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Automotive Writers To Hear Don Panoz Entrepreneur, Racecar Builder, Track Owner

6 June 2000

Automotive Writers To Hear Don Panoz Entrepreneur, Racecar Builder, Track Owner

    WHO:    Don Panoz, an entrepreneur who has seemingly come from nowhere
            during the past decade to become one of the most prominent figures
            in contemporary sports car racing, will speak to the Motor Press
            Guild (MPG), one of the country's largest groups of automotive
            journalists and industry leaders, based in Los Angeles.

    WHAT:   Monthly meeting of MPG with featured speakers addressing key
            issues in the auto industry.

    WHEN:   On Tuesday, June 6, at 11:30 a.m. with lunch at noon followed by
            the speaker's presentation.

    WHERE:  The Proud Bird Restaurant, 11002 Aviation Blvd., near LAX.  For
            directions, call (310) 670-3093.

    WHY:    Don Panoz is a self-made pharmaceutical multimillionaire who owns
            the Road Atlanta racetrack, funded his son Danny's sports car
            building operation (Panoz Auto Developments), started an
            international road-racing team (Panoz Motorsports) that has
            challenged and beaten some of the top racing teams in the world
            and founded the American Le Mans Series, where he has signed Mario
            Andretti to drive his racecar next month in Le Mans.  Panoz will
            update the automotive journalists of MPG on his small team's
            prospects against the factory teams from Porsche and Audi at the
            Le Mans race and other aspects of his automotive empire.

    CONTACT: MPG, a Los Angeles-based non-profit professional organization
dedicated to promoting education and information exchange within the motoring
press, is one of the largest organizations of journalists, public relations
and automotive industry professionals.  In addition to its lunch meetings on
the first Tuesday of the month from February through October, the group hosts
an annual Track Day, a year-end banquet at the Petersen Auto Museum where the
Dean Batchelor Award for journalistic excellence is presented, and produces a
monthly newsletter, Mile Post, an annual Roster & Media Guide and an
informational website -- http://www.motorpressguild.org.  For more information on MPG
or this meeting, please contact Michael Coates, 408-399-9081 or
coateskm@aol.com.