Twitter....Twitter...Tweet...Tweet....
 
Not the sounds you would expect coming from deep within the pit area at a NHRA drag racing event. Yet, that is exactly what Ashley Force Hood was doing prior to making the fourth fastest run Friday morning at Gainesville Dragway in Gainesville, Fla Friday morning.
 
Force spent a few minutes micro-blogging on @FordRacing on Twitter. Fans or even the casual observer, who might not otherwise have access to Force were able to ask questions ranging from her racing to her cat, Simba and her recent opportunity to return to her alma mater (Cal Fullerton) to meet and introduce Reba McIntyre.

Twitter....Twitter...Tweet...Tweet....
 
Not the sounds you would expect coming from deep within the pit area at a NHRA drag racing event. Yet, that is exactly what Ashley Force Hood was doing prior to making the fourth fastest run Friday morning at Gainesville Dragway in Gainesville, Fla Friday morning.
 
Force spent a few minutes micro-blogging on @FordRacing on Twitter. Fans or even the casual observer, who might not otherwise have access to Force were able to ask questions ranging from her racing to her cat, Simba and her recent opportunity to return to her alma mater (Cal Fullerton) to meet and introduce Reba McIntyre.
 
QUESTION: Is it easier or harder on race weekends now that you are married?
 
ASHLEY: The same. My husband works with me. Home or at the race we are together.
 
QUESTION: What track to do you like best and why?
 
ASHLEY: Love Sonoma. Like our home track. Lots of friend and family are close. We always do well. We have won 3 straight so this year is my turn.
 
QUESTION: Do you have a favorite foreign food?
 
ASHLEY: Love English Tea and Americanized Chinese food.
 
QUESTION: Did Simba [your cat] make the trip cross country to Gainesville?
 
ASHLEY: No he is home with sister Courtney to protect the house.
 
QUESTION: Just saw you got to meet Reba McEntire?
 
ASHLEY: Just did a scholarship fundraiser at my alma mater Cal State Fullerton and I got to introduce her. It was really fun and she was nice.
 
Tweeting has taken off faster and stronger than a John Force Racing Funny Car. Twitter has become a very important tool for spreading the message for Ford, Ashley and the NHRA.
 
Two months ago, Force Hood couldn't have told you what a Twitter was. And, technically she doesn't twitter herself. She twitters through the team publicists Elon Werner and Dave Densmore. Typically Force sends a text message to Werner who then Twitters, sending out the 140 character tweet.
 
“I think it’s great for the whole sport,” Force Hood said. “We're not only attracting people that come to our events, but really reaching out to people who can watch us through the Internet, television, radio and different ways like that.
 
Force understands the demands of today's society when it comes to news and information. They don't want it tomorrow, or even tonight. People want it now. Twitter is now.
 
“It seems recently there is that world need, they want something right away. They want the latest news. They don't want what happened yesterday. Even the Internet isn't fast enough, anymore. They want texting and tweets. If you can keep up with all that stuff you can stay ahead of the game, if you have the right people working with you. I couldn't do it all on my own.”
 
When she has the time Force also maintains a My Space page for both herself and another page for her cat, Simba.
 
Even with Twitter, there are still small facts for an onsite reporter to dig out. If she could, Force would love to do a guest appearance on her favorite show CSI (Las Vegas), as long as she isn't the victim in the story. She would also love to be a guest of the Regis and Kelly show. Given the opportunity to meet anyone in the world, she fell back on her love of CSI and expressed a desire to meet the actor who plays Gil Grissom, William Peterson. Peterson just left the show to return to the stage in Chicago, which means Force Hood may try to squeeze in one of his shows this summer when the tour visits Route 66 Dragway.
 
Oh, and if she could have sent out a tweet during the interview it would have read, “We qualified number four. It’s really hot here and we're going to have a tan here this weekend, for sure.”

TWEET BECOMES MEET FOR LUCKY FAN - The first tweet went out at 10 am. Anyone on track property at Gainesville Dragway who wanted to meet Ashley Force Hood should show up at the hauler in one hour. The second tweet went out one hour later.
 
Through a sea of fans waiting to get a glimpse or an autograph from Ashley Force Hood, on cue Melissa Waterman's hand shot high in the air. If only the others in the crowd had been “tweeters”.
 
On her first trip to Gainesville Dragway, the Rhode Island native, scored one of the biggest coup's of the weekend – a personal visit with Ashley.
 
“That was great,” Waterman said, a huge smile on her face, when asked about her meeting. “We've got to see them in the pits before, at other races but you don't get to actually go up and meet them. You always have other people in the way and you're trying to fight other people to get there.”
 
In truth, Waterman had no idea that by following the “tweet” she was going to get to meet a Force. When Elon Werner, Force's publicist, waved her back behind the barricade there was a moment of nervousness.
 
“Yea, I was a little nervous,” Waterman admitted. “I had no idea I was going to actually get to meet Ashley.”
 
Waterman signed up for Twitter for one reason, “Because of John Force Racing, the website. You always know what's going on. Yesterday (Friday), I was updated every time a round was through on where the Force teams stood.”
 
Attracting just one single fan from his tweet was not a disappointment for Werner. He knows it all starts with one voice and Melissa Waterman is going to be one strong voice spreading the word.
 
Twitter, a social networking tool, could fast become a very important tool in the public relations arena, not just in drag racing, but in any function where people want to know what's happening now, right now, not later.