Michael Valiante 21 New Driver For Lynx

THE NATURAL

Lynx Racing Signs Vancouver Native Michael Valiante For The 2002 CART
Toyota Atlantic Season

A true talent delights the possessor first." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson


        Lynx Racing announced today that Michael Valiante, 21, of Vancouver
B.C. has signed with the team for the 2002 CART Toyota Atlantic season.
        Valiante, who scored two podiums and two top-five finishes in five
starts with the Lynx team in 2001, finished ninth in the championship and
will replace the graduating David Rutledge as driver of the team's
traditional #19 car. 
        Rutledge is working on moving up to CART, a process the team will
assist with, as it has with previous graduates including Patrick Carpentier
(Player's/ Forsythe), Memo Gidley (Target Chip Ganassi) and Alex Barron
(Arciero-Blair). 
        For the 2002 CART Toyota Atlantic season, Valiante will be teamed
with Grant Ryley, 28, of San Jose, California who will race a car fielded
by Lynx and sponsored by the Kart2CART program of Microsoft executive Rick
Waddell. 
        "Lynx is a legend among young drivers looking for a way to graduate
up into CART, and I'm thrilled to be chosen for the team," says Valiante. 
"The five races I drove with the team this season were a real education in
how a top team operates and what it takes to compete at this level.  My
goal this year was to satisfy both myself and the team that I can learn and
run fast at the same time, and I feel I've achieved that.  As for next
year, the team is ready and able to win another championship, and I'm going
to do my best to give them what they want.  I'd also like to thank Lynx for
the opportunity, David Rutledge for his generosity and help this year and
the friends, family and sponsors who helped me get here, including Copart
Auto Auctions, Newlife Development, Diagem and Italian Motors."
        Valiante got his professional racing career off to a spectacular
start, winning the Canadian and North American 'Formula A' karting
championships in 1996.  In 1997, he won the prestigious ELF Constructor's
Championship, as well as the U.S. Grand Nationals and the IKF Gold Cup
series.  
        Moving up to racing cars in 1997, he attended both the Skip Barber
and Bridgestone racing schools.  In 1998 he won the ELF Campus Shoot-Out in
Le Mans, France, the North American 125 Shifter Formula C championship, and
the ELF Constructor's championship.  This resulted in a full-season
scholarship in the Skip Barber 2.0 Series, where he won both Rookie of the
Year and the series championship.  This spectacular performance earned him
the Rio Big Scholarship, a fully-sponsored, full-season ride in the Barber
Dodge Pro Series.
        During his first year in the 1999 BDPS, he scored seven top-10 and
four top-5 finishes and was co-Rookie of the Year.  In 2000, he finished in
the top-10 eight times, was on the pole in the first race of the season at
Sebring, and won from the pole at Road Atlanta and finished sixth overall
in the championship. 
        "Michael is an absolute natural to be a CART star in the future,
and we're delighted to help him get there," says Lynx co-owner Peggy Haas. 
"We've had our eye on him for a couple of years, and the job he did with us
this year simply confirmed our assessment that we're the right team for him
and he's the right driver for us.  We're very much looking forward to the
coming season."
        2002 will mark the 12th 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.
        "Part of what we look for in a Lynx driver is a certain level of
self-awareness, spirituality and a willingness to look inside yourself for
improvement in your on-track performance," says Doty.  "Michael has
demonstrated all those things, as well as the ability to take what he
learns -- both technically and emotionally -- and put it to use in the car.
 It's obvious that, like Memo Gidley, the thing he loves most is driving
and winning, and that makes it exciting for all of us."     
                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.  
        "We had a hard choice to make between Michael and Jason LaPoint who
also drove several races with us this year," says Lynx team manager and
driving coach Steve Cameron.  "They're both very talented, worked well with
the team, had exceptional technical feedback and demonstrated the ability
to run at the front at tracks they've never raced on before against drivers
with much more experience.  We are still very impressed with Jason and have
recommended him to several other teams.  That said, Michael was able to
achieve podium results for the team and that tipped the balance in his
favor.  I'm confident he will challenge for the Atlantic championship in
2002."

MORE LYNX NEWS

Rutledge Recognized

        In addition to finishing second in the 2001 CART Toyota Atlantic
championship in his second year with the team, and being nominated for the
second-annual Greg Moore Legacy Award, Lynx Racing driver David Rutledge
has received a pair of important awards.  Presented at the Atlantic
season-end banquet in Monterey, California, Rutledge, 23, of Vancouver,
B.C. was given both the Gilles Villeneuve Award and the Worldcom 'Fast
Pace' Award.  The Villeneuve award was instituted in 1989 by former
Atlantic champion Steve Shelton and presented this year by Jim Murphy,
writer and forum host of Championship Racing Magazine.  It is given each
year to the driver who "… possesses extraordinary ability and has that
special star quality and who has distinguished himself through
sportsmanship, dedication and perseverance… "  The Worldcom Fast Pace award
was presented to Rutledge by WorldCom Sports Marketing Senior Manager,
Angela Ferragamo, in recognition of being the driver with the highest
number of WorldCom Fast Pace Awards for the fastest race laps at each race
during the season.  

A Gathering of the Tribe

                For the first time since the Fontana season finale last
year, there will be three Lynx drivers competing in a CART FedEx race
simultaneously as Alex Barron -- replacing Max Wilson for the final two
races of the 2001 season in the #25  Arciero-Blair / Driving 101
Ford-Cosworth/Lola -- will join Lynx graduates Patrick Carpentier
(Player's/ Forsythe) and Memo Gidley (Target Chip Ganassi) on the grid at
both Surfer's Paradise and Fontana.
        Barron, who won both the "Rookie of the Year" award and the
Atlantic series championship with Lynx Racing in 1997, broke into the CART
series in 1998 with Dan Gurney's All American Racers Toyota/Eagle, where he
became the first driver to lead a CART race with a Toyota engine.  He left
Gurney in mid-'99 and drove two races later that season for Marlboro Team
Penske. He then signed with Dale Coyne Racing to replace injured Takuya
Kurosawa for the final six races of the 2000 season, running second and
challenging for the win until sidelined by engine failures in the final two
events -- Australia and Fontana.
        Although without a regular ride this year, he did two tests with
Coyne at the behest of CART and Firestone at the Lausitz EuroSpeedway and
England's Rockingham Motor Speedway as a precursor to the series' debut
races at those venues, did the development driving of the new Swift 014
Atlantic car, and ran a single IRL race with Sam Schmidt Motorsports at
Gateway International Raceway.
        "I am looking forward to the opportunities that Arciero-Blair is
giving me at Australia and Fontana," he said. "Last year, I was in
contention to win both events; then we had a mechanical problem. 2001 has
been a long year not racing a Champ Car. But I have kept myself in shape by
working out, testing the 2002 Atlantic chassis and testing for Firestone at
the new tracks in Germany and England. It will be good to be back in CART
competition and to race for this new team."
        Barron's exceptional performances at Fontana and Surfers Paradise
at the end of last season were memorable enough to prompt team co-owner
Larry Blair to make a late-season change.
        "Alex has already proven himself at both of our remaining venues
and that is attractive to me as a team owner," said Larry Blair. "For a
first-year team, this has been a season of change with ownership, engines,
engineers and driver change. While Max has had wonderful runs on permanent
road courses, the experience and valuable input that Alex will bring is
needed for the team at this time. I am continuing to make changes to
Arciero-Blair Racing to improve and expand the team and its knowledge in
this highly competitive series. We are working hard on our plans and
sponsorship for the 2002 season; we feel that good on-track results can
expand our potential for the future."