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Cars 'n' Stars: CART Testing in Japan, Sprinter Sarah Fisher First 17 Year-Old Phenomenon, 1998 Sales Incentives

31 October 1997

Well boys, the CART awards party is over and now it's time to get down
to business: 15 teams head for a test session at the Twin Motegi
circuit in Japan.  The gala awards banquet last saturday at the posh
Century City, CA Century Plaza Hotel was star studded and $$$$
studded.  Champ Alex Zanardi received a $1 million check from PPG and
a Mercedes Benz ML320 sport ute; Patrick Carpentier got 50 grand for
Rookie of the Year; actors Jason Priestly, Alfonso Ribeiro, and Tim
Allen were presenters; and Smokey Robinson played his guitar for 90
minutes.  And now, just one week later, the troops are headed for
Japan and practice. Making the junket are: Vasser, DeFerran, Blundell,
Unser, Moore, Ribeiro, Tracy, Franchiti and others.

Over in Vegas, Ernie Irvan and Bill Elliott have joined the field for
the November 8 Winston West race at the Las Vegas Speedway.

Have you heard about Sarah Fisher? Shes the 17 year old Sprint Car
sensation from Ashville, O and she has a bright future as she not only
wins races in a 410 winged sprinter at KC Raceway, but also maintains
a 3.8 high school grade point average.

Sales incentives for 1998 models include:

Ford Contour                        $  750
Ford Escort                         $  500
Windstar                            $1,500
Ranger                              $  500
Mercury Sable                       $  750
Tracer                              $  500
Villager                            $2,000

1998 Kool/Toyota Atlantic Championship   Schedule

Apr.  4   Long Beach, Ca
April 25  Nazareth, Pa
May 30    Milwaukee
June 6    Montreal
July 12   Cleveland
July 18   Toronto
Aug 2     Quebec
Aug 9     Mid Ohio
Aug 16    Road America
Sept 5    Vancouver
Sept.     Laguna Seca

Mercedes Benz historical highlights:

1886      First patent,  Carl Benz   three wheeler
1891      Benz builds first four-wheel model
1900      First Mercedes car is built under direction of Wilhem Maybach
1904      Daimler factory completed in Unterturkheim. MB set speed record 
          97 mph
1911      Blitzen Benz with Bob Burmen up sets speed record at 141 mph, 
          Daytona Beach, Fla
1914      Ralph DePalma wins Vanderbilt cup in MB/GP car
1926      Daimler and Benz mege
1936      Carraciola sets speed record in streamliner at 228 mph
1955      300SLR takes the world by storm
1963      230SL sports model built. Disk brakes
1968      Production of cars since 1946 reaches 2 million
1978      Station wagons are offered

In 1997, Mercedes won races on four types of race tracks;
superspeedways, short ovals, road courses, and street courses.  The
manufacturer was the highest points scoring engine builder with 316
points and nine wins.

Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel