Annual Barber-Champ Car Karting Runoff

7th Annual Barber-Champ Car Karting Scholarship Runoff This Weekend

LAKEVILLE, Conn. (Dec. 30) - The Skip Barber Racing star search system that over the past
seven years has unearthed and then rewarded such talents as Ryan Hunter-Reay, Michael
Valiante and A.J. Allmendinger gets under way again this week. The Barber-Champ Car Karting
Scholarship Runoff -- the annual judged competition that rewards the most young talented
karters with more than $130,000 in racing cash -- will be held this Sunday and Monday, January
4 and 5, at Sebring International Raceway.

This year, 35 of the best young karters from the United States and Canada will each spend the
bulk of two days in a Formula Dodge R/T 2000, in both test and race conditions, in hopes of
making an impression on a panel of judges in order to earn one of six scholarships to compete in
the 2004 Formula Dodge National Championship Presented by RACER, the Official National
Amateur Championship of Champ Car. The majority of the drivers in the Barber-Champ Car
Karting Scholarship Runoff come from the ranks of the World Karting Association (WKA) and
the Champ Car Stars of Tomorrow series.

One karter will be awarded a full season of FDNC -- $38,150 -- while five more will each earn
50 percent ($19,075) of the entry fee.

"We truly feel there is no better opportunity for the serious young karter than the Skip Barber
system, if the desire is to get into open-wheel racing's topmost ranks," says FDNC Managing
Director Divina Galica. The equal-car premise behind every Skip Barber auto racing 
championship, the coaching, the huge amounts of seat time, the furious competition, the simple
stark value of our racing -- all that has been attracting the best karters for a number of years."
Galica noted that there is no minimum age for drivers to compete in FDNC or the four Regional
Formula Dodge championships, provided they pass muster with Skip Barber's chief instructors.

The judging panel is comprised of noted coaches and drivers such as Galica, Kelly Collins, Jim
Pace, Barry Waddell, Gregg Borland, Jason Holehouse and R.B. Steiwing, as well as a former
karter who took advantage of the Skip Barber system before it was officially formalized -- Bryan
Herta. Known for his strong and active advocacy of North American karting, Herta joins the
karting scholarship panel for the first time. In prior years, he's judged the Big Scholarship
runoff, where the most promising drivers in FDNC are rewarded with significant scholarship
money to race in the Champ Car-sanctioned Barber Dodge Pro Series.

Note: For a complete list of the 2004 Barber-Champ Car Karting Scholarship Runoff candidates,
please go to www.skipbarber.com.
-end