Townsend Bell Wins Pole at Mid-Ohio

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                       

Contact:        James Hyneman   
        jhyneman@compuserve.com


                TOWNSEND BELL WINS INDY LIGHTS POLE AT MID-OHIO
                        DAMIEN FAULKNER QUALIFIES THIRD

        LEXINGTON, Ohio (Aug. 11, 2000) - He made it look easy but nothing
felt certain for Townsend Bell until the checkered flag waved and the pole
position for Sunday's eighth round of the 12-race Dayton Indy Lights
Championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was officially awarded to him.

        Bell, of San Luis Obispo, Calif., earned the pole position in the
DIRECWAY Lola based on Friday's quickest qualifying time and new track
record of 1:13.809 = 110.133 mph. This is Bell's sixth pole position in 20
career Indy Lights starts and his fourth pole in the last five races.
Bell's other pole positions are Portland and St. Louis 2000; and Milwaukee,
Portland, and Toronto this season.

        "The car was perfect from the get-go," said Bell. "We only had to
make a few adjustments all weekend so it made my job easier. We were about
three-tenths of a second quicker than yesterday on our first set of tires.
We ran a '14.2' on the first set which is pretty good. It all went away
when we went to stickers because a red flag was thrown just as we were
ready to hit the track on fresh tires. We were set up to run perhaps three
or four-tenths faster but we didn't get the chance."

        Damien Faulkner, of Ireland, maintained his hold on third quickest
from Friday's provisional qualifying at 1:14.733 = 108.771 mph. Geoff Boss,
Narragansett, R.I.,  improved his times from Friday but qualified eighth on
the starting grid at 1:15.028 = 108.344 mph.

        "I trouble with my left rear wheel," said Faulkner. "We'll have to
sort that out. There was something obviously wrong so I pulled off course
to avoid getting tagged with a red flag. There wasn't any drive in the car.
Someone else caused a red flag so that gave my crew the opportunity to help
me get the car back to pit lane."

        Weather was hot and muggy with Dayton Tire engineers reporting a
track temperature of 115 degrees F., and an ambient temperature of 83
degrees F. Humidity hovered near 80 percent with a dew point registering
slightly below 70.

        Bell opened the session quickest and was never challenged for the
top spot. A pair of red flag caution periods were issued during the
30-minute session but no major incidents or injuries were reported.

        Sunday's 34 lap/76.772 mile Indy Lights race around Mid-Ohio's
2.258-mile, 13-turn road course is scheduled to begin at 2:45 p.m. ET. This
will be the 11th overall Dayton Indy Lights appearance at Mid-Ohio and it
is the featured support event for the CART FedEx Championship Series Miller
Lite 200 earlier that day.

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