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Jaguar Announces Sponsorship of California Mille

7 January 1999

Jaguar Announces Sponsorship of California Mille

    DETROIT, Jan. 6 -- Jaguar North America today announced that
it will be the primary sponsor of the 1999 California Mille, a demanding
four-day, thousand-mile tour for historic competition automobiles.  Jaguar's
sponsorship of the tour, revealed in a news conference at the North American
International Auto Show, extends through 2003.
    "We are delighted to link the Jaguar name with an event that maintains the
highest standards both for the authenticity of its entries and challenge of
its driving experience," said Michael H. Dale, president - Jaguar North
America.  "Jaguar's participation in the California Mille is a natural
extension of our passion for automobiles and motoring."
    Patterned after Italy's famed Mille Miglia competition, the California
Mille is the only American event to be granted recognition by the organizers
of the resurrected Brescia-to-Rome-to-Brescia classic.  Besides reviving the
pleasures of historic motoring, the tour also supports causes such as the
11-99 Foundation, a benefit fund for California Highway Patrol officers and
their families.
    "Jaguar's proud motorsports legacy makes it the perfect match for an event
dedicated to the appreciation of great performance automobiles," said Martin
Swig, founder of the California Mille and a vintage racer.  "The Jaguar
heritage of engineering innovation complements our desire to celebrate an era
of truly astonishing machines."
    The ninth edition of the California Mille begins April 25, 1999, with the
gathering of participating vehicles at the Fairmont Hotel on San Francisco's
Nob Hill.  The tour takes to the road the next day, stopping for meals and
overnight lodging at some of Northern California's most renowned
accommodations.
    Highlights of the 1999 California Mille will include a visit to
Thunderhill Raceway, miles of driving through towering redwood forests en
route to Eureka, the northernmost city on the course, and a run down the
beautiful coastline along California Highway 1 in Mendocino County.  The event
finishes April 29 with a celebratory dinner at the Domaine Chandon vineyards
in California's Napa Valley wine country.
    Participation in the California Mille is limited to 65 cars.  The entrants
must be appropriate Mille Miglia-type cars built prior to 1957 (the final year
of the original Mille Miglia), along with a handful of American cars of the
same era that might have won an American Mille, had there been one.  A
California Highway Patrol escort accompanies the group to facilitate traffic
control and communications.