Babe Ruth would have been jealous.

Just like the veteran long ball hitter, Ashley Force Hood called her shot and the end result was an upper deck shot.

The second generation nitro racer and defending NHRA Summit Southern Nationals Funny Car champion heard her dad tell his crew chief Austin Coil that he planned to run a 4.10 during the second session and he landed atop the field with a 4.100.

“I was two pairs behind him in qualifying,” Force Hood recalled. “He said, ‘let’s put a .10 on the board.’ He went out and did it.

Babe Ruth would have been jealous.

Just like the veteran long ball hitter, Ashley Force Hood called her shot and the end result was an upper deck shot.

The second generation nitro racer and defending NHRA Summit Southern Nationals Funny Car champion heard her dad tell his crew chief Austin Coil that he planned to run a 4.10 during the second session and he landed atop the field with a 4.100.

“I was two pairs behind him in qualifying,” Force Hood recalled. “He said, ‘let’s put a .10 on the board.’ He went out and did it.

“I said, ‘Is it that easy that we can say what we want and then we get it?'”

Force Hood said her comments were in jest. Figuring she would share in the fun, she offered up to crew chief Dean Antonelli that she wanted to run a 4.07.

“We all got a laugh out of it and I figured maybe a 4.08 or a 4.09 in a push,” she admitted. “I knew I had made a great pass but you never really know what it will run. As I turned off the track, my other crew chief Ron [Douglass] asked me what I wanted to run.”

He told her she ran the 4.07.

“That was pretty amazing,” Force Hood said.

If her run holds, it will mark her fourth career No. 1 qualifying position and first of the season.

Force Hood won his first Funny Car victory at this same track last year in conditions that were diametrically opposite of those on this day.
 Last season’s victory was attained in rainy, humid conditions. Friday’s qualifying was as close as one could consider heaven for drag racing conditions.

“Last year was like frizzed hair and humidity,” Force Hood said. “This weekend has been nice and cool.”
 

Advertisement