Ashley Force Gainesville Div. 2 Preview

FORCE HOPES TO FOLLOW DAD'S LEAD IN TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER TITLE BID
Castrol Driver Among Favorites at Gainesville Raceway

GAINESVILLE, Fla. On a racetrack on which her famous father has won seven
times, Ashley Force this week launches her bid for the Division 2 (Southeast Division)
Top Alcohol Dragster championship.

Ms. Force, 23-year-old daughter of drag racing icon John Force, will drive a Castrol-
branded 275 mile-an-hour dragster starting Friday in a Lucas Sportsman Series race at
Gainesville Raceway.

It's the first of four Lucas races in which she will compete in Division 2, a geographic
region that encompasses the states of Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and
South Carolina.

Those events are part of an ambitious schedule designed to deliver a national
championship to Force and car owners Jerry Darien and Ken Meadows.

This week's race will be followed by Lucas Series stops in Bradenton, Fla., Atlanta
and Reynolds, Ga. Ashley also will compete in 16 NHRA POWERade Series events as
well as in additional Lucas Series races at Dallas, Texas, Englishtown, N.J., Sonoma,
Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev.

A three-time NHRA national event winner, Ashley finished in the Top 10 in national
points in each of her first two seasons in the Lucas Sportsman Series. She was the
Division 4 (South Central Division) champion in 2004.

"This is the first time we've run a Division 2 points race," Ashley said, "but we've run
the Gatornationals (the NHRA national event contested each March at Gainesville
Raceway) a couple of times. It's a really good racetrack so we feel pretty good (about
our chances)."

In fact, Ashley not only has "run" the Gatornationals, she's enjoyed considerable
success, reaching the semifinals in 2004 and earning runner-up honors (to Aaron
Olivarez) a year ago. Her father drove his Castrol GTX Funny Car to Gatornationals'
victories in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2001.

-more-

Ashley/Gainesville Points Race
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A former high school cheerleader, Ashley began racing in Super Comp while
attending California State University-Fullerton, from which she graduated in 2003 with a
degree in communications.

The second oldest of Force's four daughters, she is one of the stars of Driving
Force, a new real-life television series that will debut on A&E Network in June.

While Ashley's primary focus is on winning the Top Alcohol Dragster championship,
she also will test this season in a Funny Car in hopes of moving up in classification next
year to race against her dad.

In fact, she'll fly from Gainesville to Phoenix, Ariz., on Monday so that she can
continue her Funny Car orientation in testing at Firebird International Raceway on
Tuesday.

"Last year, I made a couple runs in dad's car," Ashley said, "but I was so scared that
I'd mess it up because it wasn't like it was a show car, it was his real car and he was still
racing for the championship.

"At Indy (during testing before the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the biggest race of the
year), I brushed the wall and bent up the headers. I was just very uncomfortable. This
year, I'm going to test in a car that was built for me and I'm really excited about it."

* * * *

NOTABLE:
AFTER COMPETING THIS WEEKEND AT GAINESVILLE RACEWAY, ASHLEY WILL
FLY TO PHOENIX WHERE SHE'LL TEST TUESDAY AT FIREBIRD INTERNATIONAL
RACEWAY IN A JOHN FORCE RACING FORD MUSTANG FUNNY CAR

NOTABLE:
ASHLEY IS THE SEVENTH DIFFERENT DRIVER TO WIN A TOP ALCOHOL
DRAGSTER EVENT IN THE NHRA NATIONAL SERIES FOR JERRY DARIEN AND
KEN MEADOWS. AMONG THE OTHERS TO HAVE DONE SO ARE CURRENT
NHRA TOP FUEL DRIVERS BRANDON BERNSTEIN, MELANIE TROXEL AND
MORGAN LUCAS AND FUNNY CAR DRIVERS GARY SCELZI AND FRANK
PEDREGON.

-www.johnforceracing.com-

For more information about Castrol-branded products and services, please visit us at
Castrol.com/US.

-Courtesy Dave Densmore, Denswood Sports Marketing/John Force Racing