Prolong Product Testing Yields Speed Records

27 October 1999

Prolong Product Testing Yields Speed Records, Including World's Fastest Electric Car

    IRVINE, Calif.--Oct. 26, 1999--Prolong International Corp. (AMEX:PRL) Tuesday announced that a vehicle employing a variety of the company's products has been established as the world's fastest electric car after recording a land speed record of slightly over 245 mph during the recent World Finals at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats.
    Prolong Super Lubricants were utilized throughout the vehicle, notably in critical high-speed bearing, gear and differential components. In the harsh environment of the Salt Flats, the unique chemistry of Prolong(R) Appearance Products also provided a protective, low-drag barrier to the bullet-shaped vehicle's exterior skin.
    The 115-inch long vehicle, named White Lightning, was built by Dempsey's World Record Associates of Santa Ana, Calif. Its two 150-kilowatt motors, powered by 6,040 C-cell sized power cells, produce a combined 400 horsepower.
    "We approached the Dempsey electric car as an opportunity to provide technical and product support to an exercise that would demonstrate the extreme-conditions capabilities for Prolong's patented lubricants and appearance products," said Elton Alderman, president and chief executive officer of Prolong International.
    "Our lubricants have established their value in internal combustion engines, and we anticipate further demonstrations of their effectiveness in non-traditional applications, including alternative power vehicles."
    "When you're serious about setting a world record, which we were, there's positively no substitute for the best," said Edward Dempsey, who designed the vehicle. "We were delighted when Prolong came on board, because we knew we would be gaining critical protection of the literally handmade components integral to this complicated and fragile vehicle."
    The record, set on Oct. 22, 1999 with Pat Rummerfield of O'Fallon, Ill. at the wheel, required a pair of runs on the three-mile measured course, which were completed within the one-hour time limit. The two-run average of 245.524 mph also eclipsed the existing National Speed Record of 239.533 mph, set by Rummerfield in the same vehicle last August. Certification of the record was provided by Federation de l'Automobile (FIA), the world motorsports sanctioning body.
    A second speed record was set by a similarly Prolong-assisted vehicle driven by veteran racer Don Vesco, of Murietta, Calif. The 31-foot Dempsey-Vesco Racing streamliner named "Vesco Turbinator," owned by Don and brother Rick Vesco, and powered by a T-55 Lycoming gas turbine engine set a new wheel-driven automobile U.S. National Record, which averaged at 427.832 mph. The mark eclipsed the existing 417 mph national speed record for the category set by Vesco in August 1999.
    Prolong International, through its operating subsidiary, Prolong Super Lubricants, markets and distributes a family of patented and premium car care and appearance products, sold under the trademarked names "Prolong Super Lubricants" and "Prolong Appearance Products," with distribution in the United States and in selected international markets.