A full line of The Fast and the Furious toy, collectible and hobby products will be produced by Racing Champions Ertl and is scheduled to reach the retail market in late 2002 with additional product introductions planned for 2003. Racing Champions Ertl plans to build The Fast and the Furious brand into a stand-alone category and pursue sales and promotional opportunities in all of their existing channels in addition to new specialty retail outlets such as automotive, music and video retail chains.

Peter Henseler, President of Racing Champions Ertl, stated, "As we track the passions of consumers, it is apparent that The Fast and the Furious brand captures the emerging multi-cultural lifestyle trend associated with customizing and racing import and domestic automobiles. The size and scope of this market can be seen in the growth of the automotive aftermarket for parts related to The Fast and the Furious styled compact cars. Retail sales in 2002 for compact performance car aftermarket parts is forecasted to grow by 48% to $2.2 billion."

Henseler continued, "It's no surprise that today's boy, teen and young adult males have the same passion for customizing cars that their fathers and grandfathers did back in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. What is surprising is the interest in custom cars and The Fast and the Furious lifestyle among a wide variety of ethnic groups and across genders. The Fast and the Furious brand will give us the opportunity to market collectibles and toys that are natural extensions of the movie and the lifestyle to diverse and expanded demographic groups."

"We are very proud and excited to be working with Racing Champions Ertl on The Fast and the Furious franchise," said Tim Rothwell, vice president of marketing and merchandising, Universal Studios Consumer Products Group. "We selected Racing Champions Ertl because of their outstanding product quality and commitment to develop The Fast and the Furious as the premiere brand in the sports compact car category."

About the Film

The Fast and The Furious, which grossed $145 million at the domestic box office was the first film to explore the underground import car street-racing phenomenon that is currently sweeping the nation. In addition to its box office success, the film showed even more muscle during the holiday season, as the home video and DVD flew off retailers' shelves, becoming the number one selling DVD of 2001 with over 5.5 million units* (*per Video Scan) sold to date.

The Fast and the Furious is a fierce and frenzied look at the multi- cultural mix of young men and women who use high performance vehicles to establish power and define turf in L.A.'s street racing scene. Paul Walker stars as an undercover cop who infiltrates this world while investigating a series of big-rig hijackings. Vin Diesel plays the charismatic leader of a racing crew.

The car and motorcycle action sequences depicted in The Fast and the Furious film are dangerous. All stunts were performed in controlled environments with professionally-trained stunt crews on closed roads. No attempts should be made to duplicate any action, driving or car play scenes portrayed therein.

About the NOPI The Fast and the Furious Racing Series

The NOPI The Fast and the Furious Racing Series, a drag race series sponsored by Microsoft Xbox(TM), open to amateur and professional racers and governed by the NDRA (NOPI Drag Racing Association) is the newest, innovative racing series that combines the highest payouts in professional drag racing per event with the largest compact auto show in the United States.

About Universal Studios Consumer Products Group

Universal Studios Consumer Products Group is a unit of Universal Pictures, a division of Vivendi UNIVERSAL Entertainment (VUE) (www.universalstudios.com), the U.S.-based film, television and recreation entity of Vivendi Universal, a global media and communications company.

About Racing Champions Ertl

Racing Champions Ertl (www.rcertl.com) is a leading producer and marketer of innovative collectibles and toys targeted at males of all ages. The Company's diverse product offerings include scaled die-cast replicas of John Deere agricultural equipment and NASCAR stock cars, other licensed vehicle replicas, pre-teen toys, sports trading cards, racing apparel and souvenirs, and collectible figures. These products are sold under the Company's market-focused brand names, including Racing Champions®, Ertl®, Ertl Collectibles®, American Muscle(TM), AMT®, W. Britain®, Press Pass®, and JoyRide Studios(TM). The Company reinforces its brands and enhances the authenticity of its products by linking them with highly recognized licensed properties including NASCAR, NHRA, John Deere, Harley- Davidson, Case IH, Polaris, Honda, Caterpillar, Ford, GM, Chrysler, Texaco, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Gullane Entertainment, Nintendo, Sega, and Electronic Arts. The Company's products are marketed through multiple channels of distribution, including mass retailers and specialty and hobby wholesalers and retailers, OEM dealers, and to corporate accounts for promotional purposes. The Company sells through more than 20,000 retail outlets located in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Certain statements contained in this release contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "expect," "intend," "may," "planned," "potential," "should," "will" and "would." Such forward- looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Such uncertainties and other operational matters are discussed further in the Company's quarterly and annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company's actual results and future developments could differ materially from the results or developments expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to make any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this release or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.