Ashley Force enters her sophomore season as a Funny Car driver, but
when she fires her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang during Friday’s NHRA
O’Reilly Springnationals in Houston, Texas, she will do so as a
freshman.
Force, the daughter of Funny Car legend John Force, sat out last year’s
event following the unfortunate death of teammate Eric Medlen. She’s
run the event before as a Top Alcohol Dragster driver but not in her
current capacity.
"The first thing I'll do when I get there is get with my crew chief,
Dean Antonelli, and put together a mental game plan,” Force said. “I
know dad has run great (at Houston) and so has Robert, so it must be a
pretty good Funny Car track. We missed the race last year, so I'm
excited about making my first (Funny Car) runs there."
Force failed to make the show in Phoenix, but rebounded two weeks ago
and advance farther than any of the four John Force Racing [JFR] teams
who qualified by reaching the quarter-finals.