USAC Release - USAC TO SANCTION PEPSI/MT. DEW KNOXVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE									OCTOBER 19, 2005
Contact: MICHAEL HARKER/DICK JORDAN



USAC TO SANCTION PEPSI/MT. DEW KNOXVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS


INDIANAPOLIS – USAC will return to the famed Knoxville Raceway half-mile in
Iowa in 2006 for two nights of National Midget Car Series competition during
the track’s 17th annual National Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction weekend.

The fifth annual “Pepsi/Mountain Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals” is
scheduled for June 2-3, with the 20-lap “King Doodlebug Classic” headlining
Friday’s preliminary night activities. The 25-lap “Nationals” event is set
for Saturday. Both races will award USAC National points, the first USAC
National Midget points races at Knoxville since 1969.

“When you look at USAC’s National Midget Car Series champions over the last
fifteen years, you see names like Jeff Gordon (1990), Tony Stewart (1994, ’
95), the late Kenny Irwin Jr. (1996), Jason Leffler (1997, ’98, ‘99), Kasey
Kahne (2000) and J.J. Yeley (2003),” said Ralph Capitani, Knoxville’s
director of racing. “Clearly this series is a top rung on the ladder to
NASCAR stock car racing. The addition of the prestigious USAC brand to this
lucrative $33,000 two-day event fits perfectly into Knoxville Raceway’s
strategy of offering reasonably-priced national championship events at a
world-class venue.”

The event, which began in 2002, has been sanctioned by a number of groups
over the past four years, including the Badger Midget Auto Racing
Assocation, Gateway, the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association, the
Midwest Auto Racing Association and the American Racing Drivers Club. All of
the aforementioned groups are invited to showcase the 2006 event on their
schedules.

“We are very excited that USAC will be returning to the Marion County
Fairgrounds in 2006 with their National Midget Series after an absence of
over 36 years,” Capitani said. “At the same time, we are very appreciative
of the efforts of the Badger, Gateway, Rocky Mountain, Midwest and American
Racing Drivers clubs and teams over the past four seasons, and hope they
will continue to support this truly ‘national championship’ event.”

Added Rollie Helmling, USAC’s President and CEO: “The United States Auto
Club is honored to be asked to become part of this great Midget race and
racing weekend at Knoxville Raceway. The addition of the USAC National
Midget Car Series to the event will bring virtually all the nation’s best
Midget drivers to Knoxville. We look forward to working with other Midget
sanctioning bodies to bring the Knoxville fans the ‘Best of the Best’ in
Midget Racing. The USAC National Midget Car Series includes the nation’s
premier Midget racing events such as the ‘Copper World Classic,’ the
‘Belleville Midget Nationals,’ the ‘Night Before the 500,’ the ‘Hut Hundred,
’ and the ‘Turkey Night Grand Prix,’ and we look forward to including the
‘Pepsi/Mountain Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals’ into this prestigious group
of events.”

Former winners of the Saturday night feature include 2002 “Hut Hundred”
winner Mike Hess (2002), Chad DeSelle (2003) and defending “Belleville
Midget Nationals” champion Jerry Coons Jr. (2004). This year’s main event
was rained out. Danny Stratton won the 2005 “King Doodlebug Classic.”

The Weld Racing Silver Crown Series was the last USAC division to compete at
Knoxville in 2001. The Silver Crown Series will return to the Hawkeye State
next season – along with the USAC National Sprint Car Series – Sept. 16 at
the 7/8-mile paved Iowa Speedway in nearby Newton.

Multiple-time "Knoxville Nationals" winner Doug Wolfgang won USAC’s last
National Midget Car Series dirt race in Iowa in 1982 at Des Moines.


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