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IRL: MBNA to sponsor Indy Racing League pole position award

29 January 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.- MBNA America Bank, N.A., will sponsor the pole award at Indy Racing events during the 2000 season, MBNA and Indy Racing League officials announced today.

The MBNA Pole Award honors the top qualifier at each race with a $10,000 check and trophy at all Indy Racing League events except the Indianapolis 500.

"We feel the pole award for the Indy Racing League carries with it a great deal of prestige," said David Elgena, senior executive vice president and director of MBNA Motorsports. "We at MBNA are pleased to be involved with the Indy Racing League and are proud to have been an award sponsor since the leagues inaugural race at Disney World in 1996."

MBNA is also a licensee of the Indy Racing League, issuing credit cards for the Indy Racing League, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and 15 drivers. Before sponsoring the pole award for Indy Racing, MBNA was the sponsor, from 1996-99, of the Lap Leader Award for the driver that leads the most laps in a race.

"MBNA has been a dedicated and enthusiastic sponsor of the Indy Racing League since its inception, and with the MBNA Pole Award we are very proud to build on that relationship," said Dave Moroknek, director of licensing and consumer products for the Indy Racing League and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "The value of this award was first created by PPG Industries, which has sponsored the Indianapolis 500 pole award for many years and will continue to do so. The Indy Racing League tips our hat to PPG as we begin to build a similar tradition with MBNA."

MBNA America Bank, N.A., is the worlds largest independent credit card issuer with $72.3 billion in managed loans. MBNAs Motorsports Sector issues the official credit card for the Indy Racing League, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, NASCAR, the NHRA and the IHRA.

Text provided by IRL

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