"Humpy" Wheeler statement on gear rule, Pemberton

Statement from H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler on NASCAR's New Gear Rule and Hiring of Robin Pemberton

CONCORD, N.C. (Aug. 18, 2004) - A statement from H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, chief operating officer and president of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE:TRK) and president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, regarding NASCAR's introduction of a gear rule for the 2005 season and the sanctioning body's hiring of Robin Pemberton to oversee the technical aspects of its premier divisions follows:

H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, chief operating officer and president of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE:TRK) and president and general manger of Lowe's Motor Speedway:

On the gear rule - "The gear rule will be a bigger baseball-more home runs. The side-by-side racing will increase dramatically because the speeds will be lowered. I just hate to wait until next year. I wish we had it for our UAW-GM Quality 500 on Saturday night, Oct. 16.

"It will also enable smaller teams to be more competitive since it will lower costs. Racing is one sport where you can sometimes go backward and make forward progress. This is a milestone decision because we really needed to reduce speeds and lower costs. I applaud Brian France's leadership in this bold move.

On Robin Pemberton joining NASCAR - "Robin Pemberton has the ability to really stabilize this sport technically. NASCAR couldn't have found anybody better to work with the teams as well as the control tower. Robin is highly experienced, smart and has great people skills. He also understands cost issues and the necessity of making NEXTEL Cup racing even more entertaining."

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