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Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc., Announces IPO

10 March 1998

Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc., Announces IPO

    DETROIT, March 10 -- Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc.
today announced that its initial public offering of 4,700,000
shares of Common Stock was priced at $16 per share.  The Company's Common
Stock will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "OPW."
    Of the 4,700,000 shares of Common Stock being offered, 4,333,334 shares
are being offered by the Company and an aggregate of 366,666 shares are being
offered by certain selling stockholders of the Company.  After the offering
(and assuming no exercise of the over-allotment option), there will be
14,466,666 shares of Common Stock outstanding.
    The net proceeds from the offering (before any exercise of the over-
allotment option), after deducting underwriting commissions and expenses, are
expected to be $63,330,010.  The Company intends to use $10.0 million of the
net proceeds to purchase the Indy Lights racing series, the official
development series of CART, and $9.5 million to pay certain obligations owed
to existing race teams.  The balance of the net proceeds will be used for
working capital and other general corporate purposes, including funding future
acquisitions and developing racing related businesses and properties.
    Jefferies & Company, Inc. and A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. served as managing
underwriters for the offering.
    Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. owns, operates and sanctions the
premier open-wheel motorsports series in North America, the FedEx Championship
Series, formerly known as the PPG CART World Series, and is responsible for
organizing, marketing and staging each of the 19 races in the FedEx
Championship.  With speeds up to 240 miles per hour, and an average margin of
victory during the 1997 race season of less than four seconds, CART open-wheel
racing is the fastest form of closed-circuit auto racing available to
motorsports audiences, providing intense excitement and competition.
    A copy of the written prospectus can be obtained from Jefferies & Company,
Inc., Syndicate Department, 650 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, New York
10019.
    These securities are offered only by means of a written prospectus and
this announcement is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer
to buy.

SOURCE  Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc.