The 2006 season marks Texaco/Havoline's 19th consecutive year as a sponsor in the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) NEXTEL Cup Series. There will be a new pilot at the helm of the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge as Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver Casey Mears is stepping into the driver's seat of the famed "Texaco/Havoline Star" car. Mears is coming off his hottest season in NEXTEL Cup Series competition, where he accumulated three top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 2005, including five top-10s in the final nine events. He and Texaco/Havoline crew chief Donnie Wingo look to keep that momentum going as they embark on the 2006 season.

The partnership between Texaco/Havoline and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates began with the 2003 season. At that time, relative newcomer Jamie McMurray assumed driving duties of the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge. McMurray, subbing for injured teammate Sterling Marlin, won his first NEXTEL Cup Series race in only his second start in October 2002, setting a new NASCAR modern-era record by becoming the quickest driver to win a Cup race.

The 2003 season saw McMurray post five top-five and 13 top-10 finishes en route to capturing the Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors. McMurray also earned one pole award and finished 13th in the overall standings, but more importantly became the third Texaco/Havoline driver to win Rookie of the Year, joining Davey Allison (1987) and Kenny Irwin (1998).

The Texaco/Havoline team raised the competition bar in 2004 as McMurray compiled nine top-five and 23 top-10 finishes. McMurray's 23 top-10 finishes placed him second overall for top-10 finishes during the 2004 season. In addition, McMurray finished 11th in the standings and picked up a check for $1 million at the season-ending awards banquet by posting 12 top-10 finishes during the last 14 races.

Based on the previous year's success, McMurray and the Texaco/Havoline team rolled into 2005 poised to make a run for the title. Faced with the challenges of a new nose configuration, shorter spoiler and softer tire compound, the team struggled to find the consistency they experienced in 2004. Still, they were able to post four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in addition to finishing 12th in the overall championship standings.

The Early Days

The auto industry was in its infancy when a Texaco ad featured a racing car on a dirt track, piloted by Louis Disbrow, a record-setting driver who attested to the superior performance of the company's motor oil and gasoline. That 1913 ad was followed four years later by the real thing: a cross-country test of Texaco products by a two-man team that drove a Maxwell touring car from Newark, N.J., to Los Angeles, Calif., in 10 days and 16 hours.

Fast forward to 1930, when Texaco employee Stu Hawley broke cross-country records by driving a Buick, fueled and lubricated by Texaco, from New York to Los Angeles and back in just under six days. That same year, James Hargis and Charles Creighton covered the same distance in 42 days. What took them so long? They drove the entire route backwards -- hence their nickname, "The Backward Boys."

Small wonder that when Texaco began sponsoring auto racing in 1972, it knew the value of product testing under the most demanding circumstances. The company had applied the same philosophy of rigorous product testing to Havoline Motor Oil, since acquiring the rights to the lubricant line in 1931. Now, with its sponsorship of auto racing, Texaco and Havoline were put under the spotlight of a sport that provided high drama and enormous popularity.

Texaco scored big with its first sponsorship of Emerson Fittipaldi, who became world champion on the Formula One circuit in 1972 despite a series of mishaps that included an accident involving the truck carrying his car from one race to another. On that occasion, the resourceful Fittipaldi drove the race in a training car. His perseverance and talent paid off as he repeated his world championship performance in 1974. That winning tradition continued in 1976 when Britain's James Hunt drove a Texaco-backed McLaren-Ford to the Formula One world title.

Texaco made history when it sponsored Janet Guthrie's Indy Car. When she lined up among the drivers at the 1978 Indianapolis 500, the announcer cried for the first time, "Lady and gentlemen, start your engines." Guthrie became the Indy 500's first lady starter and finisher, earning ninth place though she drove the race with a fractured wrist. The "Texaco Star Wildcat" racing car in which she drove in 1978 was later donated to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame.

Others on the honor roll of Havoline-sponsored drivers include Tom Sneva, Don "the Snake" Prudhomme, the legendary Mario Andretti and his sons Michael and Jeff, Davey Allison, Dominic Dobson, Ernie Irvan, Nigel Mansell, Paul Tracy, Dale Jarrett, Christian Fittipaldi, Kenny Irwin, Ricky Rudd, Cristiano da Matta, Jamie McMurray and now Casey Mears.

The Havoline Racing legacy continues today, represented on the NASCAR circuit by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. With each race, they will preserve - and build on - a winning tradition.

NASCAR

Now in its 19th season, Texaco/Havoline's sponsorship in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series is a natural extension of the company's support for auto racing. As interest in stock-car racing continues to mount among fans at tracks and on television throughout the United States, Texaco/Havoline demonstrates the reliability of its products in this high-speed, excitement-filled arena. As Racer's magazine described the sport: "The attraction of stock-car racing, so rare in other forms of motor sport, always has been the side-by-side, fender rubbing, bumper-bumping games of tag."

As a master of these power-packed "games of tag," Davey Allison set a high standard when he became the first driver of the "Texaco Havoline Star" car in the 1987 Winston Cup Series. That year, Davey won two races and was named 1987 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. During his six-and-a-half years with the Texaco/Havoline team, Davey logged a total of 19 victories in Winston Cup events. Following Davey's death in a helicopter crash in 1993, Ernie Irvan took his place behind the wheel of the Havoline machine. Since then, Havoline Racing has been represented by Dale Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Champion; Kenny Irwin, who was named Rookie of the Year in 1998; Ricky Rudd; Jamie McMurray, the 2003 Rookie of the Year; and in 2006 Casey Mears, who is certain to carry on Texaco/Havoline's winning tradition.

In its 18 years of NASCAR racing, Texaco/Havoline drivers have combined for 27 victories and compiled a storied history in this highly competitive auto racing arena.

Through its long-term sponsorship of motor sports, Texaco/Havoline Racing tests its products in the most demanding of laboratories -- high-speed automobiles performing on the tracks and roads of the international racing circuit. This commitment ensures the excellence of Texaco/Havoline's products and builds customer loyalty among the millions of racing fans in the United States and around the world.