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LATEST
SNIPPET
Ashley Force Hood went on sabbatical in 2011 to
give birth to her son. Looks like it's going to be
a while before she gets back into her nitro funny
car as reports have it that she's expecting number
2..
Direct
access to this web
page: http://bit.ly/cD7ipB
Bio
Latest
News
Snippets
Results
Full
Throttle Countdown begins with Big win for Ashley
Force Hood!
Ashely Force
Hood Takes #1 Spot in
Atlanta -
5/19/10
Force
Hood Heats Up in Bid for 2010
Title
Schedule: 2006,
2007
Points
Standings
Like Father: Like
Daughter
February 26, 2006 - Ashley
adds a Second Runner-up Finish for the Force
Family
February 23, 2006 - Force
Hopes to Follow Dad's Lead in Top Alcohol Dragster
Title Bid: Castrol Driver Among Favorites at
Gainesville Raceway
February 13, 2006 - Force
Girls Endure a So-So Opening Event at Pomona
Winternationals
February 12, 2006 - Ashley
onto Second Roung after Defeating Joe Windham in
First Round
February 8, 2006 -
Ashley's Bid for Top Alcohol Title Runs through
Southeast Division: Castrol Driver to
Compete in Regional Races in Florida,
Georgia
February 8, 2006 -
Difficult Season behind Her, Ashley Aims for Top
Alcohol Title
January 29, 2006 - Ashley
Testing new Dragster Today - Funny Can Tomorrow at
Phoenix Time Trials
Ashley Loses by .005 of a
second in Lucas Series Final
September 12, 2005 - Ashley Force Wins Lucas Oil
Title at Englishtown
Ashley Force Repeats at
Englishtown Points Meet: Castrol/Hot Wheels Driver
Claims First Victory of 2005 Season
June 2, 2005 - Ashley gets
a Lesson in Funny Cars
Next Race
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Courtney,
Driving
Force
,
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Women
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Women
Racers,
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Race
Schedules,
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21:18
John Force: "Nothing could prepare me for
having daughters."
Ortiz
interview of Ashley Force-Hood
Bio
Date of birth:: Nov. 29, 1982
Hometown: Yorba Linda, Calif
Un-single.
Height/weight: 5´6´´, 125
lbs.
Hobbies: Movies, video production, shopping,
kickboxing and spending time with family and
friends
Notable: Daughter of 14-time Full Throttle
world champ John Force; Husband is crew member at
John Force Racing; Was co-star of A&E reality
series Driving Force; Graduated from Cal-State
Fullerton (B.A. in Communications); Shared the
winner’s circle with her father at the 2004
Auto Club Finals (she won in TAD, John in Funny
Car); Earned fi rst career TAD win at prestigious
Mac Tools U.S. Nationals; Finished fourth in Lucas
Oil Sportsman Series national driver points in 2004
while winning the South Central Division points
championship for which she earned both Rookie of
the Year and Driver of the Year recognition; Earned
her Funny Car license with a 4.936-second pass at
315.86 on April 14, 2006 at The Strip at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway
Sponsor/Car: Castrol GTX Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Dean Antonelli
Career Wins: 8 - TAD - 5
Career Final Rounds: 21 - TAD - 9
Career Best E.T.: 4.048
Career Best Speed: 317.85
Ashley and John Force made NHRA
history in 2007 when they became the first father
and daughter to race against each other. Ashley won
with a top speed of 317.05 mph.
Courtney, Ashley, Brittany, the
Force sisters
Snippets
Ashley Force Hood is on sabbatical from the series
after giving birth to a son in 2011.
* * *
Ashley Force Hood took home the Wally at the
prestigious 2010 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals!!
* * *
Ashley claimed her first Funny Car win of the
season at Indy, second in a row in this event and
fourth overall by outrunning her father, John
Force, in the final round.
* * *
Force Hood may have seen her dreams of a first
Funny Car championship end when her teammate,
Hight, locked her out with a solid qualifying
performance of his own, but she can have some
solace in being the No. 1 qualifier at the season
finale and leading a John Force Racing sweep of the
first three spots after punching out a dramatic
4.059 on her final pass. 
* * *
July 19, 2009 is a momentous day for the Force
family. On the same weekend Courtney Force got her
first Top Alcohol Dragster win, beating out sister
Brittany in the finals. Ashley lost her number 1
standing in the Funny Car series in the finals.
* * *
In her second year in a Funny Car, Ashley
finished in 6th with 2,385 points, 82 points ahead
of her father. In her first year she finished 14th
with a total of 647 points. Her father finished in
3rd with 2050 points.
* * *
While Ashley didn't qualify for the final chase
in her first year in Funny Cars, she took top
honors not only against women athletes but against
men atheletes as well in AOLs first-ever Hottest
Athlete Tournament
* * *
In her first year in Funny Car, Ashley finished
the year in 14th with a total of 647 poins. Her
father finished in 3rd with 2050 points. The first
time they went head-to-head, guess who won. Not
John.
* * *
Ashley ranks ist of 20 Top Alcohol Dragster
competitors in the NHRA. Ashley had 381 points
through 7 events.
Latest News
Full Throttle
Countdown begins with Big win for Ashley Force
Hood!
We are proud to announce that Ashley Force Hood
took home the Wally at the prestigious 2010 Mac
Tools U.S. Nationals!! This historic win was a
great way to start the Full Throttle Countdown. The
competition continues to heat up, and the John
Force Racing team holds a strong lead with John
Force in 1st place, Ashley Force Hood in 4th place,
and Robert Hight in 6th (Following the O' Reilly
Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals)!
Ashely Force Hood Takes
#1 Spot in Atlanta (5/19/10)
Ashley Force Hood held onto the No. 1 qualifying
spot, the 10th of her career, at Atlanta Dragway as
temperatures soared today. While she will go into
eliminations at the 30th annual Summit Equipment
NHRA Southern Nationals as the performance leader
it might be teammate and No. 2 qualifier Robert
Hight who is considered the favorite. Hight made
the second quickest run of the morning session and
just missed a monster run in the final session
according to the 2009 Full Throttle Funny Car
champion.
“It was on a run on that last run. It could
have run a mid-teen. It had the best split of
anybody even Ashley’s 4.10. It was clean from
the 60 ft. (timer) to 330 ft. (timer) shortly
thereafter it disconnected. It was just right on
the edge. (Crew chief) Jimmy Prock changed a few
things even from St. Louis and it is making it
better. We can make finer adjustments,” said
Hight.
Hight recorded top two qualifying runs in three
of the four qualifying sessions. For a driver who
so far this season has been hit or miss by his own
admission in qualifying the strong showing gave his
team a much needed boost in confidence.
“It is exciting to see his confidence and
our team’s confidence. We haven’t been
that consistent in qualifying yet this year to go
down in the top three on three of the four
sessions. That last run was so close to going and
it was fast. We were a little over two hundredths
quicker than anybody to the 330. It was edgy
though. I knew it was skating around a little bit.
It was right on the edge. I was doing my best to
keep it in the groove. When it is like that you
just have to finesse this thing going down the
track even though funny cars are hard to finesse.
You can go fast in these conditions.”
The most recent national event winner knows that
people will be watching to see what kind of number
the Auto Club Mustang can put up tomorrow in the
first round against Melanie Troxel. A solid effort
could force the tuning hands of the rest of the
drivers he will face as the day goes on.
“The other guys can look at what we are
running and it is going to make them push. If that
would have stuck there that would have been
unbelievable for a mental advantage tomorrow. That
thing could have gone out there and run a 4.17 or
so and that would have crushed them. I think we do
have a little advantage. Some of the other runs
when it ran 4.17 this morning and both runs
yesterday we left a lot on the table. Jimmy is just
trying to see what he can get away with,” said
the 15-time national event winner.
For Hight to have that much confidence does not
bode well for the rest of the competition and on
the other side of the qualifying ladder is the No.
1 qualifier and championship runner-up Ashley Force
Hood. She is also brimming with confidence as a
back-to-back finalist at Atlanta Dragway and the
2008 Southern Nationals winner.
“(Atlanta Dragway) is definitely one of the
tracks that for whatever reason we have done really
well. It is a tricky track. It is surprising based
on all the events that this would be one that we
would be so good at. My tuners (co-crew chiefs) Ron
(Douglas) and Guido (Dean Antonelli) seem to have
it figured out. We do well when we come here. Even
when we struggle we manage to do well. I hope we
can continue that this weekend I think even though
we are no. 1 our other runs not making it down I
don’t know how much they were testing.
Hopefully we can get the car set up tomorrow to go
A to B,” said Force Hood.
For her efforts Ashley Force Hood will race
journeyman Jeff Diehl for the third time in four
races in the opening round of eliminations. Just as
important as round wins for the 2007 Rookie of the
Year are the bonus points and qualifying points as
the top positions from 2-5 are separated by only
two points.
“We gained a few points and that is really
what we are looking at this weekend. We
haven’t run that great we only made it down
that one pass but luckily it was that night session
and we ran quick enough to get the no. 1 spot.
We’ll see what tomorrow brings it should be
interesting,” said Force Hood who sits in 5th
place two points back from 2nd place.
JFR team leader and NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car
points leader John Force struggled in qualifying
for the first three session but the champ came out
swinging in the final stanza. His Castrol GTX High
Mileage Ford Mustang recorded the quickest time of
the fourth qualifying session running 4.229
seconds. He picked up three valuable qualifying
bonus points for his efforts and most importantly
he jumped to the No. 9 qualifying position and will
race Bob Bode in the first round. Force is 5-0
versus Bode and will race him for the third time in
the first round this season.
Force will have extra motivation on race day
considering his 25th anniversary Castrol GTX High
Mileage Mustang will feature visible support from
one of his strongest long distance fans.
Force’s granddaughter Autumn Hight designed an
“Autumn’s Papa Lives Here” yard sign
but then realized that Force rarely spends time at
his Yorba Linda condo. Force had the sign turned
into a decal at Autumn’s request and it adorns
his race car behind the side window.
“Autumn asked me to put the sign in my yard
in Yorba Linda and of course I said I would do that
for her. I’ll do anything for my
granddaughter. Then she got kind of sad when she
realized I am hardly ever there and she asked me if
I could put it on my race car since that is really
where I live. That kid is so smart. I just had to
do it. Ashley helped get the decal made and we put
it on my Mustang right before it left our
Brownsburg shop,” said Force.
It was also a stellar qualifying performance for
the John Force Racing developed BOSS 500 motor. In
three of the four sessions it powered the quickest
runs. In carried Hight to the quickest run of the
first session, motor customer and fellow Ford racer
Bob Tasca III to the quickest run of the third
session and Force to the quickest run of the last
session. Hight was also the second quickest in the
second and third qualifying sessions.
Source: Female Racing
News
Force
Hood Heats Up in Bid for 2010 Title
(5/20/10)
In 2nd Place in Points After 2nd Runner-up
Finish
Ashley Force Hood has not yet put her Castrol
GTX® Ford Mustang in the winners’ circle
this season, but her current second place standing
is reason enough to believe that the 27-year-old
once again has what it takes to contest the NHRA
Full Throttle Funny Car championship.
The daughter of drag racing icon John Force, one
of the drivers against whom she will compete this
week in the 22nd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts
Summer Nationals at Heartland Park-Topeka, Force
Hood knows that at this point in the season,
it’s not as important to win races as it is to
lay a foundation for the forthcoming playoffs.
“It’s great to be where we are,”
said the graduate of Cal State Fullerton, “but
the most important thing is that we have a car that
is good in the cool (weather) and also good in the
heat. That’s a credit to my tuners (crew
chiefs Dean ‘Guido” Antonelli and Ron
Douglas) and to my crew.
“We’re going to start running a lot of
races back-to-back (seven races in eight weeks
during June and July), which is good and bad,”
said the reigning Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
champion. “It’s bad because, if you have
something happen to the car, there’s not a lot
of time to figure it out. But it’s good
because everyone gets in a routine. You’re
racing every week and not having to go through your
checklist every time. It all becomes second
nature.”
The $500,000 Full Throttle championship, which
just slipped through her fingers a year ago when
she was caught up in teammate Robert “Top
Gun” Hight’s spectacular worst-to-first
stretch run, won’t be in play for another
three months, but Ashley knows that the road to the
title is all about position.
“The Top 10 drivers get into the Countdown
and Robert won last year from 10th place,”
said the NHRA world record holder for Funny Car
speed (316.38 miles per hour), “but I
don’t see that happening again, maybe ever.
Our goal is to catch dad before we get to Indy
(home of the Labor Day U.S. Nationals) and get that
No. 1 spot.”
Force Hood was third in points entering last
year’s Countdown to 1. That meant she started
the 50 points down to pacesetting Tony
Pedregon.
“Just being in the Top 10 is
important,” she acknowledged, “but
position is (important), too. The higher you start,
the less ground you have to make up at the
end.”
Coming off a season in which she started her
8,000 horsepower Ford from the No. 1 qualifying
position a category-best six times and reached the
finals in fully a third of the 24 races in the
series, Force Hood isn’t at all intimidated by
the hot weather that likely will impact the
majority of the events leading up to the
Countdown.
“For whatever reason, we kind of get into a
groove this time of year,” she said, alluding
to a 2009 summer stretch during which she went to
the finals four times in five events including the
Summer Nationals in which she was beaten in the
final by Ron Capps after qualifying No. 1 and
setting track records for 1,000 foot time and
speed. .
“It's always exciting to return to a track
(where) you've done well at in the past,” said
the former high school cheerleader. “You do
have those memories. You
remember that feeling (and) you feel like maybe
you have a little bit of an advantage because you
have done well (before).”
A three-time tour winner and 2007
Rookie-of-the-Year, Ashley will roll to the
starting line Friday aware of the fact that the
biggest threat to her Summer Nationals bid may come
from those closest to her. She lost last
week’s Atlanta final to Hight (to whom she
finished second in last year’s Countdown) and,
earlier this year, she was runner-up to her dad in
the inaugural 4-Wide Nationals at Charlotte,
N.C.
* * * *
Ashley at the O’Reilly Summer
Nationals:
After qualifying No. 1 and setting track records
for 1,000 foot time (4.107 seconds) and speed
(295.59 mph), Ashley lost in the 2009 Funny Car
final to Ron Capps Before turning pro and moving up
to the Funny Car class in 2007, Ashley made three
starts in the Top Alcohol Dragster division, never
advancing beyond the second round In her first pro
appearance (2007), Ashley beat Hall of Famer Kenny
Bernstein before losing to Mike Ashley and
husband-to-be Dan Hood, who at the time was a Mike
Ashley crew member.
Force Hood may have seen
her dreams of a first Funny Car championship end
when her teammate, Hight, locked her out with a
solid qualifying performance of his own, but she
can have some solace in being the No. 1 qualifier
at the season finale and leading a John Force
Racing sweep of the first three spots after
punching out a dramatic 4.059 on her final pass.
Her father matched her e.t. a few seconds later,
but her superior speed, 310.20 to 309.20, earned
her the top spot, her sixth of the season.
“I told my team tonight, ‘This is so
bittersweet, isn’t it? We just ran our best
time and we’re No. 1 at the last race of the
year and yet we missed [the
championship],’ ” said Force Hood.
“Who knows what will happen tomorrow? Robert
could win the race and we could go out first round,
but there’s a chance if we do well we could
have missed it by that much. We’ve never been
in this situation before where we’re right at
the end fighting for it. We didn’t buckle
under the pressure. We had a slump in Vegas, but it
was all a mechanical thing. It wasn’t the guys
messing up or me messing up. It just happened. It
happened to us at the wrong time of the year. I
told them, ‘We can do it. We can run with the
big guys and stick with it right to the
end.’
“Tonight, the conditions set up perfect.
I’m sure a lot of people were going for it,
trying to get a record or just see what they could
push it to do. You can’t lose anything by
trying. We were real excited that it actually went
and that we got No. 1 and that, most important, we
got our car back on track. It might have been a
little too late for the championship, but at least
we got it back, that’s all that matters.
We’ll go into tomorrow and try to get in that
winner’s circle.”
Source: www.nhra.com/story/2009/11/14/2009-pomona2-saturday/
Like Father: Like
Daughter
Although she is the 23-year-old daughter of a drag
racing icon, Ashley Force is leaving her own mark
on the high speed landscape as the driver of the
275 mile-an-hour Castrol/Hot Wheels A/Fuel dragster
owned by Californians Jerry Darien and Ken
Meadows.
A 2003 graduate of California State
University-Fullerton, Ms. Force earned her first
career victory last year when she became just the
third female winner of the sport's oldest, largest,
richest and most prestigious single event, the Mac
Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Ind.
Beginning with that breakthrough, Labor Day
weekend victory, the former high school cheerleader
won three of the season's last five races and
finished fourth in Lucas Oil Sportsman Series
points, all in her very first season in the Top
Alcohol Dragster division.
Ashley Force celebrates in the winners' circle with
her dad, John, after winning the 2004 Mac Tools
U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.
She could not have burst into the racing
spotlight in more dramatic fashion, delighting her
father, 13-time and reigning NHRA POWERade Funny
Car Champion John Force, with whom she shared the
winners' circle at the 2004 season-ending
Automobile Club of Southern California Finals at
Pomona, Calif., and with whom she now also shares a
common sponsor: Castrol motor oil.
Nevertheless, as proud as he has been of
Ashley's on-track performance, the elder Force has
been even more pleased with the way his daughter
has connected with the racing public outside the
cockpit where she has emerged as a fan favorite
whose long autograph lines rival even those of her
famous father.
Her growing popularity is reflected not only in
the new affiliation with Castrol but also in the
fact that Mattel has added an Ashley Force doll to
its collectibles inventory.
Although she grew up around racing, it wasn't
until she attended one of Frank Hawley's driving
schools, a 16th birthday present from her father,
that Ashley first entertained the thought of
driving career.
The first step was a two-year apprenticeship at
the wheel of a Super Comp dragster during which she
split time between racing and earning a college
degree in Communications.
Although she will be in the cockpit of the
Castrol/Hot Wheels dragster for at least one more
season, her ultimate goal is to drive one of her
father's Ford Mustang Funny Cars. Actually, her
goal is to race AGAINST her father - and she's
looking forward to it.
"I'm going to mess with him on the starting
line," she joked. "I think a lot of drivers are
intimidated, but to me he's just dad. He'll be so
worried about his little girl in the other lane
that by the time he recovers, I'll be gone. At
least that's how it is in my dreams."
Ashley knew things were going to be interesting
the first time she expressed to her father a
genuine interest in pursuing a driving career.
"Dad said as soon as I got my car, I needed to
start sleeping in it," she recalled, "because I
guess that's what he did when he started out. He
said I should walk around with my helmet on - like
people wouldn't think that was weird."
The biggest problem, she said, has been
achieving a balance between the racing career her
father envisions and the balance upon which her
mother, Laurie, insists.
"My dad's whole life has revolved around
racing," she said. "My mom wants me to have a
balance. 'John,' she told him, 'she still needs to
have friends away from racing. She can still do
things during the week. That's the kind of the
struggle we're having because dad is just racing,
racing, racing."
Although she had no driving aspirations at the
time, Ashley provided a clue to her drag racing
future while she was attending Esperanza High
School in Yorba Linda, Calif., where, as electives,
she took auto shop and welding.
"You have to take an elective," she said. "I
could have taken Home Eck (Home Economics), which
my mom said I should have because I don't know how
to cook at all, (but) I thought auto would be more
fun."
If her interest in auto shop and welding weren't
sufficient indication to her father that she might
one day want to become involved in the family
business, then certainly her performance last year
convinced him.
In addition to her three national event
victories, she won Lucas Oil Sportsman Series
regional races at Rusk, Texas, Englishtown, N.J.,
and Belle Rose, La., en route to the South Central
Division (Division 4) points championship. That
performance earned her even more hardware as she
was named both Rookie of the Year and Driver of the
Year in the division while Darien earned Wrench of
the Year honors.
Force could not be more proud, nor more
surprised.
"I'm a typical father who always wanted his son
to grow up and drive his race car," said the
114-time NHRA tour winner, "but I don't have any
sons, so I always hoped one of my girls would have
an interest. Ashley took auto mechanics in high
school and I never even did that. It's great having
her on the tour with me."
As for hobbies, Ashley admits she's a movie
fanatic, just like her dad.
"I go (to the movie theater) at least once a
week," she said. "Sometimes he goes a couple times
a day. I went with him once and he went to the
first half of the movie. Then he got up and left
because he told me he had already seen the last
half. I think he went to see the end of something
else."
Nevertheless, Ashley has taken her love for the
cinema one step further. She not only likes to
watch movies, she has demonstrated a talent for
producing them.
As a result, her father included a
state-of-the-art production studio in the expansion
of the team's principal shop facility in Yorba
Linda.
Each year for the company Christmas party, she
produces a movie that spoofs events and individuals
in the sport, herself included.
Last year, the theme was the "50 Most Shocking
Moments in John Force Racing History" and one of
the highlights was an appearance by NHRA announcers
Bob Frey and Alan Reinhart, both of whom were
dressed in drag to pose as Ashley and her public
relations representative, Mandie Yorio, a payback
for the previous year's episode which featured Ms.
Force and Ms. Yorio in the roles of Frey and
Reinhart.
One thing is certain, whether she's making
movies or starring in them, Ashley has her father's
full attention and there's absolutely no chance
he'll be sneaking out of this performance before
it's over.
Source: www.johnforceracing.com/Crews/Ashley_Bio.cfm
February 23, 2006 - Force
Hopes to Follow Dad's Lead in Top Alcohol Dragster
Title Bid: Castrol Driver Among Favorites at
Gainesville Raceway
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On a racetrack on which
her famous father has won seven times, Ashley Force
this week launches her bid for the Division 2
(Southeast Division) Top Alcohol Dragster
championship.
Ms. Force, 23-year-old daughter of drag racing
icon John Force, will drive a Castrol- branded 275
mile-an-hour dragster starting Friday in a Lucas
Sportsman Series race at Gainesville Raceway.
It's the first of four Lucas races in which she
will compete in Division 2, a geographic region
that encompasses the states of Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Those events are part of an ambitious schedule
designed to deliver a national championship to
Force and car owners Jerry Darien and Ken
Meadows.
This week's race will be followed by Lucas
Series stops in Bradenton, Fla., Atlanta and
Reynolds, Ga. Ashley also will compete in 16 NHRA
POWERade Series events as well as in additional
Lucas Series races at Dallas, Texas, Englishtown,
N.J., Sonoma, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev.
A three-time NHRA national event winner, Ashley
finished in the Top 10 in national points in each
of her first two seasons in the Lucas Sportsman
Series. She was the Division 4 (South Central
Division) champion in 2004.
"This is the first time we've run a Division 2
points race," Ashley said, "but we've run the
Gatornationals (the NHRA national event contested
each March at Gainesville Raceway) a couple of
times. It's a really good racetrack so we feel
pretty good (about our chances)."
In fact, Ashley not only has "run" the
Gatornationals, she's enjoyed considerable success,
reaching the semifinals in 2004 and earning
runner-up honors (to Aaron Olivarez) a year ago.
Her father drove his Castrol GTX Funny Car to
Gatornationals' victories in 1992, 1993, 1994,
1995, 1996, 1999 and 2001.
A former high school cheerleader, Ashley began
racing in Super Comp while attending California
State University-Fullerton, from which she
graduated in 2003 with a degree in
communications.
The second oldest of Force's four daughters, she
is one of the stars of Driving Force, a new
real-life television series that will debut on
A&E Network in June.
While Ashley's primary focus is on winning the
Top Alcohol Dragster championship, she also will
test this season in a Funny Car in hopes of moving
up in classification next year to race against her
dad.
In fact, she'll fly from Gainesville to Phoenix,
Ariz., on Monday so that she can continue her Funny
Car orientation in testing at Firebird
International Raceway on Tuesday.
"Last year, I made a couple runs in dad's car,"
Ashley said, "but I was so scared that I'd mess it
up because it wasn't like it was a show car, it was
his real car and he was still racing for the
championship.
"At Indy (during testing before the Mac Tools
U.S. Nationals, the biggest race of the year), I
brushed the wall and bent up the headers. I was
just very uncomfortable. This year, I'm going to
test in a car that was built for me and I'm really
excited about it."
February 13, 2006 - Force
Girls Endure a So-So Opening Event at Pomona
Winternationals
As for the Force girls, stars of “Driving
Force,” a real life TV series that will debut
this June on A&E Network, they endured a so-so
opening event.
Ashley Force, the 23-year-old former Mac Tools
U.S. Nationals Champion, upset No. 6 qualifier Joe
Windham in round one of Top Alcohol dragster before
falling to Sean O’Bannon in round two.
Brittany Force was a breakout victim in the first
round of Super Comp and her younger sister,
Courtney, driving an identical Brand Source-backed
dragster, was ousted in round two.
February 12, 2006 - Ashley
onto Second Roung after Defeating Joe Windham in
First Round
ROUND 1 - 11. Ashley Force, Anaheim Hills, Calif.,
5.425, 257.92 mph, def. 6. Joe Windham, Fairfield,
Calif., 5.563, 257.04 mph.
February 8, 2006 -
Ashley's Bid for Top Alcohol Title Runs through
Southeast Division: Castrol Driver to
Compete in Regional Races in Florida, Georgia
YORBA LINDA, Calif. – Ashley Force, the
23-year-old daughter of drag racing icon John
Force, will contest the Southeast Division
championship this season in a bid to win a national
NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster title before moving up in
classification to race against her dad in the Funny
Car division.
Ms. Force, who finished fourth and seventh in
national points in her first two seasons in the Top
Alcohol class, will for the third year drive a 275
mile per hour, Castrol-backed dragster for
California car owners Jerry Darien and Ken
Meadows.
In pursuit of the championship, she will compete
in the maximum number of events available to
drivers in the Top Alcohol division eight NHRA
national events and eight NHRA regional events. At
season's end, each driver's five best results at
the national and divisional levels will apply to
the championship.
One of the stars of the upcoming real life TV
series, Driving Force, debuting this June on
A&E Network, Ashley will divide her time this
year between the dragster in which she is pursuing
the Lucas Series championship and a hybrid Castrol
Ford Funny Car in which she will continue to test
on Mondays at selected national event tracks.
She will begin her Southeast Division quest Feb.
24-26 at Gainesville Raceway, a track on which she
also will compete March 16-19 in the 37th annual
Mac Tools Gatornationals. She also will contest
Southeast Division events at Bradenton (Fla.)
Motorsports Park, March 24-26; Atlanta Dragway,
Sept. 29-Oct. 1; and Silver Dollar Raceway
(Reynolds, Ga.), Oct. 20-22.
In addition to the Gatornationals, a race in
which she was runner-up a year ago, her national
event schedule will include the 26th annual Summit
Southern Nationals at Atlanta in which she was the
Top Alcohol runner-up as a rookie in 2004.
The South Central Division champion in 2004, for
which she was named both Rookie of the Year and
Driver of the Year within the division, Ashley is a
three-time winner on the national stage.
Her biggest victory came in 2004 at the 50th
annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis,
Ind., the world's oldest, largest and richest drag
race. However, her most memorable success came
later the same year when she shared the winners'
circle at the season-ending Automobile Club of
Southern California Finals with her father as the
first father-and-daughter winners of the same
event.
Ashley is the seventh different driver to win at
the national level for Darien and Meadows, whose
alumni include many of today's professional stars
including reigning Funny Car Champion Gary Scelzi
and Top Fuel contenders Brandon Bernstein, Morgan
Lucas and Melanie Troxel.
"We didn't win as much last year as we did the
first year," Ashley said, "but I learned a lot more
about driving. The first year, the car just seemed
to go A to B every run. Last year, it shook, it
smoked the tires, it did everything it shouldn't
but it was a great learning experience and I think
it will help this year."
In addition to the four Southeast Division
events, Ashley will compete in points races at
Dallas, Sonoma, Calif., Englishtown, N.J. and Las
Vegas, Nev. Her national schedule begins this week
with the 46th running of the season-opening
CARQUEST Winternationals at Pomona, Calif.
Notable:
Ashley will divide her time this year between
the Castrol dragster owned by Jerry Darien and Ken
Meadows and a Castrol GTX Ford Funny Car in which
she will test on Monday after selected NHRA
national events.
February 8, 2006 -
Difficult Season behind Her, Ashley Aims for Top
Alcohol Title: Next Generation Driver Launches
Bid at Winternationals
POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 9-12) – As a Top Alcohol
division rookie in 2004, Ashley Force had a dream
season, winning the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the
Division 4 points championship and the
season-ending Auto Club Finals, a race in which she
shared the podium with her dad as the first
father-and-daughter winners of the same NHRA
event.
One might think it was that success that put the
23-year-old in position to mount a serious
challenge for the series championship this season
at the wheel of new and distinctively-painted
Castrol dragster owned by Californians Jerry Darien
and Ken Meadows.
One would be wrong.
If Ms. Force is able to end the one-year reign
of current Top Alcohol Dragster champ Steve
Torrence, it will be because of lessons learned,
not in her rookie season, but in a
less-than-stellar 2005 campaign in which she failed
to win a single national event while falling from
fourth to seventh in the national standings.
She'll try to apply those lessons for the first
time this week when she competes, along with
younger sisters Brittany and Courtney, in the
season-opening, 46th annual CARQUEST
Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway.
"I learned so much more last year than I did my
first year," said the effervescent graduate of
California State University-Fullerton. "In 2004,
everything went right and I guess I thought 'this
isn't so hard.' Then last year came along and
everything changed.
"I was used to the car going A to B, every run,"
she explained, "but last year it never just went A
to B. It shook the tires. It smoked the tires. It
dropped cylinders. It ran to the center line. It
ran to the wall.
"Dad told me that anyone can drive a car when
everything's perfect. It's what you do when things
aren't perfect that separates the drivers and
things were far from perfect last year."
Nevertheless, based on pre-season test results
those problems, the majority of which were related
to NHRA's implementation of a new fuel rule, are
behind her.
What's ahead, in addition to an anticipated
championship run, is more Monday testing in a 7,000
horsepower Funny Car, but not her father's national
record-holding Mustang.
"Last year, it was hard for her to get
comfortable in my car," Force said of the second
oldest of his four daughters. "We had to add
padding and change the pedals every time she went
out. It made more sense to build a car that fit
her. So that's what we did.
"It's the car she'll drive when she moves up,
whether that's next year or the year after that.
It's whenever she's ready. Not whenever I'm
ready."
Right now, the one-time high school cheerleader
is content to race for the Top Alcohol title with a
team that has come close, but never before worn the
crown.
Darien and Meadows alumni include reigning NHRA
Funny Car champ Gary Scelzi, former NHRA
Rookie-of-the-Year Brandon Bernstein and current
NHRA Top Fuel contenders Melanie Troxel and Morgan
Lucas. Ashley is the seventh different driver to
win for Darien and Meadows.
Notable::
*Ashley will divide her time this season between
the Castrol dragster she drives for Darien and
Meadows and a Castrol GTX Funny Car she will test
on Mondays after selected NHRA national events with
an eye toward moving up in classification in
2007.
*This week and throughout the remainder of the
season, Ashley's development will come under the
scrutiny of TV cameras filming DRIVING FORCE, a new
real-life series debuting this June on A&E
Network. Although John Force regularly will appear
in the series, its focus is on his youngest
daughters and their integration into the "family
business."
January 29, 2006 - Ashley Testingf New
Dragster Today: Funny Car Tomorrow at Phoenix
Time Trials
In testing at the Phoenix National Time Trials,
Ashley Force made a couple of test laps in her new
McKinney Corporation Top Alcohol Dragster and
recorded a best of 5.409 seconds at 249 mph for car
owners Jerry Darien and Ken Meadows.. Ms. Force,
23, was to have stayed over on Monday in case there
was an opportunity to make a lap or two in one of
the team’s Funny Cars.
Ashley Force Repeats at
Englishtown Points Meet: Castrol/Hot Wheels Driver
Claims First Victory of 2005 Season
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. – Ashley Force and crew
chief Jerry Darien maintained their mastery of the
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park quarter mile
Sunday, repeating as Top Alcohol Dragster champions
in the track’s annual Lucas Oil Sportsman
Series event.
Ms. Force, the 22-year-old daughter of 13-time
NHRA Funny Car Champion John Force, drove the
Castrol/Hot Wheels A-Fuel dragster past the
supercharged entry of Mark Albert of Baldwin, Pa.,
in the Top Alcohol final.
It was the second generation driver’s first
victory of the 2005 season and it helped alleviate
the frustration born of a poor performance in last
week’s 51st annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at
Indianapolis, Ind.
Although she had qualified No. 1 in each of her
three previous appearances at Raceway Park, most
recently in last June’s K&N Filters
SuperNationals, part of the 23-race NHRA POWERade
Series, Ashley had to settle for a No. 2 start
Sunday behind Arthur Gallant, but it made little
difference.
After posting a 5.391 second quarter mile time
in qualifying, the graduate of Cal State-Fullerton
was clocked in 5.403, 5.437 and 5.450 seconds
during eliminations in an overpowering performance.
In fact, her Castrol-backed dragster was the
quickest in every round of competition.
A three-time NHRA national event winner, Ashley
now has won four races in the Lucas Series in which
she finished four in national points just a year
ago. She and her team now move to Maple Grove
Raceway in Reading, Pa., to compete in this
week’s 21st annual Toyo Tires Nationals, a
race in which she was runner-up last fall.
June 2, 2005 - Ashley gets
a Lesson in Funny Cars
Topeka, Kan. – Twenty-two year old Ashley
Force, daughter of legendary funny car driver John
Force, was given the opportunity to warm up her
father’s 8,000 horsepower Mustang funny car on
Monday after the O’Reilly Auto Parts Summer
Nationals.
The California girl, who currently is competing
in the Top Alcohol dragster category, warmed up the
Castrol GTX Start Up funny car twice in the pit
before making a burnout and a 60-foot pass on the
Heartland Park-Topeka drag strip.
“It wasn’t as scary as I thought
it’d be,” said Ashley. “When I stood
next to the car on Friday when dad warmed it up,
that scared me a little, just because I had never
stood that close to one of those cars before. But
it sounds totally different when you are actually
in the car.”
“As far as sitting in the two cockpits (the
A/Fuel dragster in which she has raced for the last
year-and-a-half and her father’s funny car),
they are set up pretty much the same with a few
differences. Instead of pulling the fuel lever,
like in my car, you push it in the funny
car.”
“Gary Scelzi told me to head to the gym and
work on building some Popeye muscles.
‘You’re gonna need ‘em to steer on
of these things,’ he told me. Like right now,
I barley have Olive Oil muscles,” Ashley
laughed.
“I just want to thank everybody on our team
– Eric (Medlen, driver of the Castrol SYNTEC
Ford), Robert (Hight, driver of the Auto Club Ford)
and, of course, dad. They really helped me and
always made me feel comfortable. And I especially
want to thank (crew chief) Austin (Coil) for
trusting me enough to test my Dad’s car,”
continued Ashley.
The funny car experience could be considered the
highlight of the Memorial Day weekend for
Ashley.
After qualifying her Castrol and Hot Wheels
sponsored A/Fuel dragster in the fourth position
with a 5.424 second elapsed time, Ashley lost in
the first round to number thirteen qualifier Gene
Snow. The upset came when Force’s car slowed
to a 6.059 second elapsed time. Snow ran a 5.691
e.t.
“The car is doing the same thing it did
last weekend in Shreveport,” said Force.
“It leaves weak and then drops cylinders. We
were hoping to run a 5.30 that run.”
In addition to her Monday experience in the
funny car, Ashley also tested her A/Fuel dragster
twice to prepare for this weekend’s South
Central Division’s event at Memphis
Motorsports Park in Memphis, Tennessee.
Ashley
adds a Second Runner-up Finish for the Force
Family
PHOENIX, Ariz. – While John Force was losing
to Tommy Johnson Jr. in the Funny Car final at the
22nd annual CSK Nationals at Firebird International
Raceway Sunday, daughter Ashley was suffering a
similar fate at a Lucas Oil Sportsman Series race
2,000 miles away in Gainesville, Fla.
Ms. Force, driving a Castrol-branded A/Fuel
dragster for car owners Jerry Darien and Ken
Meadows, was beaten by Aaron Olivarez of Sandy,
Utah, in the Top Alcohol Dragster final by a mere
.005 of a second
The 23-year-old forged a .031 of a second lead
at the starting line but couldn’t hold on.
Olivarez won in 5.507 seconds. Force trailed in
5.543. The No. 5 qualifier at Gainesville Raceway,
Ashley beat John Finke in round one and upset No. 1
qualifier Bill Reichert in the semifinals.
Ashley will fly into Phoenix on Monday so that
she can test one of the team’s Ford Funny Cars
Tuesday at Firebird.
January 29, 2006 - Ashley
Testing new Dragster Today - Funny Can Tomorrow at
Phoenix Time Trials
In testing at the Phoenix National Time Trials,
Ashley Force made a couple of test laps in her new
McKinney Corporation Top Alcohol Dragster and
recorded a best of 5.409 seconds at 249 mph for car
owners Jerry Darien and Ken Meadows.. Ms. Force,
23, was to have stayed over on Monday in case there
was an opportunity to make a lap or two in one of
the team’s Funny Cars.
Ashley Loses by .005 of a
second in Lucas Series Final
Ashley Force, 23-year-old daughter of drag racing
icon John Force, fell just short of winning her
first event of the 2006 season when she was beaten
by .005 of a second (approximately two feet) in the
final round of a Lucas Sportsman Series race at
Gainesville Raceway.
Ms. Force gave herself a chance against favored
Aaron Olivarez when she forged a .031 of a second
advantage at the starting line. Unfortunately, that
wasn’t quite enough to overcome Olivarez’
5.507 second quarter mile. Ironically, it was a
re-run of the final round from last year’s
NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville – with the
same result.
The number five qualifier in the Top Alcohol
Dragster field, Ashley beat John Finke in round one
and upset No. 1 qualifier Bill Reichert of Owosso,
Mich., in the semifinals.
After the race, Ashley flew to Phoenix, Ariz.,
where on Tuesday she was to test in one of her
dad’s Castrol Ford Funny Cars.
Ashley’s Next 2006
Events
March 16-19 ACDelco Gatornationals Gainesville,
Fla.
March 24-26 Lucas Sports Series/Division 2
Bradenton, Fla.
March 31-April 2 O’Reilly Auto Parts Spring
Nationals Houston, Texas
April 7-9 Summitracing.com Nationals Las Vegas,
Nev.
May 5-7 Summit Southern Nationals Atlanta, Ga.
Results
- 2008: Became the first female driver to win
an NHRA Funny Car event; She beat her father,
John Force, in the final round in Atlanta;
Reached four final rounds; Earned three No. 1
qualifying awards
- 2007: Won Auto Club Road to the Future
award, given annually to top performing rookie;
Advanced to first career final round at Las
Vegas 2; Had a 1-1 record in head-to-head races
with father, John Force; Earned Top 10 finish;
Went to back-to-back semis (Atlanta and St.
Louis) and was as high as seventh in the point
standings
- 2006: Obtained her Funny Car license during
a test session in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 11;
scored two wins in Alcohol Dragster
- 2005: Scored two national events runner-ups
in Alcohol Dragster
- 2004: Moved up to the Top Alcohol Dragster
division; won her first national event at the
prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals; won
Division 4 Top Alcohol Dragster championship and
named division's “Rookie of the
Year.”
- 2002: earned an NHRA competition drivers
license after graduation from Frank
Hawley’s Drag Racing School and competed in
Super Comp
* * *
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