Lynx - New Driver

Getting To LaPoint

        (Los Angeles, August 9) -- Lynx Racing announced today that it will
field a car for Jason LaPoint, currently running second in the U.S. F2000
Championship, in three of the final four races of the CART Toyota Atlantic
season.  
        LaPoint, 24, of Woodburn, Oregon, will be teamed with David
Rutledge, 23, of Vancouver, B.C., who is currently second in the Atlantic
championship with three wins from the pole.  LaPoint will drive the #32
Lynx Racing / Infinity Racing Swift 008.a at the Motorola 220 at Road
America on August 19, the Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston on October
7, and the season-finale Honda Grand Prix of Monterey on October 13.  
        #32 is the number used by CART FedEx driver Alex Barron when he won
the Atlantic championship with Lynx in 1997, and is the number currently
used by Patrick Carpentier (who won the Atlantic title in 1996 with Lynx)
on his Player's/Forsythe Reynard.  Lynx alumni also include Memo Gidley,
now driving for Target Chip Ganassi.
        "To say I'm jazzed about the opportunity is a complete
understatement," says LaPoint, who hopes to move into the championship
points lead in this weekend's U.S. F2000 race during the Miller Lite 200 at
Mid-Ohio.  "Every young driver in my position would give anything for a
shot at the Lynx ride, and I'd like to thank Alan Green of Infinity Racing
and all the other people who helped make this possible.  I've raced at Road
America recently in the U.S. F2000 race where I won the pole and set a
track record, so even though this will be my first-ever Atlantic race, I'm
hoping to make a good impression on the team and help support David's
battle for the championship."
        Driving the #89 Van Diemen Ford for the Richard Morgan Racing team
(with sponsorship from Infinity Racing, Regency Aviation and Trackmagic
Karts), LaPoint sits second in the U.S. F2000 Championship going into this
weekend with two poles, four front-row starts and four podium finishes.  
        "Bringing in a new teammate during the stretch run of a
championship is something only a team the caliber of Lynx could do
successfully," says Rutledge.  "I raced against Jason in karts in the
Pacific Northwest before he moved down to Southern California, and he's
obviously very talented, so I think that even though he's new to this level
of racing, he'll make a positive contribution to the team." 
        LaPoint began racing karts in 1989, won a variety of regional and
national championships before being signed in 1997 as the factory test and
race driver by Trackmagic Karts -- a position held until that point by Lynx
graduate Memo Gidley, now driving for Target Chip Ganassi in CART.  LaPoint
was chosen for the Team Green Academy in 1997, and won the Skip Barber
Karting Scholarship in 1998.  His prize was a sponsored season in the
Formula Dodge Midwest Series where he won five races in 1999 and was
selected for the Barber Dodge Pro Series Shootout.  He also won the SKUSA
S1 Moto World Championship in 1999, driving for Trackmagic.  In 2000,
LaPoint was the factory Star Formula Mazda driver on the Valley Motor
Center team, winning 'Rookie of the Year' and finishing third in the
championship.  He earned the money for his Formula Mazda season as a driver
coach and at-the-track car setup specialist.
        Both of LaPoint's parents raced karts, so he grew up at the track
-- but  without letting his racing interfere with his studies.  He
graduated high school with honors, was his class salutatorian, editor of
the school paper and captain of the tennis team.  His other interests
include baseball, basketball, soccer and slalom skiing.  He then attended
Willamette University before transferring to Portland State University to
study Marketing and Speech.
        "Jason has proved over the last ten years that he's one of the top
young American drivers, and we're happy to give him the chance to show just
how good he really is," says Lynx Racing team manager Steve Cameron. 
"Usually when we evaluate a driver's future potential, we have to look at
what they've done in the past and make an educated guess about what they
might be able to achieve.  But with Jason, as with Michael Valiante, who
ran four races with us earlier in the season, we have the luxury of seeing
how they perform under pressure in the middle of a championship season
where every minute of track time counts."
        2001 marks the 11th anniversary of Lynx Racing, one of the most
unique organizations in auto racing today.  Created and owned by two women,
Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty, Lynx is both a championship-winning racing team
and a uniquely successful driver development program that focuses on a
driver's mental, psychological and spiritual growth in addition to their
on-track skills. 
                The Lynx mission is to seek out young drivers with the
desire and potential to become champions at the highest levels of the sport
and provide them with the funding, equipment and training to take the last
step toward realizing that potential, a process the team calls 'Destiny by
Design.'  Lynx alumni include CART FedEx drivers Patrick Carpentier, Alex
Barron and Memo Gidley.  
        Current Lynx drivers include Rutledge and Sara Senske, 23, of
Kennewick, Washington.  Senske, now in her fifth year as a Lynx driver,
drives the #19 Lynx Racing Reynard 98E in the Barber Dodge Pro Series.  
_______________________

For further information on Lynx Racing and its drivers, please contact the
team's public relations manager, Peter Frey, at (818) 906-6997.  The team
also has a web site at www.LynxRacing.com.  For more information about the
CART Toyota Atlantic series, visit www.ToyotaAtlantic.com, and the Barber
Dodge Pro Series web site is located at www.BarberDodge.com.  Jason LaPoint
has a web site at www.jasonlapoint.com

August 10, 2001