PITTSBURGH — PPG Industries Inc. has declined to renew its sponsorship contracts with Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 2001 season as a result of “changing business objectives and customer requirements,” the company said. PPG has sponsored pole and contingency awards for the Indianapolis 500 race, as well as the winner’s trophy for the speedway’s Brickyard 400 stock car race. “PPG management concluded that in today’s challenging business environment, our greatest priorities are focused on product and service requirements of our customers, and assuring our resources are directed to those priorities,” said Richard Zahren, PPG vice president of Automotive Coatings.

Zahren noted that the company has significantly increased its involvement in the aerospace, industrial and packaging-coatings areas, and said the “combination of changing objectives and customer needs require redirection of resources.”