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A&E
Takes Drag Racing Mainstream with "Driving Force
Reality
Series
Press
Release
Driving
Force
(Airs 7/17/06 on
A&E)
Show
Focusing on Sport’s First Family to Debut This
Summer
Photo
Gallery
Driving Force -
7/12/06
New Real-Life Series Starring Drag Racing legend
John Force and his High-Speed Daughters Premieres
on A&E Network July 17
Start your engines! Driving Force, the new
high-speed real-life series from A&E
Network®, starring racing legend John Force and
his three drag racing daughters, premieres on
Monday, July 17, 2006 at 9PM EST and PST / 8PM CST.
Like golf's Tiger Woods and basketball's Michael
Jordan, John Force is easily the most accomplished
and dominant figure in his sport - NHRA drag
racing. With 120 career victories, an unprecedented
14 team championships in 16 years, membership on
ten straight Auto Racing All-American teams, and
the world record for consecutive Funny Car
championships, Force has shattered every major
record on the drag strip and then some. In addition
to his legendary racing feats, Force has exhibited
extraordinary skill as a team owner and
businessman, raising himself up from poverty to
become the head of his own multi-million dollar
company that currently employs over 60 race team
members and office staff. Force is also one of the
most outrageous personalities in the history of
American sports, combining the dangerous charisma
and charm of Gary Busey and Elvis with the
down-home likeability of Andy Griffith.
But here's the real hook of the show: John is
also the father of four beautiful daughters:
36-year-old Adria (from a previous marriage);
23-year-old Ashley; 19-year-old Brittany; and
17-year-old Courtney. While Adria (Force) Hight has
managed the finances for John Force Racing
corporate headquarters since she was 20 years old,
the other three Force girls are now following in
their father's tracks, competing in the
male-dominated field of high-speed drag racing.
Ashley has already proven herself to be an
accomplished driver, having been named Rookie of
the Year in her car class. She's also one of the
only professional athletes to have her own Barbie
Doll and Hot Wheels die cast car.
Despite being a championship drag racing team on
the track, the Forces have plenty of issues on the
home front. John's career kept him on the road for
most of the girls' childhoods, leaving parental
responsibilities mainly in the hands of his wife
Laurie. Although at the outset she was directly
involved in her husband's career, writing
contracts, mixing fuel and even packing the
parachutes that slowed the car from its breakneck
speeds, Laurie believed it was important to provide
the couple's children with a more traditional
upbringing. So, once they started a family, she and
the girls stayed home, went to cheerleading
tryouts, took dancing lessons, interacted with pet
dogs and cats, went to the gym and shopped. When
John was home, it was difficult for him to make the
transition to doing the usual things that families
do. When he finally looked up, the kids were almost
grown. He had missed all the recitals, the picnics,
the tryouts, the ball games and the proms. But now,
John hopes that by bringing the girls into his
profession, he can bring the family closer together
and become the kind of father that he always wanted
to be. Racing is the backdrop for this true-life
comedy as each half-hour episode takes a look at
dad trying to bring the family together, while also
preparing for the next championship run. It's 8
Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter
meets the bone-rattling thrills of the drag strip.
Gentleman and ladies...start your engines.
Nancy Dubuc, Robert Sharenow and Elaine Frontain
Bryant serve as executive producers for A&E
Network. Driving Force will be produced for A&E
by Schmaguuli, LLC. Stephen Hopkins, David
Schermerhorn, Brent Travers and Dan Partland serve
as executive producers.
Show Focusing on
Sport’s First Family to Debut This
Summer
A&E Network on Thursday revealed its plans for
Driving Force, a 2006 reality series
focusing on NHRA champion John Force and his
attempt to re-connect with a family estranged by
his all-consuming 30-year-long obsession with
professional drag racing.
A 13-time NHRA Funny Car Champion and the only
drag racer to have won as many as 100 POWERade tour
events (119), Force was introduced Thursday, along
with wife Laurie and daughters Ashley, 23,
Brittany, 19, and Courtney, 17, to members of the
Television Critics Association at their annual
convention at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Driving Force
will make it’s A&E debut this summer.
The show will be produced for A&E by
Schmaguuli, LLC, with Oscar winner Stephen Hopkins
(The Life and Times of Peter Sellers), David
Schermerhorn and Brent Travers serving as executive
producers. Jennifer Anderson is co-executive
producer and Kate Garwood co-producer for
Schmaguuli.
Driving Force, primarily will deal with
Force’s three youngest daughters (oldest
daughter Adria Hight, 36, is CFO of John Force
Racing, Inc.) and their interaction with a father
who, because of the demands of the tour, spent
little time at the family’s Yorba Linda,
Calif., home during their childhood.
The upshot is that he missed all the ballet
lessons, piano recitals, cheerleader tryouts,
school plays, proms and almost everything else as
his daughters grew from toddlers to the young women
they are today. However, through drag racing, a
sport which for 20 years kept the family apart, the
gregarious champion hopes to put it all back
together.
All three girls have begun their own driving
careers and now are just beginning to understand
the differences in their dad’s world and the
more traditional one in which they grew up with
their mother, who assumed almost total
responsibility for their upbringing.
According to A&E’s official press
release, which likens the former truck driver to
Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, “Force
is....one of the most outrageous personalities in
the history of American sports, combining the
dangerous charisma and charm of Gary Busey and
Elvis with the down home likeability of Andy
Griffith.”
With the NHRA POWERade tour as a backdrop,
Driving Force, is expected to provide an
inside look at the man who has won 13 championships
in the last 16 years as he tries to re-connect not
only with his daughters, but with his wife of 24
years.
A&E portrays the series as “8 Simple
Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughters meets the
bone-rattling thrills of the drag strip.”
NHRA President Tom Compton said “The
Driving Force, show on the A&E network
reflects NHRA’s ongoing effort to expand our
fan base and expose NHRA drag racing to a much
broader audience. John Force is one of NHRA’s
greatest ambassadors and I am confident that this
program will serve to introduce new fans to the
sport which will in turn benefit the entire NHRA
community.”
A&E Network reaches more than 88 million
cable and satellite households, bringing viewers a
diverse mix of entertainment ranging from
critically-acclaimed original movies to dramatic
series, to reality shows like Driving
Force,, to the Emmy Award-winning Biography
series.
John Force Racing, Inc., is a drag racing
dynasty employing more than 60 men and women which,
over the last 16 seasons, has accounted for more
than 150 NHRA tour victories and 14 series
championships.
The team will begin its latest championship
quest with three front-line Funny Cars in addition
to Super Comp dragsters for Brittany and Courtney.
For the third consecutive season, Ashley will drive
the Castrol A/Fuel dragster for car owners Jerry
Darien and Ken Meadows while continuing to test a
Funny Car in anticipation of moving up in
classification in 2007.
John Force, who finished third in POWERade
points a year ago despite the fact that he earned a
category-best five victories, will debut a new 2006
Castrol GTX Ford Mustang at the season-opening
CARQUEST Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., Feb.
9-12. He will be joined by Next Generation
teammates Eric Medlen, 32, and Robert Hight, 36,
both former crew members.
Medlen drove the Castrol SYNTEC Ford to three
victories last season, as many as series champion
Gary Scelzi, en route to fourth place in the driver
standings. Hight earned the prestigious Automobile
Club of Southern California Road to the Future
Award last year as the NHRA Rookie-of-the-year.
He’ll return for a second season at the wheel
of the Auto Club Mustang.
A&E Takes Drag
Racing Mainstream with "Driving Force Reality
Series
January 12, 2006 - Principals in Driving
Force,, a new drag racing-based reality show,
answered questions posed by members of the
Television Critics Association at their annual
convention in Pasadena, Calif. From left, John
Force, wife Laurie, daughters Ashley, Brittany and
Courtney, along with Rob Sharenow of A&E and
Brent Travers of Schmaguuli, LLC, which will
produce the series. set to debut this summer on
A&E Network.
Press Release
January 12, 2006 – A&E Network has begun
production on Driving Force, a new,
fast-paced real-life series starring racing legend
John Force and his three drag-racing daughters.
Driving Force is scheduled to premiere on
A&E this summer.
Like golf’s Tiger Woods and
basketball’s Michael Jordan, John Force is by
far the most accomplished and dominant figure in
his sport – Drag Racing. With 119 career
victories, an unprecedented 14 team championships
in 15 years, membership on ten straight Auto Racing
All-American teams, and the World Record for
consecutive Funny Car championships, Force has
shattered every major record on the drag strip and
then some. In addition to his legendary racing
feats, Force has exhibited extraordinary skill as a
team owner and businessman, raising himself up from
poverty to become the head of his own multi-million
dollar company that currently employs over 60 race
team members and office staff. John Force is also
one of the most outrageous personalities in the
history of American sports, combining the dangerous
charisma and charm of Gary Busey and Elvis with the
down home likeability of Andy Griffith.
But here’s the real hook of the show: John
is also the father of four beautiful daughters:
36-year old Adria (from a previous marriage) ,
23-year old Ashley; 19-year old Brittany; and
17-year old Courtney. While Adria (Force) Hight has
managed the finances for John Force Racing
corporate headquarters since she was 20 years old,
the other three Force girls are now following in
their father's tracks, competing in the
male-dominated field of high-speed drag racing.
Ashley has already proven herself to be an
accomplished driver, having been named Rookie of
the Year in her car class. She’s also one of
the only professional athletes to have her own
Barbie Doll and Hot Wheels die cast car.
Despite being a championship drag racing team on
the track, the Forces have plenty of issues on the
home front. John's career kept him on the road for
most of the girls' childhoods, leaving parental
responsibilities mainly in the hands of his wife
Laurie. Although at the outset she was directly
involved in her husband’s career, writing
contracts, mixing fuel and even packing the
parachutes that slowed the car from its breakneck
speeds, Laurie believed it was important to provide
the couple’s children with a more traditional
upbringing. So, once they started a family, she and
the girls stayed home, went to cheerleading
tryouts, took dancing lessons, interacted with pet
dogs and cats, went to the gym and shopped. When
John did come home, it often was difficult for him
to make the transition to doing the usual things
that families do. When he finally looked up, the
kids were almost grown. He had missed all the
recitals, the picnics, the tryouts, the ball games
and the proms. But now, John hopes that by bringing
the girls into his profession, he can bring the
family closer together and become the kind of
father that he always wanted to be. Racing is the
backdrop for this true-life comedy as each half
hour episode takes a look at dad trying to bring
the family together, while also preparing for the
next championship run. Its 8 Simple Rules for
Dating My Teenage Daughter meets the bone-rattling
thrills of the drag strip. Gentleman and ladies ...
start your engines.
Nancy Dubuc, Robert Sharenow and Elaine Frontain
Bryant serve as executive producers for A&E
Network. Driving Force will be produced for
A&E by Schmaguuli, LLC. Stephen Hopkins, David
Schermerhorn and Brent Travers serve as executive
producers, Jennifer Anderson is co-executive
producer and Kate Garwood is co-producer for
Schmaguuli.
Now reaching more than 88 million homes, A&E
Network brings viewers a diverse mix of high
quality entertainment; ranging from critically
acclaimed original movies to the very best dramatic
series, the most successful justice shows on cable
to the Emmy Award-winning Biography ® series.
Driving Force follows champion drag racer
John Force and his three drag-racing daughters as
they compete not only in the high-speed field of
drag racing but also face the day-to-day challenges
of family life.
John and Ashley
* * *
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