CART Unveils Five-Year Plan and Strategic Direction In Meeting With Sponsors and Manufacturers

    CHICAGO, Aug. 23 Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc.
today will announce its five-year strategic direction in meetings
with sponsors and manufacturers.  As part of the plan, CART identified six
imperatives that will serve as the roadmap to grow the open-wheel racing
sanctioning organization's business.
    The presentation will be made by CART Senior Vice President of Marketing
Rich Henley, who will be joined by CART Chairman and CEO Joe Heitzler in
laying out CART's approach to many of its key constituents.
    "This direction is based on a comprehensive evaluation of CART's business
and we are pleased to be able to present it here today," said Heitzler.  "This
approach reflects the input of all our key constituents -- fans, sponsors,
promoters, teams, drivers, employees, media and other sports and entertainment
entities.  We worked closely with Bain & Company on this project and want to
thank them for all the time, effort and focus they have put into helping us
reach our strategic direction."
    The six key elements of the strategic initiative focus on:

    *  CART's core racing product -- "The Most Advanced Form of American Auto
Racing"
    *  The highly technical aspects of CART racing
    *  Venues which provide CART and its partners with the best opportunity
for success
    *  Investing in the awareness and entertainment value of events
    *  Creating and promoting stars
    *  Better serving the sponsor community.

    "These imperatives provide us with the framework around which we will
build our business over the next several years," said Henley, who joined CART
in May after leading the marketing effort that has helped build the awareness
and business of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.  "This is the first time in the
history of CART that it has developed an initiative of this significance.  Our
next step is to bring it all to life.  We are formulating our tactical plans
and approaches and they will be finalized soon, so we can begin preparations
to execute programs to grow our business."
    Henley noted that he will be presenting the strategic plan to CART's
promoter group in early September.  He added that the company is in the midst
of discussions with several advertising agencies and, also, that CART is
searching for a Vice President of Sponsorship Sales.
    "Many of the specifics of our new direction will be determined over the
next few weeks and we will be coming back to let people know about those as
they unfold," Henley said.  "We are very enthused and confident about our new
strategic approach and the direction CART is taking."
    Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. owns, operates and
markets the FedEx Championship Series.  The series visits seven countries and
four continents during the season and climaxes with the season-ending Marlboro
500 Presented by Toyota on Sunday, November 4 at California Speedway in
Fontana, Calif.  Thanks to a partnership among Marlboro, Toyota, CART and
California Speedway, the winner of the season finale will collect $1 million,
one of the largest paydays in all of motorsports.  An additional $1 million,
as well as the prestigious Vanderbilt Cup, will be awarded to the driver who
wins the FedEx Championship Series title.
    Champions Michael Andretti, Gil de Ferran, Alex Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser
are among the drivers who battle for the FedEx Championship 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 .

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