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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 14, 2002 – UPS unveils the next series in its humorous "We want to Race the Truck" advertising campaign when the green flag waves the start of this year's Daytona 500 and NASCAR Winston Cup race season this Sunday (NBC 12:00 PM ET).

Like the predecessor spots that had a UPS executive, fans in a shopping mall as well as father and racing legend Ned Jarrett encouraging Dale Jarrett to race the "big, brown truck," the new commercial brings a plea from rock singer George Thorogood with a special rendition of his popular song "Bad to the Bone." Thorogood calls on the #88 UPS driver to be "Brown to the Bone" behind the wheel of the UPS truck.

The new spot focuses exclusively on Thorogood's musical request while playing his guitar in a bar. Fans will wait a few races before seeing Jarrett's response, which last season included popping the cheeks of a youngster holding his breath and alternately tossing coins into a wishing fountain to counter another fan's heartfelt desire.

Just as with Thorogood's popular music, fans no doubt soon will be singing:

Dale races the truck
Fans gather 'round
They'll gaze in wide wonder
'Cuz it's big and it's brown.

The truck moves up
In front all alone
People could see right away
That it was brown to the bone
Brown to the bone.

"We couldn't be happier with the buzz around NASCAR created by the UPS 'Race the Truck' campaign," said Dale Hayes, UPS vice president for brand management and customer communications. "Its popularity extended to broadcast commentary, fan voting on our UPS Racing Web site, a special paint scheme last season and successful merchandise sales built around that one simple request of Dale Jarrett. Now we just need Dale to drive the truck."

The UPS campaign enters its second racing season already with sports marketing and advertising trade honors. During its season-ending Winston Cup banquet in November, NASCAR recognized UPS with its 2001 Marketing Achievement Award marking the first time a first-year car sponsor has been so honored. Last month, UPS received the Horizon Award for best sport-themed advertising against competitors that included sports apparel and equipment, network commercial promotions and fast food and beverage spots. The national Horizon awards, presented by the Atlanta Sports Council, focus attention on the business side of sports, acknowledging leagues, players, the media and sponsor companies for bottom-line success in leveraging sports involvement.

"We have so much fun creating the spots and are excited the public has embraced them both on and off the race track," said Cliff Sorah, senior vice president and associate creative supervisor for The Martin Agency of Richmond, Va. "This new series of commercials takes the incessant pleas for Dale to race the truck to a whole new level of stardom."

The ads are scheduled to run throughout the year in NASCAR race telecasts with print versions in motorsports and trade publications. The campaign will continue to evolve with other celebrity requests for Jarrett to race the truck.

UPS has been the official express delivery company of NASCAR since 2000 and enters its second year as primary sponsor of the #88 UPS Ford Taurus driven by Dale Jarrett for Robert Yates Racing. Building on the sport's growing popularity and fan loyalty, UPS has been recognized for a strong marketing platform that links its services to the speed, precision and reliability of NASCAR racing. UPS continues to build new business opportunity directly within the racing community, related automotive and supplier industries and with new revenues through licensed product merchandising. Visit www.racing.ups.com for more information about UPS Racing and #88 team performance and features.

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2002 UPS NASCAR "Race the Truck" Campaign

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• UPS Pressroom
  pr@ups.com
  404-828-7123

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