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IRL- BELL RINGS UP TOP-10 FINISH IN FONTANA


FONTANA, Calif., Oct. 3, 2004 - They say you can't go home again, but
Townsend Bell celebrated his homecoming in the IRL IndyCar Series with a
ninth-place finish in the Toyota Indy 400 at California Speedway. The
Californian drove Panther Racing's Menards/Johns Manville Chevrolet
Dallara to the top finish by a Chevy Indy V-8 in the 200-lap race.
Adrian Fernandez won in a Honda G Force.

"We made up some positions by the finish, but in the middle of the race
we were really slipping," said Bell. "I could hang with the leaders when
I was in a big pack, but we just couldn't keep up when we were running
alone. Chevy made some big improvements this weekend and I look forward
to what we'll have for Texas."

Bell's Panther Racing teammate Tomas Scheckter endured another
frustrating day in the Pennzoil Chevrolet Dallara. Starting 12th,
Scheckter immediately dropped half a lap behind the field when the green
flag fell. Scheckter then staged another of his trademark
come-from-behind charges to move into the top 10 on lap 64. He was ninth
on lap 85, eighth on lap 122, and seventh on lap 150.

"There was some kind of problem with the knobs on my dash and we fell
all the way back at the start," Scheckter explained. "The Panther guys
finally figured something out and we got a fuel setting where we could
race. But the problem was with the restarts and we couldn't get the
setting right to get a jump on anybody."

Then the misfortune that has stalked Scheckter all season struck again
as Tomas Enge spun directly in front of him in the fourth turn on lap
194. The accident eliminated both cars, but the drivers walked away
without injury.

"I just had nowhere to go," said Scheckter. "The car in front of me spun
in the middle of the turn and he took me with him. It was so close to
the finish I thought we were going to come away with our best result in
a while."

The accident ended Tomas Enge's IRL debut in Patrick Racing's Chevrolet
Dallara.

"I don't know exactly what happened," said the road racer from the Czech
Republic. "I was not very close to other cars ahead of me, as I had been
earlier. I spun very quickly, but maybe it was a puncture and probably
it was my mistake."

Ed Carpenter also suffered a puncture, but a timely pit stop on lap 25
kept his Red Bull Cheever Racing Chevrolet Dallara in the race and kept
Carpenter in contention for the Rookie of the Year title.

"We had a punctured wheel, believe it or not," Carpenter reported. "The
team did an awesome job spotting that, because it could have been a
disaster. We lost a lap on that early pit stop and just never got the
yellows to get back on the lead lap.

"It was a long day," Carpenter continued. "I didn't really get to race
anybody. The new Chevy engine went the distance, and that's good. It was
just a shame that we had to get out of the main pack early, because once
you get out of that you're done."

Carpenter's teammate Alex Barron was headed for a top-10 finish until he
encountered the SAFER barrier in Turn 2 on lap 185.

"Everyone was going for it with 20 laps to go," Barron said. "I just got
into some dirty air in Turns 1 and 2. The car came around quick, and I
ended up in the wall."

The season finale of the 2004 IndyCar Series will take place at Texas
Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 17. The Chevy 500, the 16th round of
the series, will start at 12:30 p.m. EDT and will be televised live on
ABC.

RACE SUMMARY
Track: California Speedway, 2-mile oval
Winner: Adrian Fernandez, Fernandez Racing Honda G Force
Margin of Victory: 0.0183 seconds
Average Speed: 178.826 mph
Pole: Helio Castroneves/Toyota, 217.479 mph
Fastest Lap: Vitor Meira/Honda, 216.959 mph

RESULTS
Pos./Driver/Engine/Laps
1. Adrian Fernandez/Honda, 200
2. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 200
3. Dan Wheldon/Honda, 200
4. Sam Hornish Jr./Toyota, 200
5. Buddy Rice/Honda, 200

9. Townsend Bell/Chevrolet, 199
12. Ed Carpenter/Chevrolet, 198
15. Tomas Scheckter/Chevrolet, 193 (accident)
16. Tomas Enge/Chevrolet, 190 (accident)
18. Alex Barron/Chevrolet, 185 (accident)
20. Felipe Giaffone/Chevrolet, 173 (gearbox)

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After 15 of 16 events)
Driver/Engine/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 578 (3) (clinched championship)
2. Dan Wheldon/Honda, 498 (3)
3. Buddy Rice/Honda, 473(3)
4. Adrian Fernandez/Honda, 415 (3)
5. Helio Castroneves/Toyota, 408

Manufacturer/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Honda, 147 (14)
2. Toyota, 114 (1)
3. Chevrolet, 79

NEXT EVENT
October 17, Chevy 500, Fort Worth, Texas, 1.5-mile oval
TV: ABC, 12:30 p.m. EDT