Ashley Force

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ashley Force in October 2007
Ashley Force
Born	Ashley Force November 29, 1982 (1982-11-29) (age 25) Yorba Linda, California, USA
Official website

Ashley Force in August 2007

Ashley Force (born November 29, 1982) is a funny car drag racer. She is the daughter of 14-time NHRA Funny Car division champion John Force and his wife Laurie Force.

Force attended Esperanza High School in Anaheim, CA, where she was a cheerleader. In 2003, Force graduated from California State University-Fullerton with a B.A. in communications with an emphasis in television and video. In 2007 she was voted as the Hottest Athlete by an AOL Sports Poll, beating out favorites Tom Brady and Danica Patrick. [1]

Force was also selected as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series' Rookie–of–the–Year (Funny Car division) in November 2007. On April 27, 2008, Force earned her first ever NHRA professional win, defeating her father in the final round, and becoming the first woman to earn a win in the Funny Car class at the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals held at the Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia.^[1]

1 Drag racing career
- 1.1 2007
- 1.2 2008
2 Television
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Drag racing career

As a Top Alcohol division rookie, she won three of the season’s final five races including the 50th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, and the season-ending Automobile Club of Southern California at Pomona, where she shared the winners’ circle with her father - the NHRA’s first ever father-daughter winners. Ashley finished 2004 fourth in national driver points.

[edit] 2007

In 2007, Ashley Force moved into the professional ranks, driving a Castrol-sponsored Mustang Funny Car for her father's team, John Force Racing.^[2] At her first meet (Pomona), she qualified 15th and was eliminated in the first round by her brother-in-law and teammate Robert Hight. Despite some mishaps and missteps by her, and despite tragedy within John Force Racing, in light of the challenge inherent in driving a Funny Car (extremely high horsepower, front-engine layout, and relatively short wheelbase) she made very impressive progress during the season, growing in competence and confidence as she gained experience.

Ashley Force and her father made NHRA history in Atlanta in April when they became the first father and daughter to race against each other. ^[3] Ashley won the round with an elapsed time of 4.779 seconds, and a terminal speed of 317.05 miles per hour. ^[3] She advanced to the semifinals, which tied her for the best ever Funny Car event finish for a female. ^[3]

In October, Ashley Force once again made racing history, this time at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, becoming the first female to compete in a national series Funny Car final round, but was defeated on a holeshot by Tony Pedregon.

[edit] 2008

If anyone had lingering doubts about Ashley Force's competitiveness in a Funny Car, those doubts were erased early in the 2008 racing season as she worked her way to the final round of eliminations in three consecutive meetings: Houston, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. She made her first final round appearance of the year on March 30 at Houston, but lost to Del Worsham. At Las Vegas, she was defeated in the final by Tim Wilkerson, yet became the first female racer ever to lead the NHRA Funny Car point standings. On April 27, 2008, at Atlanta, her opponent in the final was her dad, 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force, who was seeking to score the 1000th round win of his career. Ashley claimed her first-ever NHRA Funny Car win on that day, the first ever for a woman, as her dad smoked the tires and she roared to victory with a 4.837-second elapsed time, the second quickest of the weekend in the Funny Car class.

[edit] Television

Ashley Force is featured with her family on A&E's reality show Driving Force. She has two sisters, Courtney and Brittany, and an older half-sister, Adria.