Dodge Gives Green Flag to SRT Advertising

SRT Creative Theme: Race Inspired, Street Legal

* Ad debuts during Feb. 16 NASCAR Daytona 500 on FOX * Features Elliott, Marlin, Wallace and Petty * Drivers join Daytona fans for sneak preview Feb. 14, 11:45 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 14 -- Dodge NASCAR drivers Bill Elliott, Sterling Marlin and Rusty Wallace, as well as racing legend Richard Petty, take a break from their day jobs to star in a new TV ad for Dodge and its line of SRT performance vehicles.

The spot, titled "Race Inspired," features Elliott, Marlin and Wallace continuing their competition off the track as they jostle to be the first to leave the garage following a race. The pushing and shoving ends with each jumping into one of Dodge's new SRT vehicles; Wallace into the SRT-4, Marlin into the Ram SRT-10 and Elliott into the Viper SRT-10. Speeding out of the track, they pass Petty, standing next to his 1971 Dodge Charger race car, who says, "Sweet," expressing his opinion of these new performance machines. The voiceover concludes, "Introducing the new SRT series. Race inspired. Street legal."

The 30-second spot, created by BBDO Detroit, will debut during Fox's live broadcast of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 16.

"The underlying strategy behind Street and Racing Technology (SRT) is to complete the Dodge product line from the race track to the showroom, and to send a clear message to car buyers that says 'if you want performance, then Dodge is the brand,'" said Jim Yetter, Director - Dodge Motorsports and SRT Marketing. "In this commercial, we've coined a simple saying that gets right to the point -- 'race inspired, street legal.'"

"The Dodge Viper SRT-10 has become kind of the lead dog for the SRT line," added Yetter. "The group of Performance Vehicle Operations (PVO) engineers who built the Dodge Viper SRT-10 are now sprinkling their ideas onto other vehicles.

"The new 2003 Viper was the first vehicle to carry the SRT badge, but since then, we've added two other vehicles -- the SRT-4 and the Ram SRT-10," added Yetter. "The entire SRT effort is about performance. That doesn't mean that the effort is limited to the engine. The performance driving experience involves engines, wheels, suspension, superior seating, bodywork and more. Every SRT borrows from our racing experience and will have superior -- call it 'best in class' -- performance."

A 60-second version of the spot, including the single "Velocity Shift" by the group Overseer, will air exclusively on Yahoo.com after the race until February 20 on the site's sports page. On February 17, the spot and the song will be available to viewers on Yahoo's home page and the sports page.

"This commercial is designed to showcase the performance capabilities of Dodge and to introduce these high-performance vehicles," Yetter continued. "I think this commercial speaks to the relationship that we have with our race teams. This is not like some third-party relationship where we just give them money and they go off and race. We are partners in everything that we do. We work with them on the engineering and marketing side every day."

Since its return to the Winston Cup circuit in 2001, Dodge has scored 11 victories -- seven last year -- and grabbed 12 pole positions. Marlin and Elliott earned seven wins for Dodge over the past two years. Wallace, the 1989 Winston Cup Champion, joined Dodge this year with Penske Racing South. Petty is the sport's all-time winningest driver with 200 victories.

All four drivers will be on hand when Dodge gives Daytona race fans a special live sneak preview at its Dodge City stage, across from Daytona International Speedway. That event is free to the public and scheduled for 11:45 a.m., Friday, Feb. 14.

The new spot and screen grabs can be seen and downloaded at www.media.daimlerchrysler.com .

NOTE TO EDITORS: Additional information and news from DaimlerChrysler is available on the Internet at: www.media.daimlerchrysler.com .