Bowtie Bullets for Motegi IRL

Twin Ring Motegi
Motegi, Japan
Round 3 of 16, Indy Racing League IndyCar Series
Sunday, April 13, 2003 

Chevy Keeps on Winning
    Chevrolet and Dale Earnhardt Jr. dominated last weekend's NASCAR races
in Talladega, Ala. Earnhardt Jr. scored his fourth straight Winston Cup
victory on the Alabama superspeedway with his Chevrolet Monte Carlo,
posting Chevy's ninth straight Winston Cup win on the immense 2.66-mile
track. Earnhardt Jr. also won the Busch Grand National race at Talladega.
With his earlier victory in Daytona, Earnhardt Jr. is now two-for-two in
Busch Series races in 2003, while Chevy has won six of the seven Busch
Grand National races contested this season. GM Racing, the technical arm of
GM's motorsports program, developed a new Monte Carlo body for NASCAR
competition in 2003 as well as the all-new Chevy Indy V8 engine that is
competing this weekend at Twin Ring Motegi.

Motegi Memories
    Twin Ring Motegi was the site of Earnhardt Jr.'s first Winston Cup
race with his father, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. Dale Jr. finished
sixth, two positions ahead of his father, in an exhibition race on the
Japanese oval in Chevrolet Monte Carlos in November 1998. Mike Skinner won
the non-points NASCAR race at Twin Ring Motegi driving a Chevrolet Monte
Carlo prepared by Richard Childress Racing.

    "My father downplayed the competition between us, but I am sure he was
as pumped as I was inside," Earnhardt Jr. recalled. "I won the battle
by finishing two spots in front of him, but he won the war after sharing a
few words while we were changing out of our uniforms."

The Long Haul
    Among the tons of equipment that made the long journey from the U.S.
to Twin Ring Motegi for the IRL's inaugural overseas event were two
Corvette IRL pace cars and three Chevrolet trucks used by the IRL Chevrolet
Safety Team. The Corvette pace cars will be flown back to the U.S. after
the race to continue their pace car duties for the remainder of the season,
but the trucks (used last year on the IRL tour) will remain in Japan for
future IRL events at Twin Ring Motegi. Chevrolet has sold 1,493 Corvettes
in Japan since the introduction of the fifth-generation model of America's
performance icon in 1997.

Prelude to Indy
    As the final event leading up to the Indianapolis 500, the Japan Indy
300 is a crucial test before the competition for the crown jewel of the
IRL IndyCar Series begins. GM Racing engineers will use information from
this weekend's event to evaluate the performance of the latest developments
for the Chevy Indy V8 before finalizing the engine specifications for the
500-mile classic on May 25. Information gleaned on the 1.5-mile Motegi oval
will be analyzed and applied to the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway
where horsepower and aerodynamic efficiency are paramount.

GM in Japan
    General Motors, the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, has had
a presence in Japan since 1927. GM currently sells vehicles in Japan under
the Cadillac, Chevrolet, Opel and Saab brands. Chevy's best-selling
Japanese model is the Cruze, a small family wagon that is unique to the
Asian-Pacific market. The Chevrolet Cruze was jointly developed by Suzuki
and GM. The GM Group includes alliances with Asian automakers such as Fuji
Heavy Industries Ltd., Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Suzuki Motor Corp. GM also has
technology collaborations with Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.

The Long Run
    Chevy has won a total of 100 Indy-style races to date.
The first-generation 2.65-liter turbocharged Chevy Indy V8 won 86 times
and claimed 80 poles in the PPG Indy Car World Series in 1987-93. Chevy
returned to open-wheel racing in 2002 with the 3.5-liter naturally
aspirated Chevy Indy V8 that won 14 out of 15 races and nine poles in IRL
competition.

About GM
    General Motors , the world's largest vehicle
manufacturer, designs, builds and markets cars and trucks worldwide, and
has been the global automotive sales leader since 1931. GM employs about
350,000 people around the world. More information on GM can be found at
www.gm.com.