Aug. 13: 3,500 Enthusiasts Will Turn Shea Lot Into Big 'Test Track' For Ford Innovation Drive
* Public Will Put Ford's Fusion - The Company's Most Important Mid-Size Car In 20 Years - Through Its Paces, And See The 2006 NASCAR Fusion
* 2006 Ford Explorer Will Make Its World-Driving Premiere * Attendees Can Squeal The Tires Of Mustang GT at a Simulated Dragstrip WHAT: Some 3,500 auto racing fans and consumers will play out their fantasies - at no charge - in the Shea Stadium parking lot, which will become a series of gigantic autocross courses for the 2006 Ford Fusion, several months before the release of the company's most important mid-size car in 20 years. All eight Ford Nextel Cup drivers, including reigning champion Kurt Busch, will be driving the Fusion in the 2006 NASCAR season. The day also will mark the world-driving premiere of the 2006 Ford Explorer, which has the most active and passive safety features in its class. The '06 Ford Explorer leads its class with 10 standard advanced safety technologies - and seven of the 10 are new to the mid-size SUV class, including four new adaptive technologies specifically designed for Ford's stringent internal safety targets. In addition, there will be test drives of the hot new Mustang GT on a simulated dragstrip. Besides taking the '06 Fusion and Explorer on the autocross course, attendees also can drive a Ford F-150, Five Hundred and Freestyle. Participants must be 18 or over and have a valid driver's license. They can register in advance for the event - the second stop on the eight-city Ford Innovation Drive program - via http://www.fordinnovationdrive.com/ or by calling 1.800.647.7268. Or they can register on site. WHEN/WHERE Public event Saturday, August 13, 2005 Shea Stadium, 123-01 Roosevelt Avenue, Flushing, NY 8 a.m.-4 p.m. DETAILS: Executives from Ford Motor Company and Ford Racing in Dearborn, MI., will be on hand to answer questions on a variety of topics, including: * How Fusion will have a high-stakes impact on Ford Motor Company. * Why Explorer leads a changing segment of SUV buyers. * Why holding advance public test drives at popular venues is worth more a thousand advertising words - 10 times more effective than conventional direct mail. * How Ford's NASCAR involvement sells cars. * Why Fusion will be the most affordable mid-size car in the industry, yet unlike its "vanilla" competition, it will have the swagger and performance of a "driver's car."