NASCAR HEAVYWEIGHT GAINS AN EDGE WITH UPFRONT CFD

Charlottesville, Virginia - March 18, 2004 -- Blue Ridge Numerics, Inc. (BRNI) announced today that Richard Childress Racing (RCR) in Welcome, North Carolina, has selected CFdesign® for virtual prototyping fluid flow and heat transfer performance of automotive components and systems built in Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire.

Click image for high resolution On their first project, the RCR engineering team used CFdesign to identify a significantly improved design of the fuel delivery system used to refuel cars during pit stops. Recognized as a one of the heavyweights of NASCAR, RCR has a reputation for finding engineering innovations that help current drivers Kevin Harvick, Johnny Sauter, Robby Gordon, Ron Hornaday, and Clint Bowyer cross the finish line first in Nextel Cup and Busch Series races across the country.

"CFdesign is perfect for our high-performance engineering teams," stated David Holden, a team engineer at RCR. "We build prototypes in Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire, hit a button, and instantly we're ready for a CFD simulation that delivers fast results on a workstation PC. If we want to investigate alternative designs, we make the changes in Wildfire and within minutes we're getting real-time results on the new designs from the Runtime Monitor in CFdesign."

RCR saw the benefit of CFdesign with the very first project. Always looking for an edge in a competition where a fraction of a second determines winners and losers, CFdesign helped improve the fuel delivery system used by pit crews to refuel the car. Holden says the improvement achieved with CFdesign is a gain that will show up on the racetrack.

"There have been issues associated with using more traditional CFD software tools in the past" explained Holden, "it could not handle parametric design changes, it required a dedicated engineering analyst to run the software and a computer the size of a washing machine to deliver simulation results in a reasonable timeframe. We needed a tool the whole team can use and that's why we selected CFdesign."

"It's great to see companies like RCR realize the benefits of upfront CFD, stated Blue Ridge Numerics president, Ed Williams. "We take great pride in all our customers but it is especially exciting to know our software may help RCR drivers take home a few more trophies."

About Blue Ridge Numerics, Inc. Blue Ridge Numerics, Inc. (www.cfdesign.com) is an Inc. 500 company built around a single product vision called Upfront CFD. BRNI's CFdesign software puts comprehensive fluid flow and heat transfer simulation upfront in the product development process where it creates tremendous value for small, medium, and large companies around the world.

First introduced in 1992, BRNI's unique Upfront CFD vision coupled with a proprietary technology platform enables customers to minimize the time and expense associated with physical prototyping and testing while focusing up to 65% of the product development schedule on innovation instead of compliance. Blue Ridge Numerics is one of the fastest growing privately held companies in America and the fastest growing CFD company in the world.

About Richard Childress Racing Celebrating its 35th Anniversary in NASCAR in 2004, Richard Childress Racing (www.rcrracing.com, AOL Keyword: RCR), has set the standard for modern-era stock car racing teams. Based just south of Winston-Salem in Welcome, N.C., RCR has earned more than 125 victories and was the first NASCAR organization to win championships in the NEXTEL Cup Series (1986, '87, '90, '91, '93, '94), Busch Series (2001 and owners'-only in 2003) and Truck Series (1995). It currently fields the Cup teams of 2001 Busch Series champion and 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year, Kevin Harvick, Robby Gordon, and 2004 Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Johnny Sauter; as well as the Busch Series teams of 1996 and 1998 Truck Series Champion, Ron Hornaday, and the two-driver team of Harvick and Clint Bowyer. Also scheduled for the 2004 season is a five-race Busch Series program with an All-Star lineup of drivers and a multi-race Cup program with Kerry Earnhardt, eldest son of the late Dale Earnhardt, the legendary driver of RCR's famed black No. 3 Chevrolets.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Spann Vice President, Marketing 434.977.2764 ext. 330 jim.spann@cfdesign.com