Apex Oil Mails Proxy to Crown Central Shareholders.

Business Editors

ST. LOUIS, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2000

Apex Oil Company, Inc. and its affiliate, Golnoy Barge Company, Inc., announced today that they are sending a definitive proxy to shareholders of Crown Central Petroleum Corporation (AMEX: CNPa, CNPb) strongly recommending that Crown Central shareholders reject the $9.50 per share merger offer from Rosemore Acquisition Corporation, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Rosemore, Inc., which is beneficially owned by Henry A. Rosenberg, Jr. and his family.

In the definitive proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Apex, which with its affiliates owns shares representing a 13.6% voting interest in Crown Central, outlined several arguments for voting against the Rosemore $9.50 proposal. Apex said the Rosemore proposal:

-- offers inadequate value to Crown Central's shareholders, especially in view
of current market conditions and the recent financial performance of Crown
Central;

-- is clearly inferior to Apex's alternative proposal of $10.50 per share;

-- is the result of a biased bidding process designed to discourage

potential bidders from offering full value for Crown Central; and

-- is the end result of the desire of certain of Crown Central's

insiders to obtain ownership of Crown Central for themselves at

the lowest price.

Apex also said it believes that actions taken by Crown Central's board of directors have disenfranchised shareholders and potential bidders and precluded a fair process, such as the timing and adoption of a poison pill and the insistence on restrictive standstill provisions in Crown Central's confidentiality agreement as a condition to a potential bidder being allowed to participate in the process.

Apex urged shareholders to vote down the Rosemore bid in favor of a fair, unbiased and open auction process by mailing the blue proxy card provided in Apex's proxy materials.

Apex is a privately held Missouri corporation with operations in petroleum trading, storage, transportation and refining.

If shareholders have any questions or need assistance in voting their shares, they should call Georgeson Shareholder Communications Inc. toll free at 1-800-223-2064.

Information concerning the officers and directors of Apex Oil Company, Inc. and Golnoy Barge Company, Inc. and a description of their interests in Crown Central can be obtained from Golnoy's prior Schedule 13-D statements of beneficial ownership in Crown Central (and amendments thereto) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, publicly available in electronic format on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, via the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) database.