MILFORD WOMAN WINS 'GREEN' VEHICLE
IN LOTTERY DRAWING AT IOWA STATE FAIR

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Nancy Fear Wins Chevy Tahoe Hybrid® in Iowa Lottery Promotion

DES MOINES, Iowa - A northwest Iowa woman drove away from the Iowa State Fair in a new, 2008 four-wheel drive Chevy Tahoe Hybrid®, the grand-prize in the Iowa Lottery's “Set of Wheels” promotion.

Nancy Fear of Milford was selected as the grand-prize winner in the promotion drawing Thursday on the Susan Knapp Amphitheater stage at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Fear said she was excited to share the news with her adult children.

“They're waiting on a phone call, so they'll be very excited,” she said. “They'll be driving when I get home, but I'll be driving first!”

In July, eight Iowa Lottery players were selected as semifinalists in the lottery's “Set of Wheels” promotion and invited to the final drawing at the Iowa State Fair. Each semifinalist received hotel accommodations and $200 spending cash from the lottery.

During the State Fair event, semifinalists were gradually eliminated in a reverse drawing. Names were drawn until the final name remaining in the drawing drum won the Tahoe Hybrid, the nation's first full-size hybrid sport utility vehicle. Fear's was the last name in the drum and she took home the vehicle, a $500 ethanol card and $1,000 cash. The Tahoe Hybrid vehicle package is valued at more than $79,000.

Fear admitted after winning the SUV that she was so nervous, she might let her husband, Dan, drive it home from the Fair. After that, she's expecting some disbelief at first from friends and neighbors.

“I'll have all the neighbors over looking at my car,” she said. “They're not going to believe it. I still can't believe it!”

Ken Brickman, the lottery's acting CEO, said the lottery was thrilled to give away the vehicle that was named 2008's “Green Car of the Year” by the Green Car Journal.

“The Chevy Tahoe Hybrid also won several automotive excellence awards at national auto shows this year so naturally this promotion got a lot of attention from lottery players and car enthusiasts alike,” he said.

The semifinalists who did not win the SUV each received a $500 ethanol card to purchase fuel. The semifinalists were:

• Raymond Craig of North Liberty
• Kevin Holtkamp of Burlington
• James Hunt Sr. of Marshalltown
• Shirley Miller of Osceola
• David Seda of Marion
• Becky Venneman of Ames
• Ben Copeland of Omaha, Neb.

Players entered the Set of Wheels promotion by visiting the Iowa Lottery's Web site at www.ialottery.com and entering the serial numbers from nonwinning $20 “Set For Life” instant-scratch tickets. More than 12,000 entries were received during the entry period from May 23 through July 13.

Fear said she noticed information about the promotion on the lottery's Web site and decided spur-of-the-moment to enter her tickets in the drawing.

“I went on the computer and I thought, ‘Well, I might as well enter these,’” she said. “And I'm so glad I did. It was worth it!”

Since the Iowa Lottery'’s inception in 1985, more than $2.2 billion has been awarded in prizes and more than $1.1 billion has been raised for state programs.