BFGoodrich Tires Celebrates 50th Race as Spec Tire of Trans-Am Series

LONG BEACH, Calif., April 11 -- BFGoodrich® Tires celebrates its 50th race as the Official Spec Tire of the Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup this weekend at the season-opening Johnson Controls 100 at the Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix. BFGoodrich® Tires is in its fifth year as the spec tire to the series and has proved a valuable partner to the series.

Marking the fourth year as the end of the season award, the 2002 BFGoodrich® Tires Cup is worth $100,000 to the driver who accumulates the most championship points during the season. Paul Gentilozzi of Team HomeLink Racing and owner of Rocketsports Racing took home the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup for the second time last year (1999, 2001). Brian Simo won the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup driving the Tommy Bahama-Qvale Mangusta in 2000.

The 2002 season will mark the second year of BFGoodrich® Tires' sponsorship of the BFGoodrich® Tires Take Control Award which will recognize the driver who leads the most laps in each race. The winner will receive a set of BFGoodrich® g-Force T/A® race tires. In the event of a tie, the driver with the highest finishing position will receive the award.

In addition, BFGoodrich® Tires will post a tire contingency bonus for the top-10 finishers. The top-5 finishers will win two tires each, and racers placing sixth through tenth will each win one tire. The value per weekend is nearly $4,000, with a total posting for the season of $36,000.

John Clagget, executive director of the Trans-Am Series said, ``BFGoodrich® Tires has been an integral part of the Trans-Am Series since 1998, from providing technically advanced performance tires for competition to boosting the prominence of the series with the introduction of the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup in 1999.''

In 1998, BFGoodrich® Tires introduced the g-Force(TM) T/A® radial race tire as the first member of the g-Force T/A family of ultra-high-performance tires. The introduction of the g-Force T/A to the Trans-Am Series improved racing excitement by providing competitors with better acceleration, braking, straightline traction and more consistent performance when compared with the bias-ply tires used previously.

``The BFGoodrich® g-Force T/A® has changed Trans-Am racing, allowing drivers to race hard the entire race. In stark contrast to the bias-ply tires Trans-Am used prior to 1998, we now see teams turning out their fastest laps in the last third of the race,'' said Gary Blalock, race tire development engineer for BFGoodrich® Tires.

Paul Gentilozzi, driver of the No. 3 Johnson Controls Jaguar XKR, three time Trans-Am Champion and two time winner of the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup said, ``The performance characteristics of the g-Force radials have been outstanding. We never run out of tire; this is a testament to BFG's engineering capabilities.''

``Trans-Am racing is different from the many other racing series,'' said Herb Johnson, director of motorsports for BFGoodrich® Tires. ``It's a fan- friendly racing series for the most part, with fans being able to get up-close and personal with the cars, drivers and teams. That's why it's important to us at BFGoodrich® Tires to support this series, the teams and our fans, because ultimately, they are the enthusiasts who look to us for performance tires.''

Johnson added that BFGoodrich® Tires' heritage in racing dates back more than 30 years when the BFGoodrich Radial T/A® became the first street tire certified for racing, competed in Trans-Am and was the first tire brand to win against purpose-built racing tires.

BFGoodrich® tires, made for people looking to take control of the driving experience, combine technological expertise with the experience gained in motorsports to offer a traction advantage for almost every type of vehicle and driving preference.