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CART, California Speedway announce FedEx Championship Series to return to Fontana through 2004

30 October 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
FONTANA, Calif. - Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc., and California Speedway announced today they have reached agreement to continue conducting CART FedEx Championship Series Champ Car events at the Southern California facility through 2004.

The announcement was made by Andrew Craig, CARTs chairman and CEO, and Scott Atherton, president of California Speedway, as CARTs Champ Car teams prepared for Sundays final race of the season, the Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota.

We are very pleased to be able to come to terms to return to this wonderful facility, said Craig. Southern California is a big supporter of the FedEx Championship Series. To be able to end our season here with an exciting 500-mile race is the perfect conclusion to our season. Scott and his staff do an excellent job of promoting our race and we could not be more pleased than to be returning to California Speedway for a minimum of five more seasons.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

CART first raced at the circuit in 1997 and, during that event, Brazilian Mauricio Gugelmin established the worlds closed-course, single-lap speed record - 240.942 miles per hour in his PacWest Mercedes - on the two-mile oval. Mark Blundell won the inaugural race. Last year, Jimmy Vasser won $1 million a race-ending shootout over Greg Moore and Alex Zanardi. Sundays race is a showdown for the FedEx Championship Series title and the PPG Cup between Dario Franchitti and Juan Montoya. The race winner again will take home $1 million and another $1 million is on the line for the winner of the series championship.

Our CART weekend is one that has quickly become a favorite of race fans throughout the southwest part of the country, said Atherton. Plus, we see a growing number of international fans attending our race each year and that is pleasing to us as well. The Champ Cars put on a wonderful show and we look forward to building this race weekend into an even larger and more exciting event for the 100,000-plus guests who attend.

International Speedway Corporation is a leading promoter of motorsports activities in the United States, currently promoting more than 100 events annually. The Company currently owns and/or operates 10 major motorsports facilities, including Daytona International Speedway in Florida (home of the Daytona 500): Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama; Michigan Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan; California Speedway in San Bernardino County, California; Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida; Phoenix International Raceway in Arizona; Darlington Raceway in South Carolina; North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina; Watkins Glen International in New York, and Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania.

Other track interests include the operation of Tucson (Arizona) Raceway Park and an indirect 37.5 % interest in Raceway Associates, LLC, which owns the route 66 Raceway and is developing a superspeedway in the Chicagoland area.

The Company also owns and operates MRN Radio, the nations largest independent sports radio network; DAYTONA USA, the Ultimate Motorsports Attraction in Daytona Beach, Florida, and the official attraction of NASCAR; Americrown Service Corporation, a provider of catering services, food and beverage concessions, and merchandise sales; Motorsports International, a producer and marketer of motorsports-related merchandise; and Competition Tire, which distributes and sells Goodyear brand racing tires in the Midwest and Southeast regions of the United States.

For more information, visit the Companys website at www.iscmotorsports.com.

Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc owns, operates and markets the FedEx Championship Series, which is comprised of 20 races in five countries on four continents in 1999. Drivers such as Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, Al Unser Jr., Dario Franchitti and Juan Montoya race 900-horsepower, open-wheel Champ Cars at speeds of more than 230 miles per hour on some circuits. CART also owns and operates its top two development series, the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship and the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship. Learn more about CARTs open-wheel racing series at www.cart.com.

-CART-

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