STATESVILLE, N.C. (December 18, 2007) – NASCAR driver of the Penske Racing #12 Alltel Dodge Ryan Newman and pro bass fisherman Kevin Van Dam shared big fish stories with over 300 fisherman at the second annual Ryan Newman Foundation Charity Fishing Tournament at Queen’s Landing in Mooresville, NC on Saturday, December 8, 2007.

The charity bass tournament was sponsored by Ranger Boats and facilitated by FLW Outdoors. Fisherman traveled from as far as California to compete for the grand prize, a 198VX Ranger Boat with a 200 HP Evinrude engine, Minn-Kota Maxxum 80 trolling motor and Humminbird 767 depth finder. Dave Wolak of Wake Forest, NC and Chris Hall of Clarks Summit, PA won the tournament and took home the grand prize package, valued at $38,000.

Fellow NASCAR drivers Martin Truex, Jr. and Regan Smith also fished in the tournament with Newman, as well as Two Foot Fred of the MusikMafia and Fred Contaoi of American Choppers.

Prior to the fishing tournament, the Ryan Newman Foundation hosted its third annual Charity Dinner and Auction on Friday, December 7 at the Charles Mack Citizen Center ballroom in Mooresville, NC. The event was attended by fellow NASCAR drivers Kurt Busch, John Andretti and Regan Smith, NASCAR legends Bobby Allison and Buddy Baker, entertainers Two Foot Fred and Fred Contaoi, and pro fisherman Kevin Van Dam, Brent Long, Koby Kriger and Michelle Armstrong.

The weekend events raised over $100,000 for the Ryan Newman Foundation Endowment, which will be a source for grants to nonprofit organizations that fulfill the foundation’s mission—to educate and encourage people to spay/neuter their pets and to adopt dogs and cats from animal shelters; to educate children and adults about the importance of conservation so the beauty of the great outdoors can be appreciated by future generations; and to provide college scholarship funding through the Rich Vogler Scholarship program to students interested in auto racing careers.

Newman says, “Conservation is very important to me, so a charity fishing tournament is a perfect fit for our foundation. It has been a busy year for the Ryan Newman Foundation. We are partnering with the Conservation Fund on our Racing For Wildlife project, and the regional Ryan Newman Foundation S.N.I.P. Regional Spay/Neuter Clinic just opened in Hickory, NC. Our sponsors and supporters of our dinner and fishing tournament help our foundation with these important projects. We’re extremely thankful for the support of Ranger Boats, who sponsored our tournament and donated the grand prize, as well as Alltel who was the presenting sponsor of our dinner, and Meaty Bone who sponsored our registration.”

For more information about the Ryan Newman Foundation, visit www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.

Ryan Newman Foundation
2nd Annual Charity Bass Tournament Results
Mooresville, NC ~ Saturday, December 8, 2007

· 1st Place - Chris Hall and Dave Wolak (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 13 - 10)
· 2nd Place - Tracy Adams and Ricky Roten (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 13 - 8)
· 3rd Place - Roger Pope and Nathan Webber (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 13 - 3)
· 4th Place - John Strempke and Chris Bumgarner (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 12 - 10 -- Big Fish broke tie)
· 5th Place - Donald Stanley and Kevin Stanley (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 12 - 10)
· 6th Place - Tony Woodard and Scott Smith (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 12 - 7)
· 7th Place - Hank Cherry and Danny McCall (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 12 - 5)
· 8th Place - Jim Witherspoon and Jerry Goble (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 11 - 7)
· 9th Place - Marcos Malucelli and Todd Auten (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 11 - 4)
· 10th Place - Rusty White and Ron Farrow (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 11 - 3)
· 11th Place - Les Dulin and Matt Arey (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 10 - 15)
· 12th Place - Jody Wright and Lester Elton (Caught 5, Alive 5, Weight 10 - 15)