KANAAN'S TITLE HOPES DASHED; WHELDON DRIVES ON TO ROOKIE TITLE

             FORT WORTH, Texas. (Oct. 12, 2003) - Team 7-Eleven's goal coming into Texas was
to end the 2003 Indy Racing League (IRL) IndyCar? Series season with a race win, a series
championship and the rookie of the year title. As the late stages of Sunday's race arrived, it
looked like that was well within reach.
        Team 7-Eleven drivers Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon dueled in and among the top-
five all race long - at one point running first and second. Both drivers looked capable of possibly
winning the event - a victory that would have guaranteed Kanaan a series crown and Wheldon
the rookie title. But, with just over 20 laps to go, a big part of the equation changed.
        Moments after a restart on lap 179, Kanaan passed Helio Castroneves to move into
second position behind eventual winner Gil de Ferran. But, as the two battled for position,
Castroneves made contact with Kanaan, cutting his left-rear tire in the process. After the
unscheduled green-flag pit stop, Kanaan returned to the track to finish the event, ending the day
with a 14th place finish. Kanaan's misfortune dropped him to fourth in the final IndyCar Series
standings.
        Wheldon fared much better in the closing laps. The 25-year old rookie stayed with the
leaders until a late-race crash involving Kenny Brack and Tomas Scheckter brought the race to
a premature close on lap 195 due to irreparable damage to the catch-fence. Wheldon brought
his #7 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone home in third behind de Ferran and Scott Dixon,
who clinched the 2003 championship with his runner-up effort. The result gave Wheldon his
best career finish and also delivered him a win in the 2003 rookie of the year battle.

TONY KANAAN, #11 TEAM 7-ELEVEN DALLARA/HONDA/FIRESTONE:
        "Deep inside myself I am satisfied because I know we did whatever we could.
Unfortunately, things like that can happen. It wasn't mechanical; it wasn't my fault. But, things
like that can happen and unfortunately it happened to us today. Look at Scott Dixon - he had so
many DNFs this year, but it paid off for him today. It was a long year - a good year. Let's look
forward to next year."
        (ON THE CONTACT WITH HELIO CASTRONEVES)  "I felt something from behind me,
but I don't know what happened. I was on the outside and I gave him plenty of room and we
touched. I don't know what happened, but it's unfortunate. I had a run on him, I passed him, I
was ahead of him. It's a shame to lose a championship like that after the race that we had. The
team did a great job. I need to thank the guys for awesome pit stops. Unfortunately, it wasn't our
day today."
                                    Chevy 500 - Tony Kanaan
                             Finish                   14th
                             Start                    9th
                             Laps Led                 52
                             Race Points              16
                             Series Points            476
                             Points Position          4th
                                                - more -


Team 7-Eleven Race Report, Texas, page 2

KIM GREEN, PRESIDENT, ANDRETTI GREEN RACING:
        "We've got it down to a seven-point gap. The thing we can look forward to at Texas is
that we had a very, very good car there the last time we were there in June and I think our
engine guys have really stepped it up since then. I'm pretty hopeful for having a very good
package to take in there. Obviously, we would have liked to have won this race. We got
ourselves in a position, but it just seemed like we didn't quite have enough at the end for the '4'
car (Hornish) and the '9' car (Dixon). But, Tony drove a fantastic race and the pit crew did an
absolutely fantastic job. Those were the best pit stops I think we've had all year. Under pressure
- when we needed it - they came through, so it shows that they mean business, too."

DAN WHELDON #7 TEAM 7-ELEVEN DALLARA/HONDA/FIRESTONE:
         "We had a fantastic race car, fantastic pit stops and Tony drove the best I think he ever
has -- he did a great job on fuel mileage. Everything was just going our way. It's just
unfortunate. This was certainly not the way we wanted to finish the championship. But, we came
here and we did an awesome job. That's just motor racing, I guess. I'm a little bit disappointed.
Congratulations, obviously, to Dan for winning rookie of the year. I just can't say enough about
everybody at Andretti Green - how well they've worked together in our first year in the IRL."

                                    Chevy 500 - Dan Wheldon
                             Finish                   16th
                             Start                    3rd
                             Laps Led                 1
                             Race Points              35
                             Series Points            312
                             Points Position          11th

TONY COTMAN, TEAM MANAGER, TEAM 7-ELEVEN:
        "We had a good day.  We were pretty fast all day and we hung around up front and did
what we had to do to win the rookie-of-the-year title.  I'm proud of the job Dan has done this
season and rookie-of-the-year caps it off for him.  I want to thank the crew and the whole team,
everybody at home, for a great season and for continued success next year."