Racing Champions Corporation Announces Public Offering

    GLEN ELLYN, Ill.--March 28, 2002--Racing Champions Corporation today announced it has priced the public offering of 1,500,000 shares of Common Stock by the Company and 3,300,000 shares of Common Stock by selling stockholders at $17.25 per share. The transaction is expected to close on April 3, 2002. The shares to be sold by the selling stockholders consist of 2,381,249 shares by Willis Stein & Partners, L.P., 306,251 shares by Robert E. Dods, 306,250 shares by Boyd L. Meyer and 306,250 shares by Peter K.K. Chung. The Company has granted the underwriters an option to purchase an additional 45,000 shares and certain selling stockholders have granted the underwriters an option to purchase an additional 675,000 shares to cover over-allotments, if any.
    Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated acted as the lead manager of the offering. A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. and Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co., Inc. acted as the co-managers. A copy of the final prospectus may be obtained from Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, 777 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202.
    Racing Champions (www.rcertl.com) is a leading producer and marketer of innovative collectibles and toys targeted at males of all ages. The Company's diverse product offering includes scaled die-cast replicas of John Deere agricultural equipment and NASCAR stock cars, other licensed vehicle replicas, pre-teen toys, sports trading cards, racing apparel and souvenirs, and collectible figures. These products are sold under the Company's market-focused brand names, including Racing Champions(R), Ertl(R), Ertl Collectibles(R), American Muscle(TM), AMT(R), W. Britain(R), Press Pass(R) and JoyRide Studios(TM). The Company reinforces its brands and enhances the authenticity of its products by linking them with highly recognized licensed properties including NASCAR, NHRA, John Deere, Case IH, Polaris, Honda, Caterpillar, Ford, GM, Chrysler, Texaco, Warner Brothers, Gullane Entertainment, Nintendo, Sega and Electronic Arts. The Company's products are marketed through multiple channels of distribution, including mass retailers and specialty and hobby wholesalers and retailers, OEM dealers and to corporate accounts for promotional purposes. The Company sells through more than 20,000 retail outlets located in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

    This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

    Certain statements contained in this release contain "forward-looking statements"' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "expect," "intend," "may," "planned," "potential," "should," "will" and "would." Such forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Such uncertainties and other operational matters are discussed further in the Company's quarterly and annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company's actual results and future developments could differ materially from the results or developments expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to make any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this release or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.