Philadelphia Students Competing in Classic Car Race this Saturday

--Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCVB):

WHAT:   A Press Conference kicking-off the start of the Great Race 
        classic car rally will be held today at 11 am. Four students 
        from the Philadelphia School District are competing in the 
        24th annual Great Race, which will start this Saturday at 
        12:30 pm, on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, adjacent to Logan 
        Circle. Also attending the press conference will be NASCAR 
        Nextel Cup team owner Jack Roush a Great Race competitor along
        with two recent Winter Olympic medalists competing for the 
        National Guard Great Race teams.

        The Great Race is the modern day equivalent of an
        around-the-world race that took place almost one hundred years
        ago and is a coast-to-coast race of time and endurance,
        featuring classic cars manufactured in 1961 or earlier. 100
        teams are vying for a $265,000 purse, with a top cash prize of
        $100,000 going to the Grand Champions. Race teams will compete
        on the back roads across America for 14 days and in 14 states,
        and will finish in San Rafael, California on July 8, 2006.

WHO:

    --  Jack Roush - NASCAR Nextel Cup Race team owner and Great Race
        competitor

    --  Paul Vallas - CEO, School District of Philadelphia

    --  Danielle Cohn - VP of Communications, Philadelphia Convention
        & Visitors Bureau

    --  Lenwood Sloan - Director Cultural and Heritage Tourism,
        Pennsylvania Tourism Office

WHERE:  City Hall - Dilworth Plaza  (15th/JFK)
        (Three of the competing cars will be on display.)

WHEN:   June 21, 2006, 11:00am

Note - the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be closed Saturday for this event.

For more information, please log on to http://www.greatrace.com