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SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Apr 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Stratus Media Group, Inc. (SMDI 1.80, +0.01, +0.56%) , a live entertainment company, today announced the acquisition of the exclusive rights to produce the Mille Miglia Tribute in North America from MAC Group and the Automobile Club of Brescia, Italy. Stratus will host a Mille Miglia mini-tribute in 10 cities throughout the United States in conjunction with the National Tour D’Elegance vintage auto show series to be televised on Versus Television. In the fall, Stratus will produce a 1,000 mile Mille Miglia Tribute on the California coast, featuring several special stops along the way at various historic and scenic points. With over 300 classic cars per event from all over the world paying an average entery fee of $10,000, the Mille Miglia series televised on Versus is expected to bring a select group of participants and businesses together in an exclusive blend of energy, design, tradition and style.

The 2010 Mille Miglia will take place from May 6th through 9th in Italy. As always, 375 cars will be able to compete in the race. Adding to the fascination, over 100 Ferraris built between 1958 and today will precede the actual race by 30 minutes. The Mille Miglia is an open-road endurance race which is currently one of the most important classic sports cars events in the world. From 1927 to 1957, the Mille Miglia was a legendary speed race focused on drivers, challenges and adventures. Today, the legacy of the Mille Miglia remains strong through the use of yesterday’s cars on today’s roads. After 82 years, Mille Miglia is a unique event offering an extraordinary world-wide promotional stage. In 2009, over 4 million people lined up on the roads to see the cars and more than 1,500 registered journalists from all over the world covered the events.

“I am very pleased that Stratus will bring the Mille Miglia Tribute to North America,” said Jeremy Cable, VP of Motorsports and Car Shows for Stratus. “It is an event with a very special and unique history that we feel will become a premier event for Stratus. It is exciting for us to be part of a historic and completely contemporary global automotive event sure to attract millions of people.”

“The Mille Miglia Tribute is a great strategic complement to our auto shows,” said Paul Feller, President and CEO of Stratus. “By providing an exciting new tradition to our core market of automobile enthusiasts, we can realize additional revenues while enhancing the experience for those attending our shows, and bring a dash of old-world style and celebrate some of the greatest racing cars ever built.”

About Stratus Media Group, Inc.

Incorporated in November of 1998, Santa Barbara-based Stratus Media Group is an owner, operator and marketer of live entertainment and sporting events. The company is primarily focused on internal growth and acquisitions within the live entertainment-related market, including action sports, automotive shows, college sports, food events, motor sports, music concerts and festivals, running events, diversified media marketing, trade shows and expositions, and talent management. In addition, the company intends to expand its consumer rewards marketing and redemption activities through its Stratus Rewards Visa White Card — providing exclusive redemption benefits to its cardholders in the form of VIP event access, luxury trips, private jet travel, luxury automobiles, high-end merchandise and other rewards for specified levels of use. For more information on Stratus Media Group, Inc., go to www.stratusmediagroup.com.

About Mille Miglia

The race was established by the young Contes Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti, apparently in response to their home town of Brescia ‘losing’ the Italian Grand Prix to Monza. Together with a group of wealthy associates, they chose a race from Brescia to Rome and back, a figure-eight shaped course of roughly 1500 km – or a thousand Roman miles. Later races followed twelve other routes with varying total lengths.

The first race started on 26 March 1927 with seventy-seven starters^[1] – all Italian – of which fifty-one had reached the finishing post at Brescia by the end of the race^[1]. The first Mille Miglia covered 1,618 km, corresponding to just over 1,005 modern miles^[1]. Entry was strictly restricted to unmodified production cars, and the entrance fee was set at the nominal level of 1 lira^[1]. The winner, Giuseppe Morandi^[1], completed the course in just under 21 hours 5 minutes, averaging nearly 78 km/h (48 mph) in his 2-litre OM^[1]; Brescia based OM swept the top three places.

The event was usually dominated by local Italian drivers and marques, but three races were won by foreign cars, all of them German. In 1931, Rudolf Caracciola (famous in Grand Prix racing) and onboard mechanic Wilhelm Sebastian won with their big supercharged Mercedes-Benz SSK, averaging for the first time more than 100 km/h (63 mph)^[1] in a Mille Miglia. It was also the first of three wins for a foreign driver as Caracciola was German, despite his name. The win was a surprise as Caracciola had received very little support from the factory due to the economic crisis at that time. He did not have enough mechanics to man all necessary service points. After performing a pit stop, they had to hurry across Italy, cutting the triangle-shaped course short in order to arrive in time before the race car.

The race was briefly stopped by Italian leader Benito Mussolini after an accident in 1938 killed a number of spectators. When it resumed in 1940 during war time, it was dubbed the Grand Prix of Brescia, and held on a 100 km (62 mi) short course in the plains of Northern Italy that was lapped nine times.

This event saw the debut of the first Enzo Ferrari owned marque AAC (Auto Avio Costruzioni)(with the Tipo 815). Despite being populated (due to the circumstances even more than usual) mainly by Italian makers, it was the aerodynamically improved BMW 328 driven by Germans Huschke von Hanstein/Walter Baumer that won the high-speed race at an all-time high average of 166 km/h (103 mph).

Post-war

The Italians continued to dominate their race after the war, now again on a single big lap through Italy. Mercedes made another good effort in 1952 with the underpowered original Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, scoring second with the German crew Karl Kling/Hans Klenk that later in the year would win the Carrera Panamericana. Caracciola, in a comeback attempt, crashed.

Few other non-Italians managed podium finishes in the 1950s, among them Juan Manuel Fangio, Peter Collins and Wolfgang von Trips. From 1953 until 1957 the Mille Miglia was also a round of the World Sports Car championship. In 1955, Mercedes made another attempt at winning the MM, this time with careful preparation and a more powerful car, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR which was based on the Formula One car (Mercedes-Benz W196), not the other sports cars named Mercedes-Benz 300SL.

Both young German Hans Herrmann (who had a remarkable previous efforts with Porsche) and Briton Stirling Moss relied on the support of navigators while Juan Manuel Fangio (car #658) preferred to drive alone as usual as he considered road races dangerous since his co-pilot was killed in South America. Karl Kling also drove alone, in the fourth Mercedes, #701.

Similar to his teammates, Moss and his navigator, motor race journalist Denis Jenkinson, ran a total of six reconnaissance laps beforehand, enabling “Jenks” to make course notes (pace notes) on a scroll of paper 15 feet (460 cm) long that he read from and gave directions to Moss during the race by a coded system of hand signals. Although this undoubtedly helped them, Moss’s innate ability was clearly the predominant factor. Indeed, it should be noted that Moss was competing against drivers with a large amount of local knowledge of the route, so the reconnaissance laps were considered an equaliser, rather than an advantage.

Car #704 with Hans Herrmann and Herrmann Eger was said to be fastest in the early stages, though. Herrmann already had a remarkable race in 1954, when the gate on a railroad crossing were lowered in the last moment before the fast train to Rome passed. Driving a very low Porsche 550 Spyder, Herrmann decided it was too late for a brake attempt anyway, knocked on the back of the helmet of his navigator Herbert Linge to make him duck, and they barely passed below the gates and before the train, to the surprise of the spectators. Herrmann was less lucky in 1955 as he had to abandon the race after a brake failure. Kling crashed also.

After 10 h 07′ 48″, Moss/Jenkinson arrived in Brescia in their Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR with the now famous #722, setting the event record at an average of 159.65 km/h (99.20 mph) which was fastest ever on this 1,597 km (992 mi) variant of the course, not to be beaten in the remaining two years. Fangio arrived a few minutes later in the #658 car, but having started 24 min earlier, it actually took him about 30 minutes longer.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this press release relating to plans, strategies, economic performance and trends, projections of results of specific activities or investments, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors which include but are not limited to risk factors inherent in doing business. Although the company’s management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The company has no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Stratus Media Group, Inc.

Stratus Media Group

Christine Kolenik

Public Relations and Media Marketing

800-594-7734

Christinek@stratusmediagroup.com

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