Gentlemen, start your engines – here comes AJ Alexander, our Miss May 2008. She’s tall – 5’7” – with auburn hair and soft blue eyes. AJ – that’s short for Amanda Jane – is from Evansville, Indiana, less than five hundred miles from the Brickyard, where another A.J. – racecar driver A.J. Foyt – won the Indy 500. “I’m a girly girl, but I’m a bit of a tomboy, too,” she says. “I grew up on go-karts and racing games.” We have her posing here with a Playboy-sponsored Nissan 350GT racecar – just one of many cars we sponsor on the tracks. Trained as a dental assistant, AJ started modeling and acting when she moved to Orange County, California.

She won a role as a DJ in The Pool Boys alongside Jennifer Walcott, who just so happened to be Miss August 2001. Jennifer referred her to a casting agent, and she was featured in a few issues of Special Editions. She tested for Playmate, and before she knew it she was Miss May. “Playboy really changed my life,” she says. “I hope that I can return the favor for another girl.” AJ is a successful model – she’s done promotional work for all-American brands like Chevy and Tommy Hilfiger – but on the side she’s a wife and mother to two children. “If you’re a real fan, you’ve seen my Hot Housewives pictorial,” she says. When she’s not working, AJ likes to spend time with friends and family – going for dinner and drinks, or spending the night on the couch, watching a football game. “I love my work, and I love my family life,” she says. “I just want to enjoy it.”

AJ Alexander lives her life in the fast lane and has a combination of beauty and spirit that keeps our engines revved. AJ (that’s right, like an expectant mother, AJ has no periods) grew up in Evansville, Indiana, just a three-hour drive (or less, if you know how to use a gas pedal) from the fabled Brickyard, where another A.J. – the legendary A.J. Foyt, you’ll recall – was a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. One of Miss May’s happiest memories is of time spent at her father’s go-kart track, racing the go-karts or hanging around the arcade and playing Pole Position, her video game of choice(as you should have guessed). Now AJ has a new outlet for her love of racing: Notice how the fiery 27-year-old model’s curves complement the streamlined Nissan 350GT Playboy Racing Team car on the following pages. (This car is only one of several hot vehicles co-sponsored by the Rabbit that have competed at speedways across the country.) AJ also enjoys racy adventures of a different sort. “I’m not as innocent as I look,” she says with a mischievous grin. She confesses an affinity for ripped abs – and eating fruit off them. “I do love pineapple,” she says, laughing.

“Everyone reads me as this sweet, shy goody-goody. It’s true and it’s not true.” Trained to work as a dental assistant, AJ (which is short for Amanda Jane) shifted into modeling and acting a few years ago, about the time she moved to Orange County, California. After several appearances in Playboy Special Editions she won a role as a deaf DJ (“I actually had to learn sign language”) in the comedy American Summer. On the film set AJ met Miss August 2001 Jennifer Walcott, who shared some advice on how to score a Centerfold. “I consider her my big sister and a good role model,” says AJ, who appreciates Jennifer’s generosity. “I hope to be the same for another girl someday.” Meanwhile, she is enjoying what fate has brought her way. “I always wanted to model, but I thought I would live in a small town forever and have limited opportunities. Now I say, ‘Thanks, Playboy!’ I love it.”