Charlotte, NC (May 12, 2006) -- General Tire has been named the official tire sponsor of Western Outdoor News and co-sponsor of the 2006 Western Outdoor News Bass Tour as part of CTNA’s efforts to revitalize the General Tire brand. Published since 1953, Western Outdoor News (WON) is California’s only sportsman’s weekly and the biggest weekly fishing and hunting newspaper in the U.S.

The WON Bass Tour is one of the oldest and most respected bass fishing tournaments in the Western United States. As a co-sponsor General Tire will support the tour by offering contingency awards at all WON Bass Open tournaments. The contingency awards offered through General Tire revolve around three series of tires – the Grabber AT² and the Grabber HP & UHP series – and award the first place tournament winner with a truck or SUV outfitted with these tires – a $500 prize. “With 91% of WON BASS anglers owning pick-up trucks or SUVs, the demographics of the WON BASS circuit match up perfectly with our target market,” said Travis Roffler, CTNA’s Director of Marketing for Passenger and Light Truck Business Unit. “Our products run the entire gamut from high performance sport truck tires to aggressive off road truck tires. It’s a strong line-up which fits right in with rigs driven to and from tournaments by WON BASS anglers.”

“We are very pleased and excited about this new business relationship with Continental Tire,” said Chuck Buhagiar, Western Outdoors Director of Sales & Marketing. “Western Outdoor Publications has a long standing tradition of attracting premier, category-leading sponsors and we are proud to have Continental Tire North America, Inc. aboard as a member of this elite group.”

About Continental Tire North America, Inc.
Continental Tire North America, Inc. (www.continentaltire.com), based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a group company of Germany-based Continental Corporation, a leading supplier of brake systems, chassis components, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers. In 2005 the corporation realized sales of EUR 13.8 billion (USD 17.2 billion). At present it has a worldwide workforce of about 80,000.