GM Racing 2001 Review

DETROIT, Dec. 15, 2001 -- With the extremely short time between the end of
one racing season and the start of the next, General Motors (GM)
brands participating in motorsports have little time to celebrate new
manufacturer, driver, rookie, team and series championships, as work on the
2002 season is well underway. 
    
    "The competition year 2001 was a vintage year for GM Racing," said
Herb Fishel, executive director of GM Racing. "Several examples highlight
the success that our teams and drivers worked so hard to achieve in GM
products. Monte Carlo won the Daytona 500; Corvette took the overall
victory at Daytona and a 1-2 class win at Le Mans; an Oldsmobile Aurora V8
engine won the Indy 500; Chevrolet and Pontiac swept all the pro classes at
NHRA's U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis and a Cadillac LMP captured its first
podium finish in just the second year of this international endurance
program."

    "Further, on one weekend, August 2 to 5," said Fishel, "Chevrolet
Monte Carlo won NASCAR Winston Cup at the Brickyard and Busch at IRP,
Silverado won in Craftsman trucks at IRP, the Corvette C5-R won ALMS at
Portland and Firebird won NHRA Funny Car at Sears Point. Five major wins in
one weekend is a significant accomplishment for any manufacturer."

    According to Auto Racing Analysis, an independent sports results
tracking bureau and other sources, GM brands or components were entered in
955 race events in 54 major racing series in 2001. Led by Chevrolet, GM
brands produced 701 wins on paved ovals, dirt tracks, road courses, drag
strips and street circuits in stock cars, sports car, sprint and off-road
configurations. The 56-year-old Chevrolet small block engine continues to
be the choice among winning racers in major series and short-track
"bullring" competition.

Individual series summaries including championships: 

NASCAR Winston Cup/Busch
Nancy Wager -- nancywager@aol.com
    Chevrolet Monte Carlo pulled into Victory Circle a total of 16
times during the 2001 season on the way to a sweep of all three top
championship honors. Monte Carlo drivers claimed the driver championship,
the rookie title and the manufacturer championship. Chevrolet's
manufacturer title was number 22 dating back to 1958. In the Busch series,
the driver and manufacturer honors went to Chevrolet's Monte Carlo with 17
wins.

Al Larsen -- alarsen@mindspring.com
    Pontiac Grand Prix claimed four victories, 30 top five finishes and
three of the top 11 spots in the final point standings. Grand Prix made a
strong statement by finishing second in the driver championship and winning
on four different types of racetracks, including half-mile high-banked
oval, a road course, an intermediate oval and a 2.5-mile tri-oval.    

NASCAR Craftsman Trucks
Judy Stropus -- jstropus@earthlnk.net 
    Silverado led the most laps and most miles, capturing nine pole
positions and seven wins to claim the driver championship and rookie title.
It was the sixth driver title for a Chevrolet driver in the series.
Chevrolet continues to hold the top records in the series with 51 percent
of races won, most manufacturer championships with four, and most poles,
70. 
    
Indy Racing League
Rick Voegelin -- rickvoegelin@compuserve.com
    Oldsmobile concluded its racing program in grand style in 2001,
dominating the IRL for the fifth straight year. The Oldsmobile IRL Aurora
V8 engine powered the IRL driver champion and won 12 of the 13 races in
2001. The "Oldsmobile Era" in the IRL ended with 49 victories in 51 races,
51 consecutive pole starts and a sweep of the engine manufacturer, driver,
team and rookie championships for five straight seasons.

NHRA Drag Racing
Jeff Romack -- jfromack@cs.com
    GM brands participating in NHRA events included Pontiac, Chevrolet
and Chevrolet 
S-10. Pontiac won its sixth Manufacturer's Cup and Chevrolet won the Pro
Stock Manufacturer's Cup for the third time. Chevy S-10 won the Pro Stock
Truck points championship for the third time.
    In the NHRA professional categories in which they competed in 2001,
GM racers captured 50 of 62 national events for an 81 percent winning
average. In the last five seasons, drivers carrying the GM banner have
accumulated 212 wins, 217 No. 1 qualifying spots and nine Winston
championships in Pro Stock Truck, Pro Stock and Funny Car.
 
Endurance Racing
Wally Reese -- wareese@earthlink.net
    Cadillac LMP entered the second of a three-year program with a
highly modified version of the original Northstar powered prototype with
clear-cut goals of winning a podium position and gathering data for the
development of a state-of-the-art package for the 2002 season. Early in the
24 Hours of Le Mans, the No. 5 car crashed out of competition during a
vicious rainsquall. The No. 6 moved steadily forward running fourth overall
by the 12th hour, ultimately covering 2,273 miles to finish 15th overall.
The two-car entry demonstrated improved performance in each of the five
American Le Mans Series (ALMS) races entered and gaining the coveted podium
position at Mosport with a third place finish.   
    Corvette C5-R opened the 2001 season with a spectacular 1st and
4th overall at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and followed up with a 1st and
2nd in GTS class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the eight race ALMS series
the two Corvettes scored a combined six wins on the way to the GTS
manufacturer and team championship titles. 
    Corvette also scored a National Championship title in SCCA
amateur competition, and driver titles in Grand Am Sports and American GT.
Corvette was the equipment of choice for the 2001 Trans-Am Rookie of the
Year.

GM Racing Engines
    The 56 year-old Chevrolet small-block V8 design continues to
power open-wheel vehicles in stock cars, modified cars and winged and
non-winged sprint cars in series ranging from All-Pro to World of Outlaws
on paved oval, off-road and dirt tracks. The popular design is also found
in countless Friday and Saturday night racers on North American short
tracks.  

    "At General Motors, our racing program today," said Fishel, "is the
best integration of engineering, marketing and communication aspects and
that makes racing success on the race track mean more to our day-to-day
business. And that, as much as anything, explains 'why we race.'"

    General Motors is involved in racing all over the globe through
the Cadillac, Corvette, GMAC, Holden, Oldsmobile, Opel, Pontiac, Saab and
Vauxhall brands. Just as in business, motorsports success rarely comes
overnight especially in the tough environment of international competition.
The on-track "learnings" and experience are quickly integrated back into
future production GM vehicles.