Mutual fund managers became media stars as their funds soared through the purchase of small technology stocks that zoomed in price.

He had a fantastic run in the early 1990's: the fund soared 97 percent in 1991, 19 percent in 1992 and 41 percent in 1993.

Since then, the fund has soared 35 percent.

In fact, the fund has soared to assets of more than $17 billion this year from $6.6 billion.

The tiny new fund has soared almost 65 percent since its introduction on July 1, while other Internet funds have declined about 10 percent.

And last year, foreign blue-chip funds soared 25.1 percent, beating the returns of domestic blue-chip funds by more than 10 percentage points.

The Japanese funds soared 18.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005 as Japan's economy appeared to be emerging from its deflationary doldrums.

But for investors who stayed, the fund soared 56 percent in 1991.

The top-performing fund, Fidelity Select Savings and Loan, soared 57.8 percent in value.

Some funds soared when their performance during the market crash of October 1987 fell off their trailing three-year returns.