Action Performance Signs Two-Year Sponsorship DealWith Legendary Top Fuel Champion Shirley...

Sports Editors/Auto Racing Columnists &Writers

PHOENIX--(BW SportsWire)--Jan. 24, 2000

Action Performance Companies Inc. (NASDAQ: ACTN) Monday announced that its subsidiary, goracing.com, will be the primary sponsor for four-time International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) champion

Muldowney debuted the bright pink goracing.com top fuel dragster on New Year's eve at a pre-season promotional race held at Moroso Motorsports Park in Palm Beach Garden, Fla., beginning the new millennium with a win over Don Garlits shortly past the stroke of midnight. She is expected to be a top contender for the 2000 IHRA Top Fuel World Championship title.

&uot;Shirley Muldowney is a racing icon and she has more championship ability than ever. There's just nobody else like her in the industry, and we are proud to have goracing.com be her main sponsor,&uot; said Fred Wagenhals, Action Performance chairman, president and chief executive officer.

&uot;Goracing.com does a great job with making IHRA racing coverage available for fans worldwide, and I'm proud to have their name on my car. I look forward to going for the IHRA world championship title with goracing.com's support and it was great to start off the New Year and the new millennium with a win,&uot; said Muldowney.

With a racing career spanning 40 years and still going strong, Muldowney is the most accomplished woman competing in professional motorsports. Her 4.69-second elapsed time at 312.50mph run during qualifying at the Northern Nationals in 1998 was the quickest and fastest Top Fuel run ever recorded in the history of IHRA competition at the time.

She was honored by the United States Sports Academy's 25th anniversary CNN/USA Today balloting for &uot;Top Athletes of the past 25 years&uot; and also named one of &uot;Thirty Women of Distinction&uot; by the New York State Senate, alongside other distinctive women including Susan B. Anthony, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

goracing.com inc. is a leading online provider of worldwide motorsports-related news and information, a meeting place and community for motorsports fans, and an e-commerce marketplace for motorsports-related die-cast collectibles, apparel, and souvenirs.

Action Performance Companies Inc. is the leader in the design, marketing, promotion and distribution of licensed motorsports merchandise. Its products include a broad range of motorsports-related die-cast car replica collectibles, apparel, souvenirs, and other memorabilia.

The company markets and distributes products through a variety of channels, including the 170,000-member Racing Collectables Club of America (RCCA), online at goracing.com, trackside at racing events, mass retail department stores, and a worldwide network of wholesale distributors and specialty dealers.

Action Performance recently was ranked number 24 on both Fortune magazine's list of &uot;100 Fastest Growing Companies&uot; (September 1999) and Forbes magazine's list of &uot;200 Best Small Companies&uot; (November 1999).