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Romine to Debut New Car and CARQUEST Colors at the Gatornationals

2 March 1998

INDIANAPOLIS -- Its time to go racing again for the CARQUEST Auto Parts Top Fuel Dragster. Paul Romine will make his 1998 season debut, March 6-8, at the NHRA Mac Tools Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, Gainesville, FL.

Im happy to be racing again and couldnt be more excited to begin at Gainesville, Romine said. In the early 80s I raced my Funny Car at the Gatornationals and I cant wait to again compete at the historic race.

Romines appearance at the Mac Tools Gatornationals will mark his return to NHRA competition for the first time since last seasons NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Last year we concentrated on the IHRA series and were very successful,, winning their Top Fuel Championship Romine said. This season we will again go for the championship in IHRA, but we are also looking forward to competing at more NHRA events with CARQUESTs support behind us.

In 1997, Romine and his Clayton Harris lead team qualified in three NHRA appearances. At the Fram Nationals in Atlanta, Romine qualified third with a 4.761 elapsed time. He defeated Joe Amato in round one of the Pennzoil Nationals in Richmond for his first career NHRA round win, and at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, he qualified ninth in the quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history with a career-best 4.704 at only 263.46 miles-per-hour.

To prepare for the Mac Tools Gatornationals, Romine and the CARQUEST Racing crew tested a new 1998 McKinney chassis, February 24 and 25th, at DeSoto Memorial Dragway in Bradenton, FL. The team completed several starting line launches with a best .838 60-foot time.

Qualifying for the Mac Tools Gatornationals will be conducted Friday, March 6th and Saturday, March 7th with qualifying sessions each day at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m (EST). Final eliminations will begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 8th and will be televised Live on TNN from 11 a.m. to 12 noon. Final eliminations highlights and the Live final round coverage will be televised on TNN from 4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m.

CARQUEST Corporation began 24 years ago with 100 auto parts stores. Today there are over 3,000 CARQUEST Auto Parts Stores serving all 50 U.S. States and Canada. CARQUEST supplies the professional automotive service repair industry as well as do-it-yourselfers with replacement parts, tools and equipment. CARQUEST is committed to providing auto parts and services of the highest quality and greatest value to its customers. For the location of the CARQUEST Auto Parts Stores nearest you, call 1-800-492-PART or check out CARQUEST on the World Wide Web at WWW.CARQUEST.COM.

-CARQUEST Top Fuel Dragster-