Sony Renews Sponsorship for NHRA Sport Compact Racing Series

With the focus on its Xplod® brand of mobile electronics products, Sony Electronics has extended its sponsorship of the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series for the 2007 season.

Sony first sponsored an NHRA Sport Compact event in 2003 and has been the title sponsor of the drag racing series since 2005.

Beginning in 2007, Sony and Best Buy will together offer a taste of the race day excitement at local Best Buy stores the day before the race events. Additionally, Best Buy will have exclusive offers for race attendees at each event good at participating stores and online.

"Our sponsorship demonstrates our commitment to the sport," said Brennan Mullin, Sony's director of marketing for mobile electronics and personal audio products. "We will continue to recognize the achievements of the teams by offering awards at each event and at the end of the season for the overall champions."

Each event winner (Pro Rear Wheel Drive, Pro Front Wheel Drive, Modified, Hot Rod, Honda Tuning Magazine All Motor, UrbanRacer.com Sport Front Wheel Drive, and Sport Rear Wheel Drive) at the eight-sport compact stand-alone races will receive a $500 Sony Style gift card. In order to be eligible for the award race teams must display decals featuring the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series logo on both sides of the team transporter/trailer, and a patch on the upper chest area of the driver's uniform.

In addition to having an award for the event winners, Sony is offering a year-end championship award. Those drivers eligible will be the five professional champions (Pro RWD, Pro FWD, Modified, Hot Rod, and Honda Tuning Magazine All Motor) and one "wild card." The wild card entry will be a driver chosen at random via a raffle at the awards banquet. World championship winners will not be eligible for the wild card entry.

These champions will be presented with a Sony VAIO® Notebook AR Series computer with a recordable Blu-ray Disc™ VGN-AR370, valued at more than $2,500.

Sony is going to be increasing its on-site presence at all NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series events. This includes those events where a limited number of categories are participating at NHRA POWERade Series races. The increased presence will include a new NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series-branded interactive tractor trailer display, promoting the Xplod line of car stereo accessories. Sony is sponsoring a season long register-to-win Xplod sweepstakes. The winners will take home one of Sony's three Scion Tc demo cars equipped with the latest offerings of Xplod systems.

NHRA is the premier sanctioning body for sport compact drag racing. It is presenting the 11-race, $2.5 million NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series at eight tracks across the country from March through October. The series features the largest guaranteed sport compact event purse of more than $27,000 paid out per event. Additionally, the series offers a year-end championship fund of $144,000 and bonus program payouts of nearly $20,000, along with the most lucrative contingency payout program in the sport at more than $2.5 million.

The series is highlighted by its five championship classes (Pro RWD, Pro FWD, Modified, Hot Rod and Honda Tuning Magazine All Motor). In addition, and at all eight of the stand-alone NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series events, the NHRA Xplod Stylefest showcases a complement of the lifestyle and entertainment elements synonymous with today's sport compact scene.

More information is available at www.nhrasportcompact.com.

SOURCE: Sony Electronics, Inc.

CONTACT: Linda Barger of Sony Electronics, Inc., +1-858-942-2986,
linda.barger@am.sony.com