Champ Car signs die-cast model deal

INDIANAPOLIS – The Champ Car World Series and Speedgear, the exclusive merchandiser and licensing partner of Champ Car, have entered into a licensing agreement with Brinkworth Models, an industry leader in the world of “Limited Edition" team presentation models, to produce 1:10 replicas of the new 2007 DP01 Champ Car.

Brinkworth Models have been producing 1:10 and 1:5 scale models of open-wheel cars since 1991, when they were first commissioned by Carl Haas of then Newman/Haas Racing, to build a replica of the team’s 1991 Championship winning Lola, driven to a total of eight victories that year by Michael Andretti. Haas then presented the model to the president of Kmart, the primary sponsor for his 1991 Championship winning team to commemorate their accomplishments.

Since that time, Brinkworth Models has been the major supplier of Limited Edition “Presentation" models being commissioned by numerous Champ Car teams and their sponsors. During those years, the majority of the annual production of these hand-built models was dedicated to team and sponsor commissions, leaving very little to no time at all, to produce replicas for the collector market.

Brinkworth Models will now offer models of all of the Champ Car World Series team cars on the 2007 grid, not only to the teams and their sponsors, but to the individual collector as well.

Brinkworth will continue their exclusive method of hand built construction of each 2007 Champ Car DP01, which all teams are now running. Brinkworth Models is still 100 percent committed to paying meticulous attention to retaining that immaculate finish, which has made them a leader in the motorsports field for more than 15 years. Overall, Brinkworth has been in the modeling industry for more than 60 years as a family-owned and operated business, which has been building fine scale models commercially under the current direction of Al Brinkworth, president and CEO.

The new Champ Car DP01 models will be available in many of the high end collector galleries in the United States, Canada and the UK, on the internet from www.brinkworthmodels.com, www.champcarstuff.com, as well as via Speedgear (www.speedgear.com) websites starting in August 2007. Speedgear, which has been associated with the Brinkworths since 1992, is the North American leader in the marketing of open-wheel merchandise and has been in business since 1989.