Nissan to Support Two Truck Teams in CORR Series - Maintains Official Truck Title

GARDENA, Calif.--May 1, 20059, 2005--Nissan will support two truck teams that compete in the 2005 Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) series, pairing up again this year with the Art Schmitt Racing Team and with Hord Racing. Drivers Art Schmitt and Chad Hord will both campaign 2005 Nissan Frontiers in the CORR Pro-Lite division. In addition, for the third straight year, Nissan will be the official truck of CORR.

"Nissan is excited to feature the all-new Frontier truck in this great off-road racing series. Art Schmitt and Chad Hord are professional drivers who have shown they know what it takes to get to victory circle time and time again," said Ron Stukenberg, senior manager, Nissan Motorsports marketing and operations.

Schmitt's Frontier will race in Nissan silver, red and black and carry NISMO (Nissan Motorsports International) graphics. Hord's Frontier will race in silver and Red.

Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) is in its 8th season and is arguably the largest and most watched off-road racing series in North America. Combining close, fender-to-fender racing on challenging closed course dirt tracks, CORR delivers an opportunity for drivers and manufacturers to showcase their off-road prowess.

"Our sponsorship in Championship Off-Road Racing allows us to directly reach an enthused audience that is pre-disposed to trucks. CORR is the perfect proving ground for the Frontier and NISMO," said Stukenberg.

The CORR series spans a 7-race season on tracks in Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas and California. In 2004, more than 167 drivers representing 20 states and Canada competed in the series. To bring the series to a wider audience, CORR has teamed up with the SPEED Channel, which will broadcast every race again this season.

About the Drivers

A veteran off-road racer and proven champion, Schmitt has more than 100 career wins, 12 class championships, nine off-road championships, three Driver of the Year Awards and two Hard Charger Awards to his credit. He started his racing career from a backyard garage nearly three decades ago, racing his homemade dune buggies in Pennsylvania.

"We are very proud to be racing the Nissan Frontier," said Schmitt. "I love my full-race CORR Frontier and I am certain that off-road fans and truck enthusiasts will appreciate the performance and style delivered by Nissan in the production NISMO Frontier they can drive straight off the showroom floor."

Alongside Schmitt is Chad Hord, who began off-road racing in 1999, taking second place in the Super Buggy division. Hord started racing professionally in 2001, capturing 10 top-five finishes in 16 starts and earning a fourth-place finish in the year-end point standings. Last year, driving a Nissan for the first time, Hord had 10 top-five finishes in 14 starts and captured third place in the year-end point standings.

The Frontier

Powering the Schmitt and Hord Frontier pickups again this year are 2.5-liter, 16-valve, 4-cylinder racing engines pumping out 298 horsepower at 8,200 rpm and 260 lb-ft torque at 6,200 rpm.

The 2005 Frontier is completely re-designed from the ground up. The third generation Frontier, which is offered in both King Cab and Crew Cab body configurations, is designed to deliver exceptional levels of acceleration, handling and braking, towing capacity and off-road capability. Along with the solid foundation provided by the F-Alpha truck platform used on the full-size Titan, the Frontier features a newly designed 4.0-liter DOHC V6 with more horsepower than any other mid-size truck - 265 horsepower and 284 lb-ft of torque - and a choice of 2WD or 4WD with advanced off-road technology including available 4-wheel limited slip.

Nissan has a long-standing heritage of truck innovation, which includes the first compact pickup in the U.S. (1959), the first half-ton compact pickup (1969), the first extended cab body with the King Cab (1977), the first import brand compact truck assembled in the U.S. (1983), the first compact truck sold in the U.S. with four full-size forward hinged doors (2000), the first factory-installed supercharger in a compact truck (2001), the first Crew Cab compact truck with over six feet of bed (2002), the first truck ever to offer Wide-Open rear doors that open 168 degrees and the first truck to offer a factory-applied spray-in bedliner.