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German 500 ©2002 SpeedCenter Publishing INDIANAPOLIS (July 16, 2002) - Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. (NYSE: MPH) has been informed by the provisional receiver of EuroSpeedway Lausitz that the FedEx Championship Series race scheduled for Sept. 19 - 21 has been cancelled. Although various efforts have been undertaken over the course of the last two weeks to ensure that the event would continue, the organizers are not in a position to host the CART Champ Car event this year following EuroSpeedway Lausitz's insolvency filing earlier this month. Earlier this year, CART and the EuroSpeedway organizers had entered into a co-promotional, joint-venture agreement for the operation of the German 500. "Germany is an important market and we are disappointed the race will not be held, but the only proposed solution was basically for us to write a large check on top of the financial commitment we had already made," said CART President & CEO Christopher R. Pook. "We will shift our European focus to other markets." Last week, CART Vice President of Promoter Operations Tim Mayer met with EuroSpeedway officials in Germany. Despite positive efforts from the organizers, the State of Brandenburg and the receiver, the cancellation proved unavoidable. CART will have a presence in the European market this season as the Rockingham 500 at Rockingham Motor Speedway, Sept. 13 - 14, in England will continue as scheduled and CART is currently working closely with the event organizers to continue positive advance ticket and corporate sales. Track officials at the Northamptonshire oval today announced that they have sold nearly all of their allotment of corporate hospitality space and have also sold nearly half of its South Grandstand seats in the last two weeks.
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