ASHLEY FORCE HOT ON THE TRACK AND OFF - COLLECTIBLES SELLING FAST!!!!

Coming off perhaps the most significant victory in the 31-year history of John Force Racing, Inc., 25-year-old Ashley Force will roll into Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis this weekend intent upon putting her Castrol GTX® Ford Mustang in the Funny Car final round for the fourth consecutive race in the NHRA POWERade drag racing series.

The media attention focused on the sport in the aftermath of Ms. Force's breakthrough victory last week at Atlanta, Ga., already has exceeded that following any of her father's record 125 tour victories and 14 series titles.

A prime example of that popularity is playing out on eBay where Ashley’s Old Spice Victory Towel is currently available with proceeds going to The Ronald McDonald House charity. As of Thursday, May 1, with three and a half days remaining there have been 82 bids with the top bid hitting $9100.

Demand for her die-casts have also sky-rocketed at the RaceStation retail store beside the team’s Yorba Linda, Calif., shop. Plans were already in the works for a 2007 Rookie of the Year die-cast Ford Mustang and a collectible Ashley Force t-shirt will be available shortly at www.johnforceracing.com.

In perhaps the most competitive category in straight-line racing, one that this year has crowned six different winners in as many races, the daughter of drag racing's biggest winner knows that to extend her streak of being the furthest-advancing Ford Funny Car driver to five straight races, she must block out the distractions and focus on driving her 8,000 horsepower hybrid.

"We just knew that if we kept getting to the finals, eventually we'd win one," said the woman who has reached the final round four times in her last eight races. "I kinda hated that it had to be against dad, but I'm just happy to finally win an event. We went all last year and the biggest win I had was off the track (in AOL sports' "world's hottest athlete" poll in which she beat New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady).

"It's a great time for women in racing with Danica winning in IndyCar and I think it's exciting for the fans to finally have a woman winner in Funny Car, but I know it's the 10 guys on my team who got me to this point. I'm proud to be a female in the seat, but it's Guido' and Ron (crew chiefs Dean Guido' Antonelli and Ron Douglas) and my crew guys who really got me here."

Although she was one of the stars of the A&E Network series "Driving Force" that aired for two seasons, Ashley insists that she is inherently shy and somewhat embarrassed by all the attention.

Of course, while she is being portrayed as the new face of high performance, Ashley understands how things really work in the world's fastest sport.

"The thing about drag racing is you can go from hero to zero very quickly," said the 2007 winner of the Auto Club's Road to the Future Award that designates the NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year. "We're enjoying (success) now, while we have it, but we know it's a tough group we race against. You never want to get ahead of yourself. Qualify first, then one round at a time."

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Did You Know:
– Ashley is the first woman to sit atop the Funny Car driver standings in the 39-year history of the category and is just the seventh woman to lead the pro points in any category, joining Shirley Muldowney, Lori Johns, Shelly Anderson Payne, Melanie Troxel, Angelle Sampey and Karen Stoffer.
– Ashley is sixth different John Force Racing driver to win a race in NHRA's Funny Car division. She joins her father, John Force, Tony Pedregon, the late Eric Medlen, Gary Densham and Robert Hight.
– In addition to leading the POWERade points, Ashley is sixth in the standings that will determine the eight Funny Car drivers who will compete Aug. 31 for a $100,000 top prize in the U.S. Smokeless Showdown at Indianapolis.

Off the Track:
– Ashley is featured under the heading "Hot Progeny" in the "What's Hot" section of the current issue of Men's Fitness magazine that hit the newsstands on April 14. Men's Fitness has a monthly circulation in excess of 7 million.
– Ashley appeared last year on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and on Good Morning, America and was a featured speaker at the national convention of BeautiControl, Inc., the Dallas-based cosmetics giant.