ClassMates Co-Sponsors World Record-breaking Team

Seattle, WA, June 16, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The first completely `dot com' sponsored hydroplane set a new record yesterday.

The boat, Miss FreeI, driven by Russ Wicks, set the new one-mile propeller-driven speed record by traveling an average of 205.494 miles per hour across the waters of Seattle's Lake Washington. The `high tech' boat was sponsored by freeInternet.com, ClassMates.com, Infospace, Hewlett-Packard, Egghead.com, 3dfx, and Gameworks.

The previous record of 200.419 miles per hour was set in 1962.   The new record was set when Seattle native Russ Wicks made two timed runs through the speed traps recording a northbound time of 207.254 mph and a southbound time of 203.735 mph.   The official speed is the average of those two runs.

Mike Siemion, ClassMates.com's VP of Marketing, Sales, and Promotions said, "ClassMates.com was thrilled to be a part of this group of `dot com' companies sponsoring Russ' record-setting run.   ClassMates.com by definition is a fun site to visit, and it was great to be a part of this fun, record-setting team."

Russ Wicks, a registered ClassMates.com member, said, "It was great to be sponsored by this group of cutting edge `dot com' ventures that came together to support the high-tech sport of hydroplaning.   I couldn't have done it without the support of my sponsors and the ClassMates.com team."

About ClassMates.com
Founded in 1995, ClassMates.com is the largest high school alumni community on the Internet.   With over 7 million registered users, ClassMates.com is setting the standard for finding and interacting with old friends online.   ClassMates.com now has active message boards for more than 30,000 high schools.   By developing strategic partnerships, ClassMates.com continues to expand its features and services, providing users with benefits including great deals at top online retailers, links to additional resources to help connect and communicate through the Web, and access to an entertaining collection of more than 50 years of nostalgic content.