FASTEST WOMAN ON AN OPEN-WHEEL MOTORCYCLE MAKES GUEST APPEARANCE AT THE TAYLOR WOODROW GRAND PRIX OF SAN JOSE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (July 28, 2005) – Susan Robertson, the fastest woman on an open-wheel motorcycle, will be on hand for the inaugural Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose – round eight of the 2005 Champ Car World Series season.

Susan, a member of the Falkner/Livingston (FL) racing team, was clocked at 205.345 mph on July 16, 2005, at El Mirage Dry Lake in El Mirage, Calif. She became the fastest woman on an open-wheel motorcycle and one of only two women to exceed the 200-mph land speed mark. Susan rode into history atop a Makita Suzuki sport bike equipped with the Bridgestone Battlax BT014 tire.

“It was just so easy; when you’re going 200-mph you don’t even realize it,” said Robertson. “It’s hard to believe you’re going as fast as you are. You don’t have the indicators that you have on the street. It is indescribable and yet amazingly smooth.”

Susan will be in the Bridgestone Motorsport paddock area July 29-31, greeting fans as well as showing off two of her team’s bikes, the Makita Suzuki Hayabusa sport bike and the Makita Suzuki 750 GSX. On race day she will present the trophy to Champ Car’s Bridgestone Pole Award winner.

“We’re so incredibly excited to have Susan join us this weekend,” said Al Speyer, executive director, Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC. “This is such an incredible accomplishment and we’re proud to have her represent us here. Her participation with our auto racing program just highlights the wide-ranging premier performance of Bridgestone brand tires in motorsports activities all over the world.”

In August, Susan will venture to the Salt Flats Bonneville in Utah in an attempt to set a blistering 217-mph record.

“I want to go faster,” said Robertson. “I’m excited and look forward to it. I’m doing what I have always wanted to do.”

Susan is the marketing director for Red Mountain Retail Group, a developer of shopping centers throughout the western United States. In her personal time she pursues her love of speed. Susan has now set two land speed records and looks forward to setting more with FL Racing in 2005.

Nashville-based Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the world’s largest tire and rubber company. BFNT develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone, and associate and private brand tires. The company is focused on wholesale and original equipment markets, supplying passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off-road, motorcycle, agricultural and other tires to its customers in North America.