Media Advisory for Kick-Off of Sound and Speed
Media Alert
July 18, 2005
What: Kick-Off of Inaugural Nextel Sound and Speed
Presented by SunTrust, a Motorsports and Music
Celebration
Who: Honorary Co-Chair Kyle Petty, Nashville Mayor
Bill Purcell, Nextel VP Frank Franzese, SunTrust
Sr. VP Brian Williams, Victory Junction Gang
Campers, and NASCAR and Country Music
Special Guests
Where: Country Music Hall of Fame(r) and Museum
When: 12:30 p.m., Saturday, July 30, 2005
Contacts: Allen Brown - RCA Label Group, (615) 301-4340,
allen.brown@sonybmg.com ;
Alice Chapman - McNeely Pigott & Fox, (615) 259-4000,
achapman@mpf.com ; Deb Mitchell - Victory
Junction Gang Camp,
dmitchell@victoryjunction.org ,
(336) 495-2002
More about Sound and Speed event on January 13 and 14, 2006:
As announced two months ago, Nextel Communications and SunTrust Banks,
Inc. are sponsoring a two-day premiere fundraising event to be held in
Nashville, Tennessee on January 13th and 14th, 2006, to benefit the
Victory Junction Gang Camp and The Country Music Hall of Fame(r) and
Museum charities. The event, named Nextel Sound and Speed Presented by
SunTrust, a Motorsports and Music Celebration will feature some of
NASCAR and country music's top stars -- showcasing their talents and the
unveiling some of the new 2006 racing car paint schemes for the new
racing season. This inaugural celebration merges motorsports and
country entertainment, two genres that share fan base crossover appeal.
Attendees will be able to interact with drivers and artists. The
celebrities will have opportunities for unique collaborative moments,
all resulting in heightened awareness and financial contributions to two
remarkable charities. Kyle Petty and Vince Gill are serving as honorary
co-chairs of this special event.
More about the KICK-OFF on July 30th:
The kick-off of Nextel Sound and Speed Presented by SunTrust will
officially take place on Saturday, July 30, in Nashville, Tennessee at
the
Country Music Hall of Fame(r) and Museum. Open to the public, a press
conference will take place in front of the Museum at 12:30 p.m. Just
prior to this, approximately 250 motorcyclists participating in the
Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America, an annual cross-
country motorcycle trek which benefits the Victory Junction Gang Camp
and other children's charities, will make a pit-stop at the event. Some
of the riders will be NASCAR and country music celebrities involved in
the inaugural Sound and Speed celebration in January 2006. (For more
information about the Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across
America, please visit www.chick-fil-akylepettycharityride.com.)
The kick-off event will begin with a performance of the National Anthem,
followed by speakers including Sound and Speed co-chair and
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series driver Kyle Petty, Nashville Mayor Bill
Purcell, sponsor representatives Frank Franzese, Vice President Direct
Distribution and NEXTEL Cup Business Development, Nextel Communications
and Brian Williams, Senior Vice President - Director,
SunTrust Entertainment Banking Group.
Among the celebrities already confirmed to appear at the July 30th press
conference are NASCAR legends Richard Petty and Harry Gant,
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Drivers Kyle Petty and Jeff Green. Schedules
are subject to change and other names will be added soon.
Distinguished guests on hand for the festivities will include Victory
Junction Gang Campers Paul Rader, Haleigh Epperson and Quentin Moore.
And, of special note, two race cars will be displayed on the Country
Music Hall of Fame(r) and Museum grounds throughout the kick-off event -
the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series show car and the No. 43 car in which
Richard Petty won his final Daytona 500.
A subsequent media alert will be serviced prior to July 30th. Within a
few weeks, complete information on the Nextel Sound and Speed Presented
by SunTrust will be posted to www.soundandspeed2006.com
<http://www.soundandspeed2006.com/> , which is currently under
construction.
More about the charities:
The Victory Junction Gang Camp is a not-for-profit organization founded
by NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and his wife Pattie in honor of their
son Adam. Located on 72 acres in Randleman, NC, the camp opened its
doors in 2004 to enrich the lives of children with chronic or life-
threatening illnesses by creating camping experiences that are
memorable, exciting, fun, empowering, physically safe and medically
sound. No
child or family pays to attend camp. Victory Junction provides a place
where the kids can connect with other kids who have like
illnesses - a place where the kids can just be kids and enjoy a full
range of fun, pleasure, friendships and success. More information about
the
camp is available at www.victoryjunction.org.
Accredited by the American Association of Museums (AAM), the Country
Music Hall of Fame(r) and Museum is located in Nashville and is operated
by the not-for-profit Country Music Foundation, an educational
organization. Utilizing staff expertise and an unduplicated collection
of country music memorabilia including recordings, instruments,
costumes, song manuscripts, photographs, film and video, business
documents and other relics, the Museum preserves the evolving history of
country music and makes that story available to a local, national and
international audience through exhibits, recordings, books, periodicals
and school and family programs.
More about the current sponsors:
Nextel Communications, a FORTUNE 200 company based in Reston, Virginia
is a leading provider of fully integrated wireless communications
services and has built the largest guaranteed all-digital wireless
network in the country covering thousands of communities across the
United States. Today 95 percent of FORTUNE 500(r) companies are Nextel
customers. Nextel and Nextel Partners, Inc. currently serve 297 of the
top 300 U.S. markets where approximately 263 million people live or
work.
SunTrust Banks, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is
one of the nation's largest commercial banking organizations. As of
March 31, 2005, SunTrust had total assets of $164.8 billion and total
deposits of $107.5 billion. The Company operates an extensive branch
and ATM network throughout the high-growth Southeast and Mid-Atlantic
states and a full array of technology-based, 24-hour delivery channels.
The Company also serves customers in selected markets nationally. Its
primary businesses include deposit, credit, trust and investment
services. Through various subsidiaries the company provides credit
cards, mortgage banking, insurance, brokerage and capital markets
services. SunTrust's Internet address is suntrust.com.
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