Sponsors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RANCHO® EXPANDING PRESENCE IN COMPETITIVE
ROCK CRAWLING, ROCK RACING MARKETS

Brand Celebrates 50th Anniversary with New Sponsorship Packages,
Three State-of-the-Art Rancho Rock Buggies

MONROE, MI…Rancho, one of the most popular brands in the off-road/4WD market, is dramatically expanding its presence among competitive rock crawling and rock racing enthusiasts through two new series sponsorships and an array of aggressive grassroots marketing initiatives.
Rancho suspensions, shock absorbers and other 4WD products are manufactured and marketed by Tenneco Automotive (NYSE: TEN).
Rancho will be the “Official Suspension Brand” of both the World Extreme Rock Crawling Championship (W.E. Rock USA), operated by the California Rock-Crawling & Off-Road Championship Series (CalROCS), and the Extreme Rock Racing Association (XRRA). In addition to sponsorship of the two popular series, the brand will campaign three advanced-technology Rancho rock buggies at more than 20 W.E. Rock USA, XRRA and other events, and send its Rancho product demonstration trailer to nearly 40 leading grassroots off-road jamborees and customer events in 2005.
“The Rancho brand is synonymous with no-limits off-road adventure,” said Rancho Western Regional Sales Manager Bob Willis. “We’ll be taking that message to enthusiasts at many of the world’s most challenging off-road venues as we celebrate our 50th year of leadership in the suspension category.”
The Rancho Rock Crawling Team, led by noted off-road driver Rob Bonney, Phoenix, Ariz., will kick off the 2005 season at the W.E. Rock Western Nationals, February 11-13 in Globe, Ariz. Joining Bonney’s Rancho-sponsored single-seat rock buggy will be the year-old four-seat Rancho rock buggy piloted by Willis. Rancho campaigns a third rock buggy in events in the Eastern U.S.
“Just as you would expect, the Rancho rock buggies are packed with leading-edge technology,” Bonney said. “We’re enhancing the vehicles this year with Rancho’s brand-new Pro Series™ coil-over buggy shocks, so we expect to turn a lot of heads and win several events in 2005.”
The Rancho brand traces its history to the founding in 1955 of a Southern California workshop for off-road enthusiasts interested in modifying their Jeeps. Rancho today offers a full line of advanced 4WD suspensions, shock absorbers and other accessories for virtually any popular light truck, SUV or Jeep model. The brand’s innovative suspension for the 2005 Ford F-250 received “Best in Show” honors at the 2004 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in November, and its growing family of performance shocks and struts continues to set the pace for on- and off-road excitement.
For additional information regarding Rancho suspensions, shocks and related components, please visit www.gorancho.com. For the location of the nearest Rancho dealer, use the “Dealer Locator” feature on www.gorancho.com or call (734) 384-7805. To learn more about the W.E. Rock USA and XRRA series, please visit
www.we-rock.cc and www.xrra.com.
Tenneco Automotive is a $4.2 billion manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois, and approximately 18,800 employees worldwide. Tenneco Automotive is one of the world’s largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of emission control and ride control products and systems for the automotive original equipment market and the aftermarket. Tenneco Automotive markets its products principally under the Monroe®, Walker®, Gillet® and Clevite® Elastomer brand names. Among its products are Sensa-Trac® and Monroe Reflex® shocks and struts, Rancho® shock absorbers, Walker® Quiet-Flow® mufflers, DynoMax® performance exhaust products, and Clevite® Elastomer noise, vibration and harshness control components.
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