CART MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 9, 1998

Charles Bidwill III

Andrew Craig

Ed Duffy

Chip Ganassi

Jimmy Vasser

CHIP GANASSI: Well, here we are in Cicero, Illinois today. We are atop the restaurant at Sportsmen's Park and as I look out over at the existing horse facility, I can tell you we have some big plans. I mean we are going to have a 7/8 mile horse track with a one and an eighth mile asphalt surface on the outside of that. And, we are going to be here in the fall of 1999 like everyone has said. Throughout the process, I was involved -- I met Charlie through the -- a couple of years ago, I guess, through the -- you know I was trying to be involved in the Dupage project that was up north of here and throughout that process became acquainted with Charlie and the National Jockey Club and, really, they had a facility here that they were looking to do something with and the rest is history.

CHIP GANASSI: Yes, sir.

CHIP GANASSI: Thank you.

ED DUFFY: It is never to early to talk about that. Our plan right now is to design a facility that will accommodate racing of all sorts here. We have not had any discussions beyond the CART, but we have made our intentions of our desires known, so that will be our next step in trying to put that together.

ED DUFFY: I think any weekend in Chicago will be a good weekend for auto racing. This is something that doesn't come to Chicago all that frequently, so, I don't think there will be any problems with either Labor Day or any of the other weekends.

CHIP GANASSI: Well, the fans around Chicago, I think have been clamoring for a race of some sort since I have really become in this sport in the early '80s. I can remember a press kit and some talk with Mayor Byrne years ago about a race in the city streets of Chicago; about CART being on Lake Shore Drive, you know, over the years we have heard all of these sort of -- all these sort of different ideas and different projects. I just -- I got involved with Charlie and his group and really just we had our schedule and I really wasn't -- I don't know where these other projects stand, really, I am not that close to them.

ANDREW CRAIG: I take the view that Chicago is, of course, it's in the Midwest, but it is a special market in its own right. I think coming to America's third largest market, a market with over 80 billion dollars in retail sales, I don't regard that as adding another race to the Midwest. I regard that as adding a race in a very, very important part of the States where right now there is no racing on its doorstep. And, I think it fits just well with everything we are doing right now. So I am very, very confident and comfortable about coming to Chicago.

ED DUFFY: We have already had discussions with members of the corporate community who have indicated their willingness to provide sponsorship opportunities here. In fact, today, Target announce that they want to be actively in this upcoming race.

JIMMY VASSER: Yeah.

JIMMY VASSER: I think it is fantastic. That is my understanding that that is the plan at this point in time. From the drivers group's standpoint we have been talking for many years about moving the technology along rather than just putting up the standard cement walls that have been going on recently with all the new tracks. So, if that does come into fruition then most certainly this will be the new benchmark in safety as far as new circuits go. Also, personally, it is nice to see another one-mile oval back on the circuit. We lost a couple with the split with the IRL, and, I think, technically, with the design of a real small amount of banking - I think it is 5 degrees and real wide corners - I understand it is also going to be one of widest tracks that is being built. It is going to promote real good solid wheel-to-wheel racing on the outside and then with the wall, so, I think most definitely this is going to be something that all the drivers are very excited about.

ANDREW CRAIG: Let me answer the second part first. We want to keep a good balance between ovals and road courses and you are absolutely right, we have added a significant number of ovals recently. We are actively looking for good road course venues right now to make sure we keep that balance, looking to the long-term, to make sure we keep that balance where it should be which is around about 50/50. With regard to how many races can we run: Well, we have taken the series, with the addition of this race, up to 20 races, which is a significant expansion. I think it is very important to make it clear that its expansion is very much dependent upon the ability of the teams to raise the appropriate levels of sponsorship. So, any growth has to be done in lock step with the race teams providing the race teams are acquiring the sponsorships, they need to expand the series, then we can expand the series. Obviously it is something that has to be done with great care and has to be done over time and not overnight.

CHIP GANASSI: You know, my crew is fully aware of the plans here in Chicago and they have been for a long time and they are certainly in favor of it, I can tell you. I think they are looking forward to the quality of races that we are adding more instead of the quantity, if you will.

ANDREW CRAIG: Bear in mind this year following the season, we have put in place a testing blackout, that was done specifically with the teams in mind. We put in place this year, as you know, a time certain schedule. Now, there are many groups that benefit from that. But, again, that was -- one of the groups we were thinking of there was to get these cars rebuilt overnight as quickly as possible and not leave mechanics hanging around in the garage area until two and three in the morning. So, these issues have been addressed. It is not something which -- you know, in the end we want to go racing and so obviously has to be some compromise. We are not blind to these issues. .

CHIP GANASSI: I think what you have to look at is the number of miles that the teams are doing on a year-round basis. And, I think the greater majority of owners are in favor of, you know, of -- if we are going to do the miles, you might as well be at a race, if you are going to be doing the miles anyway. So, therefore, you know, there has been some talk of knocking -- increasing the test band, if you will, and replacing it with races.

JIMMY VASSER: Well, I don't really have a problem with doing more races. I think CART is looking right -- looking down the right avenue in, you know, perhaps taking some of the leeway we have in testing away and adding races. Then you don't have -- it is not really a time increase, not only on the drivers and mechanics and their families, but on the whole series together. So, I think that, you know, our product is showing well when we are racing, in showing it to the fans, and a lot of the time that we spend with our race teams right now is not really showing it to the fans. We spend an awful lot of time at the race tracks in the middle of the week testing. Spending an awful lot of money trying to catch an edge over the other teams. So, if we throttle back in that area and step it up on the racetrack, I think it is probably going to be better for our sport overall.

ANDREW CRAIG: Well, I don't think any fans in Chicago are going to criticize this move from what I have heard today. I think this is going to be a very, very popular move indeed. Certainly, I have never had a fan contact me asking for less racing. I think there is a thirst out there for more racing. Our fans love what we do. Obviously we have to grow the thing very carefully to make sure the teams have the funding necessary. I don't anticipate any of our fans being concerned about more racing - quite the opposite.

ANDREW CRAIG: We are here today announcing a race in Chicago. I am really not going to speculate about what we may or may not do in the future. But, suffice it to say, we are always actively looking at all the venues that are out there to see what is on the horizon so we can plan our series for the future. But I really wouldn't want to speculate about where we may or may not go.

ED DUFFY: Let me respond to that first. What made this very exciting for us is the fact that, as you mentioned, we have got a great deal of the infrastructure in place already. In fact, if someone were to come in and try to replicate what we have here now, it would cost upwards of 60 million dollars, just to get what we have right now. Now build onto that the additional requirements for auto racing, and it makes it an extremely costly project. We are excited because with this announcement of the CART race, this instantly becomes a successful project financially. So we are very pleased that we are at this position and it was a natural step for us to take under the present circumstances.

CHIP GANASSI: One of the nice things that sort of fast-tracked this one was there is really no public money involved here. The infrastructure is already here. The highways are here. I think we are within one mile of the way the crow flies, we have eight interstate interchanges. That sort of solves the access problems and you don't have to go to the State with your hand out and, you know, ask for some help.

ANDREW CRAIG: As you know in our world of motor sports, there is always immense speculation, rumor, so forth, about every decision. Really, all I can say is that at this stage we have not made any determinations about the dates for this race in 1999. And what you read in the press or may have seen on ESPN is just pure speculation at this stage.

ED DUFFY: No. In fact, it really doesn't make any difference to us at all. Chicago is a great sports city and this is the kind of event where it truly will become not only a race, but an event. So, I don't think it makes a difference what weekend it is held on - whether it is Labor Day or some other weekend. Our goal here is to fit into the success of CART and success of this sport and bring it to Chicago people. I think they have come out any time we asked them to see something of this nature.

ED DUFFY: The track is nearly 100 acres. The way it works out is that it totally consumes the racetrack grandstand. That doesn't include parking that is adjacent to the areas here. So, from a perspective of this work as a racetrack on the site, it really works quite well. Only problem we have had is the fact that because we have the infrastructure of this incredible city here right next to us, we are limited to the size of the race track. That is why it is going to be a little over a mile oval. But, beyond that, the site itself works quite well for all the needs and accommodations for auto racing.

ED DUFFY: Oh, yeah, it will be real easy. The fact is horse racing, some years back, perhaps before you were reporting here, but some years back, got 45 to 50,000 people out for horse racing. Now that hasn't been the case in the more recent future, but all the same, it did occur. The key for us here is to have a good plan on traffic control rather than: "Do the streets handle it." The streets have already handled it and it has done quite well. We have a wonderful relationship with local, county and state law enforcement officials. In fact, we have already made our initial contact with them about developing a plan that will work for everyone here.

ED DUFFY: Horse racing schedule will have to be modified for 1999. No question about that since construction will begin sometime July 1 and go until we open our first race in late summer, early fall of 1999. Then we will begin horse racing again after that. One other thing, I think it is important to go back to that first question. We recently announce that we hired Tim LaFevre (ph) as Vice-president and COO of this project. Tim previously was director of administration for the Chicago Bears as you may recall. And one of his responsibilities there was to traffic control and parking. If you look at the areas that have had challenges over the years, certainly, Soldier Field has been one of those. So, we are very confident that this is not only an accessible site, but the plan that we develop will make it very easy.

ED DUFFY: Initial plans here call for 25,000 cars within a one-mile radius of the facility.

ED DUFFY: It actually turned out to be quite easy. We brought in engineers from around the country to give us their estimate and their opinion on whether or not this is a doable project. And, it didn't take long to realize that it -- really, the one does not, in any way, conflict with the other, but rather kind of supports it. So, there really aren't any serious challenges either from a financial perspective or from a logistic perspective. It works quite well.

ANDREW CRAIG: Well, as I think we said earlier on in the conference call, there are a number of factors that come into play when you talk about adding races: The amount of testing we do, and so forth. With regard to the existing venues, we are always looking at new venues and we are always looking very carefully at our existing venues. It is very important that out existing venues provide state of the art, up-to-date facilities that can compete with other sports attractions and obviously those are all the factors we are going to take into an account as we go forward into the next century.

ANDREW CRAIG: There is no maximum; no minimum. I am really not going to provide a number. We will run the number of races that is appropriate for the teams at that time. And, as I said earlier, it is very important that we grow this series very, very carefully because if the teams aren't funded properly, you obviously can't expand the series. And in a sport that is 95 percent funded by sponsors, obviously, it is critical that we have their support for anything we do in the in the future.

CHIP GANASSI: I can assure you, there is no IPO money involved there, I can tell you that.

ANDREW CRAIG: If I could just add to that, no, emphatically not. This is a partnership between Chip Ganassi and Sportsmen's Park. No Championship Auto Racing money is involved in this project at all.

CHIP GANASSI: At this time, let me introduce my partner, Charlie Bidwill.

CHARLIE BIDWILL: We are 50/50 partners.

CHIP GANASSI: Only that Dover has obviously the -- opposite sides of the track and they don't really have any dual -- while it is a dual-use facility, the horse track is on one side and the cars are on the other side, and -- the horse track doesn't really encircle the entire place like it will here.

CHIP GANASSI: Yes, it is.

ED DUFFY: The initial cost of Phase I is upwards of $50 million. It will increase the size of this facility from 11,000 to 67,000 seats. Phase II, final estimates on cost have not been determined yet or haven't been finalized yet, but it will take the facility from 67,000 upwards to 90, 95,000.

ANDREW CRAIG: Milwaukee is very much a part of the tradition of what we do. As is Elkhart Lake. We believe that a race in Chicago has such appeal in Chicago that we don't think it necessarily impacts upon any other part of the schedule.

ED DUFFY: The Sportsmen's Park facility has a rather unique history here in the Chicago area. In fact, it was originally built back in the '20s by one of our more infamous citizens as a dog racing facility and then it took on a new life with legitimate business about 66 years ago as a racetrack for horses. They have been doing that since that time.

ED DUFFY: The impact, we had Coopers and Lybrand do a study which, of course, included the economic impact in the area here. It will create about 540 new construction jobs. It shall create an additional 1,400 full- and part-time jobs to operate the facility itself. Probably about 100 million in the economy in the area here on an annual basis and generate in excess of 7 million annually for additional taxes.

ANDREW CRAIG: We have no knowledge of any such discussions and I don't think it is really worth commenting on.

ED DUFFY: I will take the question in reverse order. I take that as a request to have the press box in the outside of the track.

ED DUFFY: And beyond that, our goal here is, because we have a facility that is existing that has much of the infrastructure completed already, it really does afford us, I guess, the luxury to take some time and look at focusing on safety issues and issues that are important to owners and drivers and fans. And, so, over the next several months, if there are additional things that we can do to make this either a safer or a more visible facility for people, that is precisely what we would do.

ED DUFFY: We are located in the heart of a strong industrial area here in the city. If you take an aerial view of this site, you will notice around us that there are probably, at any given time, you know, most of the properties here are vacant because they are not used on the weekends. So, when I said earlier that I was confident that we had 25,000 spaces for parking, that is a very conservative effort. I am saying it that way because I am certain that they exist as we speak right now. Beyond that, when we get to 95,000, it will require that we acquire some additional parking facilities which will be part of the expansion project when we complete it.

ED DUFFY: I guess the best comparison that I can give you if you were look at Woodbine up there and just consider building an oval around the horse racing facility at Woodbine and moving the horse racing in a bit, that is essentially how it is going to look.

ED DUFFY: Our goal here is to create the infield to accommodate the various different types of auto racing that we have been having here. So over the course of this, you will see a dramatic change. You will see some grass remain here, of course, because of the need for retaining water and what have you. But, for the most part, this is a very easily converted part of our property into a usable infield.

CHIP GANASSI: The overall architect for the project is a guy by the name of Taso Katselas and I know he is working with the Yates, Kratzburg (phonetic) out of North Carolina, and the engineering firm escapes me at the moment.

ANDREW CRAIG: We actually published these numbers this morning. The initial sanction fee is 1.75 million dollars, five-year contract and there are escalators build into the sanction fee.

ED DUFFY: All we can say is that for certain FedEx Championship races next year and beyond that, both the Ganassi Team and our team will be working on developing other opportunities.

ANDREW CRAIG: It will be a minimum of 200 miles. When we are a little close to having a finished project here in terms of construction, we will carry out some simulations. We are very conscious of the need to provide fans with the maximum racing for their dollars, so, like we have done at some of our other one-mile tracks you can easily see this go to 225; maybe even slightly longer. But, certainly, we have -- obviously we guarantee absolutely a minimum of 200 miles.

ANDREW CRAIG: Certainly this is very much the heartland of Champ Car Racing. We know from all of our surveys -- we carry many of our races in the Midwest; that Chicago based fans are a major part of the fan group at any race, so, obviously for us a major part of this was bringing racing right to their front doors. And, certainly we get good TV ratings in Chicago; strong following in the press for the sport and we are very confident this will be a good markets for our kind of racing.

ED DUFFY: This facility is designed so that the one race here makes this financially successful. But, I would not suggest at all that we want to exclude IRL or any other body from racing here. This is a freestanding project that is being developed in conjunction with the member of the CART Team and the CART Board here. And we are pleased that CART, being the leaders that they are, stepped up to the plate here and worked with us to get this done. But we want to invite everybody to come look at this place and see what it is going to be about and see what Chicago can do for racing.

CHIP GANASSI: I am going to have to turn that over to Ed. I don't -- I don't know that I am able to answer that.

ED DUFFY: We have done the preliminary work in terms of any of the environmental challenge that one would meet in a project this size and there are none that exist. Zoning is in place at the local level. There are no other state or local ordinances that we would fall into. So at the present time, I don't think there are any impediments at all that we would have to deal with.