married to CART's most radical fan and we are
a championship team."
-- "I agreed to be married on a Friday so we would be ready for the CART
race on Sunday!"
-- "I attended race school just to satisfy my nightly dream, racing in a
Champ Car; it actually lets me sleep easier!"
Prizes
The Grand Prize includes the following:
-- Roundtrip airfare for two to Los Angeles, California
-- Half a day with the Newman/Haas Racing team and drivers Michael
Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi
-- Half a day with the Mo Nunn Racing team and driver Tony Kanaan
-- CART Fast Laps Ride around California Speedway
-- Hotel accommodations for two nights
-- $500 in spending money
-- Cool CART goodies and merchandise
About Quokka Sports
Quokka Sports, a leading provider of sports entertainment for the digital
world(TM), creates complete interactive sports experiences that fulfill the
passions of sports enthusiasts worldwide. Quokka Sports (Quokka.com) leverages
digital technology to offer rich, immersive presentations that include live
event coverage, analysis, news and information, audio and text dispatches from
athletes, games, community forums, and premium shopping. The Quokka Sports
Network is comprised of several sport verticals that feature some of the
world's premier sporting properties. These include year-round coverage of
35 Olympic sports (NBCOlympics.com), Sailing (QuokkaSailing.com,
AmericasCup.org, BTChallenge.com, VolvoOceanRace.org), Motor Racing (CART.com,
MotoGP.com) and Action Sports (MountainZone.com coverage of skiing, climbing,
hiking, snowboarding, adventure racing and mountain biking). Quokka Sports
develops its content for a broad range of digital platforms from narrowband
and broadband Internet to wireless and converged devices. Quokka Sports'
innovative sports entertainment productions are enabled by Quokka Performance
Team members Compaq Computer Corporation, Computer Associates International,
Inc. and Intel Corporation. Quokka Sports has offices in San Francisco,
London, New York and Seattle.
About CART
Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. owns, operates and markets the FedEx
Championship Series, which is comprised of 20 races in five countries on four
continents in 2000. Champions Juan Montoya, Michael Andretti and Jimmy Vasser
are among the drivers who battle for the series title on oval circuits as well
as temporary and permanent road courses. CART also owns and operates its top
two development series -- the Dayton Indy Lights Championship and the Toyota
Atlantic Championship. Learn more about CART's open-wheel racing series at
http://www.cart.com.
NOTE: "Quokka," "Quokka Sports" and "MountainZone" are registered
trademarks, and "Quokka Sports Immersion," "Qnews," "What Happens Next,"
"Sports Entertainment for the Digital World," "Wired Athlete," "Athlete's
Voice" and the Quokka Logos are trademarks of Quokka Sports, Inc.