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PRESS RELEASE
Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc. Continues Its Tradition of Innovation with Launch of New Desktop Gadget for Windows Vista Sidebar
Race Fans with Windows Vista get free download on www.chipganassiracing.com
Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc., Press Release
CONCORD, N.C. (May 7, 2008) - As a proven global leader in innovation in motorsports over the past 20 years, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc. announced today it has teamed with Microsoft to offer Windows Vista users the unique opportunity to share in its racing tradition by becoming the first to download a revolutionary new gadget for the Windows Vista Sidebar. This distinctive gadget – available for download at www.chipganassiracing.com – features audio and visual elements in both docked and fully expanded undocked forms, and is the first to be offered by any team in motorsports.
Designed in conjunction with longtime ally Microsoft, the Chip Ganassi Racing Gadget offers immediate desktop access to photo galleries, race results, standings, schedules, blogs and merchandise for the team’s eight-car stable of 11 drivers representing six countries and four touring series.
“We wanted to create a new reason for people to come to our website and learn about our team,” said Chip Ganassi Racing Teams President, Steve Lauletta. “Racing is a dynamic sport, and we wanted to generate enthusiasm, promote a loyal fan following, and differentiate ourselves from the competition.”
The team has been working to identify a new channel for reaching its fans around the world. The goal was to strengthen its relationship with fans by adding value to their experience, increase traffic to the team’s website, and improve its exposure to the public to enhance the team’s appeal to sponsors. To help it develop the solution, Ganassi Racing worked with Projekt202, an Austin, Texas–based interface design firm and Microsoft Certified Partner.
“Consumers today are more actively engaged with automotive brands and companies through online means, such as blogs, websites and other Web 2.0 tools,” said David Graff, U.S. automotive industry solutions director, Microsoft Corp. “Ganassi is serving this need by bringing racing action directly to fans’ desktops with its new Vista Gadget. We’re excited to continue our strong relationship with Ganassi and help facilitate closer interaction with their racing fans.”
The team will use the Windows Vista-based gadget as a new method for its fans to consume digital information and a new avenue of reaching the wider racing community.
“We feel as though this solution supports our key tenets: innovation, integrity, performance and partnership,” said Lauletta. “We’re looking forward to offering an experience that other teams just don’t provide their fans.”
A case study on the Chip Ganassi Racing Gadget conducted by Microsoft will also be unveiled in the coming weeks.
About Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc.
With 5 wins already in 2008, the team continues to add to its tally of 94 trips to victory lane. Chip Ganassi created his own one-car IndyCar team in 1990 and established a partnership with a new sponsor, Target. Today, his teams include two IRL IndyCars, and along with Felix Sabates he has three cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, two entries in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and a Daytona Prototype in the world of Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series racing. Ganassi’s IndyCar teams have amassed five Championships and 58 wins since 1994; his NASCAR teams have 12 wins and two Rookie-of-the-Year titles; and the Grand American team has won two Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Championships and are the three-time defending Champions of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Chip Ganassi Racing operates out of state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis, Ind., and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pa.
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