By Rick Sheek (rsheek@starhq.com)
Forget her gender, the blood line is there and she’s proven she’s among the elite of her sport.
Ashley Force, daughter of 14-time NHRA champion John Force, prevailed last month at Atlanta. She became the first woman in Funny Car history to reach the winner’s circle.
“It’s been a long road,” Force, 25, said in a teleconference recently. “We had so many ups and downs, and struggles with the car. Having a new team and driver, and everything else brand new, but we were able to build on that.
“The same group of guys joined me this year, and it was exciting to step up
– go the next level, be going rounds and going to finals. We knew if we kept getting to finals, we’d eventually get a win. We had to be patient, and keep doing what we were doing.”Force and the Castrol GTX/Auto Club Ford Mustang team hit the O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals this weekend at Bristol Dragway. It’s the eighth stop on the 24-event, $50 million POWERade Drag Racing Series.
“Our car is very consistent, and that’s the key in drag racing,” Force said. “If you can have consistency, it’s going to pay off. We’re just trying to stay focused, and not get caught up in everything.
“You don’t want to be looking at the points every round, seeing where you’re at. It changes so quickly, that we’re really trying not to get into that. It would only distract us from what our main goal is, and that’s to win rounds. We just want to stay ahead of the rest of the guys and gals.”
In that Atlanta final round, Force was matched up with her famous father. He lost traction just off the launching pad and was forced to abort.
“I’m just proud of her as a woman to accomplish that,” said the elder Force, drag racing’s all-time leader with 125 national event victories. “I think that now this is just another place in history that can say women are showing their stuff. They beat this old man pretty good.
“It’s good for her. As a father, I’m proud of her. She didn’t do anything stupid on the starting line, go deep, or try to holeshot me. She just did what she always does, and that was most important.”
That was her third straight final round, and she led the points race until the last stop at St. Louis. That was also a first in Funny Car for a woman, and she currently trails leader Tim Wilkerson 497-473.
Force points out her father doesn’t pressure her on how to perform her job, even though he is the team owner.
“He didn’t want to change our routine,” Force said. “We have our own way of doing things in our camp. He taught me when I started, and now he’s kind of letting my find my own way
– learn from my mistakes.”But the biggest thing that he talked to me about in the past month was just to stay focused, and not let the mental side of things get into our minds.”
A year ago Force finished 10th in the points, missing two events for team reasons. She reaped rookie-of-the-year honors.
Force won in her 27th start, and fourth career final round.
“I’m just excited to be in NHRA drag racing,” Force said. “It’s such a fun sport. There’s so many great things that if offers.
“And it’s neat to now be part of that history, and I hope to make more memories in it”
Former women’s champions in drag racing include Shirley Muldowney in Top Fuel and Angelle Sampey in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Earlier in April, Danica Patrick became the first woman in IndyCar history to take a checkered flag.
“It’s very frustrating for those in drag racing,” Force said. “We’ve had such a history of females doing great in drag racing. But you don’t want to take anything away from Danica she did a great job.”
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