BAYTOWN, Texas — For the second time in Ashley Force’s young career, the 25-year-old driver of the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang was less than a second away from history. Del Worsham defeated her with a 4.93-second run to Force’s 4.97.
“It wasn’t our day. It was Del’s. It was still a real good day, I can’t complain, especially with all the ups and downs we have had this year it was good to go some rounds,” Ashley Force said.
No woman has ever won in the Funny Car class in the 57 years of the NHRA. Force is the only woman to have ever reached the final round — a feat she also accomplished last October at Las Vegas last October. She attributed her success to an entire JFR team effort throughout the day.
Her brother-in-law, Robert Hight, failed to qualify, and his team worked along with her crew.
“I know they were bummed because they weren’t racing. That just made us want to defend their points position that much more,” she said. “We weren’t just racing for ourselves, we were racing for the whole team. If they aren’t our people, then we need to take them out.”
Team leader and 14-time Funny Car champion John Force had a chance to race his daughter, but Worsham beat him in the semifinal.
“Worsham is a hell of a racer. He was way overdue and hungry,” John Force said. “He had a car that was just fast. A lot of these cars have been carrying this weight since last year. They have more runs on them than ours, but we’ll learn,” he said.
“For Ashley to get to another final is great. I went a lot of rounds before I finally won,” he said. “She is driving the heck out of her Mustang. Every round is a learning experience for me because of my body healing, but I am coming around as a driver. I am doing my job and feeling my car again. It is just taking a little longer.”