AAA Chicago Offers Race Fans Chance to Drive Simulator in Suburban Chicago May 3-6

AURORA, Ill., May 2, 2005 -- AAA Chicago offers the chance to feel the adrenaline rush of speeding around a racetrack when it brings a NEXTEL Cup racecar simulator to the Chicagoland area this week.

A racecar simulator is an actual vehicle with a special computer system to reproduce the environment and action of a race at Daytona International Speedway. There are steering wheels and computer screens on both the driver and passenger sides such that two people can drive at a time.

Visitors also will be able to check out an exact full-size replica of the #99 AAA Ford Taurus, which Carl Edwards of the Roush Racing Team is driving in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series this season.

The suburban locations and dates for the simulator and replica are as follows:

  -- Tuesday, May 3: AAA Branch -- Arlington Heights
     1840 S. Arlington Heights Road; 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  -- Wednesday, May 4: AAA Branch - South Elgin
     1940 Silver Glen Road; 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  -- Thursday, May 5: AAA Branch -- Naperville
     Arcade at Naper West Plaza -- 670 S. Route 59; 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
  -- Friday, May 6: AAA Branch -- Downers Grove
     Downers Park Plaza -- 7331 Lemont Road; 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The Auto Club Group of AAA clubs is sponsoring Edwards and the #99 Ford this season. Edwards has already won one NEXTEL Cup race, March 20, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. He will be racing at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet on July 10.

During this weeks' events, each participant who drives the simulator will receive a special certificate from AAA specifying their speed. That record will be entered into a national database along with the speeds recorded by other contestants at other events sponsored by AAA throughout the 2005 NEXTEL Cup season. At the end of the season, the 10 drivers who have recorded the highest speeds will receive a die-cast model of the #99 AAA Ford Taurus autographed by Carl Edwards.

AAA is a federation of motor clubs serving 48 million members in the United States and Canada with automotive, travel, financial, and insurance services. For more than 100 years, AAA has represented the interests of the nation's motorists and served as an advocate for various traffic safety and travel related issues. AAA has served that role in Illinois and Indiana since its' founding in Chicago in 1906.

AAA Chicago offers automotive, travel, insurance and financial services. It is part of The Auto Club Group (ACG), the largest affiliation of AAA clubs in the Midwest, with 4.1 million members in eight states. ACG clubs belong to the national AAA federation, a not-for-profit organization, with more than 48 million members in the United States and Canada.