NOT SLOWING DOWN

 Minneapolis, February 4, 2009 –Polaris will hit the racing circuit full bore this year competing in the Grand National Cross Country series (GNCC), World Off Road Championship series (WORCS), AMA ATV Motocross (AMA), ITP QuadCross, Best in the Desert (BITD), SCORE International and Mud racing. Polaris also will continue to offer their race contingency program.

“We are committed to ATV and Side-by-Side racing,” said Eric Nault, Product/Race manager for Polaris’s ORV division. “With the introduction of the Sportsman XP, RANGER RZR S, and Outlaw 450 MXR for 2009, we feel we have a fierce line up of vehicles to capture titles in the various circuits.”

GNCC/AMA ATV Motocross Championship

Rath Racing is on board for 2009 to race the Sportsman 850 XP EPS in GNCC and the Outlaw 450 MXR in AMA ATV National Motocross Championship. Daryl Rath, Cody Anderson and Frank Batista will tackle the “4x4 Open” classes with the Sportsman 850 XP EPS, and Daryl Rath also will race the RANGER RZR in the Side-by-Side classes. Rath Racing was the first race team to hit the podium with a factory-backed Sportsman in GNCC series in 2008. In 2009, they will be competing for the championship with the 99-percent new, 2009 Sportsman 850XP EPS.  Rath Racers Landon Hurst (Pro-Am Class) and Mitch Reynolds (Pro Class) will race the Outlaw 450 MXR in AMA ATV National Motocross Championship.

Announced last fall, Polaris also is supporting the Yokley Racing/National Guard race team. Multi-time Pro and Pro Production GNCC Winner, William Yokley started racing the Polaris RANGER RZR during the 2008 GNCC season and took the Side-by-Side title. For 2009, Yokley will race the new Outlaw 450 MXR in the Pro Class and continue to race the RANGER RZR. Yokley’s teammate, Mark Notman, will race the Outlaw 450 MXR in the Pro-Am Class.

John Gallagher Sr. is back on board the Outlaw 450 in GNCC. Gallagher Sr. has owned the Super Senior class all three years he’s raced it on an Outlaw and looks to add another class first in 2009.

WORCS/ITP QuadCross

ATV racing legend, Doug Eichner, will continue to race the Outlaw 450 MXR and RANGER RZR S for the 2009 WORCS season. Eichner took the WORCS Side-by-Side title and finished fifth on his Outlaw 525S in the 2008. He looks to defend his Side-by-Side title and finish on top of the ATV Pro Class for 2009, now that his Outlaw 450 MXR is completely dialed in. Eichner also took the ITP Pro Open Championship in 2008 and will be racing the 450MXR in select ITP QuadCross series events.

Best in the Desert

Jagged X and the No. 1919 RANGER RZR look for their third Best in the Desert Championship in 2009. The team has a current win streak of six consecutive races, including the 2009 series opener, and Brandon Schueler and new team member Chad Riccio, look to continue their winning ways.

SCORE

Mark Lindsay and his RANGER RZR captured the “UTV Sportsman” championship in 2008 and are back racing Baja in 2009! Lindsay not only won the championship in 2008, but made history in SCORE racing by being the first Side-by-Side to finish the Baja 500. Lindsay went on to finish third in the Baja 1,000.

Mud Racing

Team Highlifter-Polaris Racing is back in the bogs for 2009 after a very successful 2008. The team will be racing Sportsman, Sportsman XPs, RANGER XPs and RANGER RZRs. The racers are as follows:

Sportsman 850 XP: Adam Shumaker, Alicia Gorman, Blake Mann, Brian Robertson, JW Otwell, Maggie Robertson and Trey Thomas

Sportsman 550 XP: Josh Gorman, JW Otwell and Maggie Robertson.

Sportsman 800: Scott Smith, Maggie Donald

Sportsman 400: Alicia Gorman, Renee Thomas

RANGER XP: Scott Smith, Brian Robertson

RANGER RZR S: Josh Gorman, Trey Thomas, Maggie Robertson

Polaris ATV Contingency

Polaris also will continue to offer an ATV race contingency program for all youth and adult classes, in seven ATV racing series, with a total purse of about $773,000. Polaris is offering contingencies in GNCC, WORCS, AMA Pro ATV Tour, ITP Quad Cross, SCORE Desert Race Series, Best in the Desert and Canadian Motorsport Racing Club Series (CMRC).  Racers must race 2007 or newer quads, with the contingency also including the new Sportsman XP.

Contingencies are paid out as follows:

More information and complete rules about Polaris’ ATV racing contingencies can be found at www.polarisfactoryracing.com.

About Polaris

With annual 2007 sales of $1.8 billion, Polaris designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), including the Polaris RANGER™,  snowmobiles and Victory motorcycles for recreational and utility use.

Polaris is a recognized leader in the snowmobile industry, one of the largest manufacturers of all terrain recreational, utility and side-by-side vehicles (ATVs) in the world, and rapidly making impressive in-roads into the motorcycle cruiser and touring marketplace under the Victory® brand. The Victory motorcycle division was established in 1998 representing the first all-new American-made motorcycle from a major company in nearly 60 years.  Polaris also enhances the riding experience with a complete line of Pure Polaris apparel, accessories and parts, available at Polaris dealerships. 

Polaris Industries Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PII,” and the Company is included in the S&P Small-Cap 600 stock price index. 

Information about the complete line of Polaris products, apparel and vehicle accessories are available from authorized Polaris dealers or anytime from the Polaris homepage at www.polarisindustries.com.