Equipment manufacturer to co-sponsor cross-continent auto adventure RACINE, Wis., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- This fall, the Case IH brand will be displayed on a pair of the world's most powerful and exotic automobiles as they traverse the Western Hemisphere. It's all part of the Ferrari Panamerican 20,000 -- an epic journey that takes two new Ferraris through 16 countries and across 20,000 miles (32,000 km) during a 15-stage, 84-day tour. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060804/CGF025 ) As co-sponsor of the tour, Case IH will hold dealer, customer, media and employee events that emphasize its parallels with Ferrari -- world-class technology, power, performance, and of course, a preference for red paint. The Ferrari Panamerican 20,000 begins August 24, when two pristine examples of Ferrari's recently launched 12-cylinder model, the 599 GTB Fiorano, take off on a grueling journey from Brazil to New York. The challenging route spans mountain roads in the Andes and dirt tracks in Central America as well as U.S. interstates and Canadian highways. The tour is scheduled to end in New York City on November 17. Tour stops include Case IH manufacturing facilities in Curitiba, Brazil and Racine, Wisconsin, USA. "Case IH is proud to be a part of the Ferrari Panamerican tour, so we can showcase the power of Ferrari side-by-side with the power of Case IH," says Mario Ferla, President, Case IH. With a 620 horsepower, V12 5999cc engine, the 599 GTB Fiorano is the most powerful production model ever built at Ferrari's Maranello, Italy, plant. "It's quite amazing to consider that the largest Case IH tractor -- the Steiger STX530 -- uses 584 horsepower when operating at peak power, just a bit less than Ferrari's top performer," Ferla notes. "But at 54,000 pounds (24,494 kg) compared to the Fiorano's 3,684 pounds (1,612 kg), the Steiger is almost 15 times heavier. Case IH tractors are designed work all day in the field under constant load, transferring their power to ground-engaging implements, while the Ferrari harnesses its power for speed." You can follow the tour online at http://www.ferrariworld.com/ and http://www.media.ferrari.com/ . Both Web sites will feature regularly updated news and high definition photographs. The Ferrari Panamerican 20,000 continues a strong connection between Case IH and Ferrari. Earlier this year, the Case IH logo appeared on Ferrari Formula 1 cars competing in Grand Prix races in Indianapolis, Indiana, where Ferrari took first and second places, and Montreal, Canada, where they posted second and fifth place rankings. Case IH is a global leader in agricultural equipment. With headquarters in the United States, Case IH has a network of dealers and distributors that operates in over 160 countries. Case IH provides agricultural equipment systems, flexible financial service offerings and parts and service support for professional farming operations through a dedicated network of professional dealers and distributors. Productivity enhancing products include tractors; combines and harvesters; hay and forage equipment; tillage tools; planting and seeding systems; sprayers and applicators; and site- specific farming tools. For more information on Case IH visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.caseih.com/ . http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060804/CGF025 http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Case IH CONTACT: Krista Knigge, +1-262-636-7715, , or Gualberto Ranieri, +1-847-778-4162, , for Case IH Web site: http://www.caseih.com/ http://www.ferrariworld.com/ http://www.media.ferrari.com/

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