Kanaan/Mears Australia Pre-Race Notes/Quotes

MO NUNN RACING - PRE-RACE NOTES/QUOTES
Honda Indy 300 - Oct. 26-28, 2001
Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia - 2.795-Mile Temporary Street Course
Round 20 of 21 on the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series

TONY KANAAN -- #55 HOLLYWOOD/MO NUNN RACING HONDA-REYNARD

**This weekend marks Kanaan's 73rd career Champ Car start and his 34th with
Mo Nunn Racing.  In his Champ Car career, he has one win (1999 U.S. 500),
two poles (1999 at Long Beach, 2001 at Chicago), four podium finishes, 10
top-fives, and 37 top-10s.

**Kanaan fell to 10th in the CART FedEx Championship Series driver
championship with 83 points after finishing eighth at Laguna Seca two
weekends ago.  He is tied with series points leader Gil de Ferran for the
longest active points-scoring streak at eight races in a row.  He's scored
in nine of the last 10 events, and 13 of this season's 18 events contested
thus far.

**Last year here at Surfers Paradise, Kanaan started seventh and finished
eighth in the #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard.  In his
first two seasons here, Kanaan qualified eighth and finished seventh with
Forsythe Championship Racing in 1999, and qualified 14th and finished
seventh during his CART Rookie of the Year season of 1998 with Tasman
Motorsports.

**In 22 career Champ Car starts on temporary street circuits, Kanaan has one
pole (Long Beach 1999), one podium finish (third at Houston in 1998) and 11
top-10s.  He was fourth on the streets of Vancouver last month, and seventh
at Long Beach earlier this season - both temporary circuits.

TONY KANAAN QUOTES

"Well, first of all, probably the most fun we have all year is down in
Australia.  There is just so much to do.  That's why a bunch of us drivers
go down there 10 days early.  Beautiful scenery.  The people take such good
care of us.  I could make a third home there, easy.  By the time we get to
the race weekend, we're ready to rock-and-roll.  It's been such a long
season, and so much has happened to our team and around the world this year,
that it's nice to let loose just a little bit.  But when we get to the race
weekend, it's all business.  It's a beautiful place to do business.  The way
the fans react to our coming to town, you really get the feeling we're the
most important racing series in the world.  It'd definitely fun while it
lasts.  Our team has been pretty strong all year.  We've had bad luck in the
strategy department.  Most of the top teams have.  You start to wonder
whether it's worth working your tail off for a good car in qualifying when
the teams who qualify in the back seem to have an equal chance at winning -
especially if it's a race with a lot of yellows.  Australia being a street
track, you can expect a fair amount of cautions.  We had a good car there
last year, but it was another one of those strategy races last year.  We'll
just do our best and hope for the best.  That's all you can ever do."

CASEY MEARS - #66 PIONEER-WORLDCOM/MO NUNN RACING HONDA-REYNARD

**This weekend marks Mears' fourth career Champ Car start and his third with
Mo Nunn Racing.

**The 23-year-old Mears, from Bakersfield, Calif., made his debut with Mo
Nunn Racing and only his second career Champ Car start at the
Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston.  He qualified 25th in the #66
Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard and brought it home in 17th,
two laps down.  Two weekends ago at Laguna Seca, Mears qualified 18th and
finished 12th to score his first championship points for the team.

**In his first Champ Car start, Mears drove a third Team Rahal entry,
sponsored by WorldCom, at last year's season finale in Fontana, Calif.  He
finished fourth.

**He stepped into the cockpit of the #66 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing
Honda-Reynard after this season's regular driver, Alex Zanardi, was involved
in a racing accident during the latter stages of the American Memorial 500
in Lausitz, Germany, on Sept. 15.

**This is Mears' first start here on the streets of Surfers Paradise.

**Mears' uncle, three-time CART champion Rick Mears, is donating $100 for
every lap Casey completes during these final four races of the season to the
Alex Zanardi Foundation.  He has completed 176 of 178 possible laps thus far
at Houston and Laguna Seca.  This weekend's race is 65 laps.  Next weekend's
season finale at Fontana is 250 laps.

**This past weekend, Mears qualified 15th and finished ninth driving the
TropArtic Pontiac in an ARCA series event at Talladega, Ala.

CASEY MEARS QUOTES

"Obviously I'm really looking forward to going to Australia.  I've never
been there for a race.  I hear it's a fun track and a great place to go and
the people are friendly.  Racing-wise, I think we can do really well.  We've
been improving every time we've been on the track.  Definitely, it's not
going to be like it was at Houston and Laguna Seca, where I've driven before
(in Indy Lights).  I knew which way the corners went before I ever got on
the track.  For sure I'll be at a disadvantage to the guys who have been to
Australia before.  I'm getting there early and I'm really going to spend
some time studying the track with my engineers.  I do hear it's a technical
track, so we'll have our work cut out for us.  But I've got good people
telling me what to do in Morris and Tony.  I'll learn the ins and outs
pretty quickly, I'm sure."

MORRIS NUNN - TEAM OWNER

**Last year here at Surfers Paradise, Nunn saw his first-year team, with
Tony Kanaan behind the wheel of the #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing
Honda-Reynard, qualify seventh and finish eighth.

**As technical director at Target/Chip Ganassi Racing during four
consecutive CART championship seasons by Jimmy Vasser (1996), Alex Zanardi
(1997-98) and Juan Montoya (1999), Nunn won here from the pole with Vasser
in 1996 and with Zanardi in 1998.  He also won here with Zanardi from the
outside-front-row in 1997.

**Nunn was reunited with Zanardi this season as the venerable Italian driver
came on board to pilot the #66 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard
before suffering serious injuries during the latter stages of the American
Memorial 500 last month at Lausitz, Germany.  Zanardi lost both of his legs
in the accident, but is progressing well in a Berlin Hospital and is
expected to return home to Italy later this month, or early next month.

MORRIS NUNN

"I don't know what to say about our chances in Australia.  We're still a
little perplexed at how teams who qualify in the back seem to be winning
these races with such regularity.  That's the sport of it, I guess, but
there's something that's just not right about that and I'm not exactly sure
if there is a solution that will suit everybody.  We've been fairly strong
all year with our Hollywood car and should be once again this weekend.
Casey has certainly shown he is more than capable of handling the
responsibility of carrying on with our Pioneer-WorldCom car.  Once again, he
did everything we asked of him at Laguna.  He's learning his lessons well,
and certainly left Laguna Seca with more confidence that we could have hoped
for.  This will be a new experience for him, driving on a track he's never
seen.  But, judging by how he's done so far, I'm sure he'll figure it out by
the time it matters."