It rained most of the day at Maple Grove Speedway however the storm clouds held off just long enough for one qualifying session and Ashley Force Hood made the best of that session by posting the quickest lap and speed of the NHRA Toyo Tires Nationals, an 4.114 second run at a top speed of 301.47 mph.

“It's just a great feeling to get down the first session for so many different reasons, but mainly this weekend I think because you do have that weather hanging over your head and you want to get a strong run in just in case you don't get another run,” said Force Hood. “We were very happy with that run, you know I don't know what my crew chiefs were going after but they were very pleased with it as well.”

Several pairs prior to Force Hood's run, her brother in law – Robert Hight – driving the chassis normally driven by John Force rocketed to the top spot with an impressive 4.137 second pass at 293.66 mph.

It rained most of the day at Maple Grove Speedway however the storm clouds held off just long enough for one qualifying session and Ashley Force Hood made the best of that session by posting the quickest lap and speed of the NHRA Toyo Tires Nationals, an 4.114 second run at a top speed of 301.47 mph.

“It's just a great feeling to get down the first session for so many different reasons, but mainly this weekend I think because you do have that weather hanging over your head and you want to get a strong run in just in case you don't get another run,” said Force Hood. “We were very happy with that run, you know I don't know what my crew chiefs were going after but they were very pleased with it as well.”

Several pairs prior to Force Hood's run, her brother in law – Robert Hight – driving the chassis normally driven by John Force rocketed to the top spot with an impressive 4.137 second pass at 293.66 mph.

Happy with the top spot, she was almost happier to see Hight sitting right behind her on the charts when she finally found out where he had qualified.

“I didn't actually know how anyone was running because I was getting belted in when the other teams were running and you try not to get on the radio and kind of stay clear of that to let everyone do their thing,” explained Force Hood. “So I wanted to get on and ask who was that? Was that one of our guys?  How did they run?  But I didn't want to tie up the channel, so actually when I got back here with Elon and I asked him I'm like 'Alright, how'd everybody do?' It sounded like everyone was happy and cheerful and everything on the radio so I knew we at least had a couple of cars that ran good but it was great to have all four get down the track A to B and just have some kind of hold on this track.  The conditions can all change come Sunday if the sun comes out and it's a million degrees out, it's going to change everything, but at least for the time being we have a great start to the weekend.”

Change has been the buzzword in the Funny Car and Top Fuel classes as they transition from qualifying to racing; most of the teams use one and sometimes two or three runs during qualifying to do some testing.

At Maple Grove the change most likely will be the weather. Humid conditions brought about fogging to the visor on Force Hood's helmet and created a need for additional attention to the front windshield.

:It's not something we really ran into in the summer because it's just been so hot, but this weekend and if the conditions stay similar to this it's going to be something that everyone is going to be running into, fogging up of your visor, fogging up of your windshield,” said Force Hood. “I've had problems with my visor before but I've never had any problem with my windshield and that's what the issue was out there, fortunately it wasn't dark yet.”

After doing her burn out, the haze on her windshield was cause for concern. It not only made it difficult to see the tree and down track, it also disrupted the routine.

“It just throws in a bunch more distractions from your normal routine so then I felt I didn't back up where I needed to be, because I was looking at what was on the windshield, they were trying to clean it. It just kind of was one of those fiasco runs and I thought 'I don't know how this is going to turn out'.  I didn't feel comfortable like I normally do going up there, but everything worked out for us and now we'll know better  next time to prepare ourselves a little.  But, it was a little nerve racking.  I could see, but it wasn't crystal clear like I'm used to being able to look out and see and I think Robert said he had the same issue with his windshield so we'll just be on top of it Saturday if we run another later session.” 
 

Advertisement