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Champ Car, Indy Racing League Work Together To Form Unified IndyCar Series

The open wheel reunification picture became a little clearer on
Wednesday, however several questions remain. Indy Racing League CEO and
founder, Tony George and Champ Car President Kevin Kalkhovan addressed
the large contingent of media that gathered at the Homestead media
center.

George remarked, “Our whole racing community is excited and energized
about unification and everybody is working hard toward the season opener
at Homestead-Miami Speedway March 29.” “I’m thrilled we now have a
unified open wheel racing series that will feature great drivers, a
diversity of world-class venues and numerous top-notch teams,” Kalkhoven
commented, “I applaud Tony George for his commitment to the sport, and
join him in now focusing solely on the future of open wheel racing in
North America. I’m eager for our team to race this season, and certainly
will do all that I can to help advance our sport in the short- and
long-term.” George added, “Finally, it is due to the efforts of Kevin
and Gerald Forsythe that we are able to stand together today looking
forward to the growth of the sport that we all love,”

Joining George and Kalkhoven were several owners and drivers as well as
industry partners who showed their support of unification. Champ Car
owners present with Kalkhoven included Eric Bachelart, Dale Coyne, Paul
Stoddart, Derrick Walker and Keith Wiggins. Champ Car drivers present
included Robert Doornbos, Franck Perera, Bruno Junqueira, Simon
Pagenaud, Nelson Philippe, Will Power Graham Rahal, Oriol Servia and
Alex Tagliani.

IndyCar owners present included Michael Andretti, Kim Green, Kevin
Savoree, IndyCar drivers present included Marco Andretti, Helio
Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Jay Howard, Tony Kanaan, Hideki Mutoh and
Danica Patrick.

It is expected several teams from Champ Car to join the series this
season, some as early as the first race, while others should join by the
time practice starts for the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile
Race on May 4. The Champ Car teams and drivers did not have time to
prepare for this practice session so the IndyCar Series will add an
additional practice session dedicated to them in March.

Race venues from the Champ Car Series will be added to the ICS schedule
in 2008. Discussions are proceeding to add events in Edmonton, Canada
and Surfers Paradise Australia to the current 16 race schedule.

The historic Grand Prix of Long Beach Champ Car race finale will be run
the same weekend as the already scheduled ICS race in Motegi, Japan.
Champ Car will operate the Long Beach race and Champ Car teams will
compete. IndyCar Series points and prize money will be awarded for both
races to teams who are participating in the IndyCar Series. Beginning
in 2009, the Grand Prix of Long Beach will be part of the ICS schedule.

As the 2009 schedule is prepared, the IndyCar Series intends to review
all recent Champ Car and current IndyCar Series races, as well as other
opportunities to produce the most viable schedule of short ovals, super
speedways, street courses and road courses that will be of interest to
fans, promoters, sponsors and racers.

The Champ Car teams are expected to receive one new Dallara chassis and
receive an additional used chassis. Obviously they will use Honda
engines in the 2008 season. George mentioned during the conference that
as the month of May comes, it is expected that Dallara will have more
chassis available to those teams needing them.

UNIFICATION ELEMENTS – courtesy of IndyCar Media
* Champ Car teams committing to the IndyCar Series and demonstrating the
ability to fund operating budgets will be provided:

* One-year Honda basic engine lease
* Two Dallara chassis from a pool of new and used cars to the
extent of the pool available for up to two seasons
* $1.2 million per car from the IndyCar TEAM program

* At least two race venues from the Champ Car World Series schedule will
be added to the IndyCar Series schedule in 2008 if the parties reach
agreement. Discussions are proceeding to add events in Edmonton, Canada
and Surfers Paradise, Australia to this year’s current 16-race schedule.
The IndyCar Series has scheduled meetings with both of these venues to
discuss the 2008 schedule.

* The historic Grand Prix of Long Beach Champ Car race finale will be
run the same weekend as the already scheduled IndyCar Series race at
Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan. The 2008 Grand Prix of Long Beach
will be Champ Car’s final race. Champ Car will promote the race as its
“Finale.” Champ Car will conduct the race and the IndyCar Series will
require any teams taking advantage of the incentives offered by the Indy
Car Series to compete at Long Beach. Since these teams will be missing
the Motegi race, they will be awarded points and prize money as if they
were competing at Motegi. Beginning in 2009, the Grand Prix of Long
Beach will be part of the IndyCar Series schedule.

* IndyCar Series officials met with Champ Car World Series teams at an
IndyCar Series “orientation” held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on
Monday. The nine Champ Car teams that participated in the 2007 season
were all in attendance.

* IndyCar Series officials developed an assistance program that assigned
an IndyCar Series team to work directly with a Champ Car World Series
team (i.e. Rahal Letterman Racing will work with
Newman/Haas/Lanigan, PK Racing will work with Target Chip Ganassi
Racing.)

* IndyCar Series officials have scheduled individual meetings with Champ
Car World Series teams.

* IndyCar Series officials began preliminary discussions with ESPN/ABC
regarding the expanded 2008 IndyCar Series schedule.

* In the agreement in principle, the IndyCar Series will purchase
various non-tangible assets such as intellectual property and historical
records from Champ Car. In addition, the IndyCar Series will purchase
the Champ Car Medical transporter.

IndyCar TEAM (Team Enhancement/Allocation Matrix) was introduced last
October and was designed to be an expansion of the IndyCar Series
Leader’s Circle Program while further enhancing the value of racing in
the IndyCar Series. The Leader’s Circle Program was established in 2002
to provide incentives to teams which participate in the series full
time. The program leverages relationships built by the Indy Racing
League with its partners, sponsors and suppliers to provide benefits
directly to the teams.

Beginning in 2008, the program will award a minimum of $1.2 million to
each car entered to compete the entire season, including the
Indianapolis 500. By implementing IndyCar TEAM, the Indy Racing League
is dissolving its existing event purse formula.

The rollout of IndyCar TEAM was designed to be a baseline program
designed to increase as the series grows and is successful in attracting
sponsors.

Indy Car Notes

Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star reported that “Tony George will pay
less to acquire the Champ Car World Series than he offered in U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in 2004, but his commitment to the unification of
open-wheel racing still likely will cost him about $30 million.” While
the amount was not revealed yesterday, Cavin quoted IRL spokesman Fred
Nation saying “it was less than the $13.5 million George offered in a
failed bid four years ago.” The CART assets were awarded to Kalkhoven
and Gerald Forsythe for $3.2 million, due in part they were committed to
keeping the series intact.

Cavin also reported, “It also bears noting that George and the Champ Car
owners currently only have an agreement in principle to unify; they
don’t yet have an actual contract. Nation said that is one of the many
things still to be finalized since the two sides announced their
landmark agreement last week.”

There is one busy open wheel team based in northern Illinois. Earlier
in the week, a team member mentioned to a Racingnation.com columnist
that they were preparing six of the soon to be obsolete DP-01 cars in
preparation for Long Beach, assisting other unnamed Champ Car teams.
Come the month of May that team may be even busier.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced that it has signed Milka Duno to
drive the #23 CITGO-sponsored car in select IndyCar Series races this
season. She will team with Indy 500 winner, Buddy Rice, who returns for
his second season with the team in the #5 car. Duno made seven starts
with SAMAX Motorsport in the IndyCar Series in 2007, with a best finish
of 11th at Texas Motor Speedway. Duno acknowledged she has still has a
learning curve ahead of her with DRR, “I’m very pleased to get an
opportunity with Dreyer & Reinbold to take the next step in my career. I
felt comfortable with them right away in the first few meetings. I think
that working together with them will make me move forward. I learned a
lot last year with the team I was with, especially from my engineer,
Steve Challis, and my spotter, Pancho Carter, but I still have many
lessons to learn. I hope I learn everything I need to improve and become
competitive. This is another step for me.”

Sarah Fisher, a veteran of 67 IndyCar Series starts, announced the
formation of Sarah Fisher Racing. Fisher, who will drive the No. 67 car
in honor of her successful USAC midget car, will begin competing in 2008
at the Indianapolis 500. Fisher was joined at a press conference at
Homestead-Miami Speedway by female racing pioneers Janet Guthrie and Lyn
St. James. Guthrie was the first woman to start the Indianapolis 500 in
1977 while St. James earned Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year honors
in 1992. The two combined for 10 Indianapolis 500 starts. Fisher
remarked, “We’re trying to build outwards from (Indy). We have things
in place. We’re in final negotiations contract-wise with our primary
sponsor. Things are looking really good. We would love to run Texas,
Chicago and Kentucky. We would love to have some more opportunities, and
we’re working on those constructively. As a first-year start-up team,
we know it’s small. We want to build the right way. Our 2009 program
actually looks a lot better than our 2008 program. That’s real exciting
to us and hopefully we can be in a lot more races come that time.”

IndyCar Media contributed to this report.

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