Castrol GTX Ford Driver Joins List That Includes Bernstein, Line, Hight and Todd
Ashley Force, 24, applied a measure of positive energy to a difficult
season Monday when she accepted the Automobile Club of Southern
California’s 2007 Road to the Future Award as the professional
Rookie-of-the-Year in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
The daughter of injured icon John Force accepted a check for $20,000
from the Auto Club before crediting her father, her family and her
team, especially crew chiefs Dean “Guido” Antonelli and Ron Douglas,
for a history-making first season at the wheel of the Castrol GTX Ford
Mustang.
Although she missed two races, one following the death last March of
teammate Eric Medlen and the other after her father suffered the most
serious crash of his 32-year career, the graduate of Cal
State-Fullerton made history last month at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway where she became the first woman to race in a Funny Car final
in a national series.