Ashley Force
Encyclopedia
Ashley Force Hood is a funny car
drag racer
for John Force Racing
. She is the daughter of 15-time NHRA
Funny Car
national champion John Force
and Laurie Force. She is married to Daniel Hood, who works for John Force Racing, and is on hiatus from racing in 2011 as the couple is expecting their first child.
Force was selected as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series' Rookie–of–the–Year (Funny Car division) in November 2007. On April 27, 2008, Force earned her first ever NHRA professional win, defeating her father in the final round, and becoming the first woman to earn a win in the Funny Car class at the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals held at the Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia.
division rookie, she won three of the season’s final five races including the 50th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis
, and the season-ending Automobile Club of Southern California
at Pomona
, where she shared the winners’ circle with her father - the NHRA’s first ever father-daughter winners. Ashley finished 2004 fourth in national driver points.
Ashley Force and her father made NHRA history in Atlanta in April when they became the first father and daughter to race against each other. Ashley won the round with an elapsed time of 4.779 seconds, and a terminal speed of 317.05 miles per hour. She advanced to the semifinals, which tied her for the best ever Funny Car event finish for a female.
In October 2007, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, she became the first female to compete in a national series Funny Car final round, but was defeated on a holeshot by Tony Pedregon
.
. At Las Vegas, she was defeated in the final by Tim Wilkerson, yet became the first female racer ever to lead the NHRA Funny Car point standings. On April 27, 2008, at Atlanta, her opponent in the final was her dad, 15-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force, who was seeking to score the 1000th round win of his career. Ashley claimed her first-ever NHRA Funny Car win on that day, the first ever for a woman, as she roared to victory with a 4.837-second elapsed time, the second quickest of the weekend in the Funny Car class.
.
Jack beat Ashley in the first round of eliminations at the next race at Las Vegas. She then gathered her fourth career #1 qualifier at the southern nationals, in which Jack Beckman got payback by beating Force-Hood in the final. Ashley compiled her fifth career #1 qualifier at the Thunder Valley Nationals http://www.nhra.com/results/default.aspx
At the Mac Tools US Nationals in Indianapolis, Ashley won over teammate Robert Hight to earn her the distinction of not only being the first female Funny Car driver to win at Indianapolis, but the first female driver to win in two different classes. She finished the 2009 season 2nd in points becoming the highest women finisher in funny car history.
's reality show Driving Force.
and Brittany, and an older half-sister, Adria. On December 13, 2008, Ashley married the parts manager of the Castrol GTX Funny Car team, Daniel Hood, in Lake Tahoe
and now goes by Ashley Force Hood.On August 18, 2011, Ashley and Daniel had their first son, Jacob John Hood.
Force attended Esperanza High School
in Anaheim, CA, where she was a cheerleader. In 2003, Force graduated from California State University-Fullerton with a B.A. in communications with an emphasis in television and video. In 2007 she was voted as the Hottest Athlete by an AOL Sports Poll, beating out favorites Tom Brady
and Danica Patrick
. http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=ap-autoracingbriefs&prov=ap&type=lgns
Force Hood and her husband are owners of two American Bobtail
cats, Simba and Gizmo, that were featured on Animal Planet
's Cats 101
on September 18, 2010.
Funny Car
Funny Car is a drag racing car class. In the United States, other "professional" classes are Top Fuel, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Funny cars have forward-mounted engines and carbon fiber automotive bodies over the chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers'...
drag racer
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....
for John Force Racing
John Force Racing
John Force Racing is an NHRA drag racing team. In over 30 years of competition, John Force Racing has won 17 Funny Car championships. The current line-up of drivers includes John Force, Mike Neff, and Robert Hight. John Force Racing has had Castrol as their main sponsor for more than 30 years...
. She is the daughter of 15-time NHRA
National Hot Rod Association
The National Hot Rod Association is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and host events all over the United States and Canada...
Funny Car
Funny Car
Funny Car is a drag racing car class. In the United States, other "professional" classes are Top Fuel, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Funny cars have forward-mounted engines and carbon fiber automotive bodies over the chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers'...
national champion John Force
John Force
John Harold Force is an NHRA drag racer, a 15-time Funny Car champion driver, and a 17-time champion car owner. Force owns and drives for John Force Racing. He is one of the most dominant drag racers in the sport with 133 career victories...
and Laurie Force. She is married to Daniel Hood, who works for John Force Racing, and is on hiatus from racing in 2011 as the couple is expecting their first child.
Force was selected as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series' Rookie–of–the–Year (Funny Car division) in November 2007. On April 27, 2008, Force earned her first ever NHRA professional win, defeating her father in the final round, and becoming the first woman to earn a win in the Funny Car class at the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals held at the Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia.
Drag racing career
As a Top AlcoholTop Alcohol
Top Alcohol dragsters are akin to the premier Top Fuel drag racing class, but produce much less horsepower. They are required to burn a lower-performance mixture of alcohol fuel instead of more volatile nitromethane. Engine sizes cannot exceed . Nitromethane-burning entries may also race in this...
division rookie, she won three of the season’s final five races including the 50th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, and the season-ending Automobile Club of Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
at Pomona
Pomona, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Pomona had a population of 149,058, a slight decline from the 2000 census population. The population density was 6,491.2 people per square mile...
, where she shared the winners’ circle with her father - the NHRA’s first ever father-daughter winners. Ashley finished 2004 fourth in national driver points.
2007
In 2007, Ashley Force moved into the professional ranks, driving a Castrol-sponsored Mustang Funny Car for her father's team, John Force Racing.Ashley Force and her father made NHRA history in Atlanta in April when they became the first father and daughter to race against each other. Ashley won the round with an elapsed time of 4.779 seconds, and a terminal speed of 317.05 miles per hour. She advanced to the semifinals, which tied her for the best ever Funny Car event finish for a female.
In October 2007, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, she became the first female to compete in a national series Funny Car final round, but was defeated on a holeshot by Tony Pedregon
Tony Pedregon
Tony Pedregon is a 2-time NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car Champion from Torrance, California. He is also the youngest of the Pedregon brothers. His brother Cruz Pedregon is the 1992 NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car Champion.-Early Days:In 1993 Pedregon qualified for his first...
.
2008
Early in the 2008 racing season, she worked her way to the final round of eliminations in three consecutive meetings: Houston, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. She made her first final round appearance of the year on March 30 at Houston, but lost to Del WorshamDel Worsham
Del Worsham is an NHRA driver who began his professional career in Pomona, California, in 1990. Worsham drives for Al-Anabi Racing, whom he joined in 2009. Through the first five races of the 2011 season, he has amassed 28 career victories, three in the Top Fuel Series and 25 in the Funny Car...
. At Las Vegas, she was defeated in the final by Tim Wilkerson, yet became the first female racer ever to lead the NHRA Funny Car point standings. On April 27, 2008, at Atlanta, her opponent in the final was her dad, 15-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force, who was seeking to score the 1000th round win of his career. Ashley claimed her first-ever NHRA Funny Car win on that day, the first ever for a woman, as she roared to victory with a 4.837-second elapsed time, the second quickest of the weekend in the Funny Car class.
2009
Force garnered the second win of her career on March 29, 2009 at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals; in the finals she beat her former instructor Jack BeckmanJack Beckman
Jack Beckman is a professional drag racer who currently drives a NHRA Fuel Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing. He is known in the drag racing community as "Fast Jack"....
.
Jack beat Ashley in the first round of eliminations at the next race at Las Vegas. She then gathered her fourth career #1 qualifier at the southern nationals, in which Jack Beckman got payback by beating Force-Hood in the final. Ashley compiled her fifth career #1 qualifier at the Thunder Valley Nationals http://www.nhra.com/results/default.aspx
At the Mac Tools US Nationals in Indianapolis, Ashley won over teammate Robert Hight to earn her the distinction of not only being the first female Funny Car driver to win at Indianapolis, but the first female driver to win in two different classes. She finished the 2009 season 2nd in points becoming the highest women finisher in funny car history.
2011
On January 25, during a John Force Racing press conference, it was announced that Force Hood would become the President of John Force Entertainment, a subsidiary of John Force Racing which will focus on development of media projects and products. At the same press conference, Force Hood announced that she and her husband were expecting their first child in August, and that she would be on hiatus for the season. John Force will drive her Castrol GTX Ford in competitions for the 2011 season. Mike Neff, a former driver who assumed the duties of Force's crew chief following the sudden departure of veteran crew chief Austin Coil, will take over driving the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford for Force.Television
Ashley Force was featured with her family on A&EA&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
's reality show Driving Force.
Personal life
She has two sisters, CourtneyCourtney Force
Courtney Force is a Top Alcohol drag racer for John Force Racing. She is the youngest daughter of 15-time NHRA Funny Car national champion John Force and his wife Laurie Force. She currently attends Cal State Fullerton and is majoring in Communications...
and Brittany, and an older half-sister, Adria. On December 13, 2008, Ashley married the parts manager of the Castrol GTX Funny Car team, Daniel Hood, in Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
and now goes by Ashley Force Hood.On August 18, 2011, Ashley and Daniel had their first son, Jacob John Hood.
Force attended Esperanza High School
Esperanza High School
Esperanza High School is a 9th–12th grade public high school located in Anaheim, California and is part of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District....
in Anaheim, CA, where she was a cheerleader. In 2003, Force graduated from California State University-Fullerton with a B.A. in communications with an emphasis in television and video. In 2007 she was voted as the Hottest Athlete by an AOL Sports Poll, beating out favorites Tom Brady
Tom Brady
Thomas Edward Patrick "Tom" Brady, Jr. is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League . After playing college football at Michigan, Brady was drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft.He has played in four Super Bowls,...
and Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick
Danica Sue Patrick is an American auto racing driver, model and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing, being the only woman to win in the IndyCar Series as well as holding the highest finish by a woman at the Indianapolis 500 of 3rd...
. http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=ap-autoracingbriefs&prov=ap&type=lgns
Force Hood and her husband are owners of two American Bobtail
American Bobtail
The American Bobtail is a relatively new and uncommon breed of cat which appeared in the late 1960s. It is most notable for its stubby "bobbed" tail about one-third to one-half the length of a normal cat's tail. This is the result of a cat body type genetic mutation affecting the tail development,...
cats, Simba and Gizmo, that were featured on Animal Planet
Animal Planet
Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
's Cats 101
Cats 101
- Plot :Cats 101 features different cat breeds per episode, which feature many experts, ranging from veterinarians to animal trainers, telling facts, origins, and looks of the breeds. Cat owners of a specific breed also speak of life-changing events that revolve around their cats. It is shown on...
on September 18, 2010.
External links
- John Force Racing (The team for both John and Ashley Force)
- Interview with Ashley Force
- Driving Force A&E reality show
- Driving Force Ashley's Profile
- Ashley Force's "Official Myspace" page