Ashley Force Takes Second Win
photo by Auto Imagery, Inc.
Ashley Force beat a "Who's Who" of Funny Car drag racing that included her famous father, points leader Ron Capps and defending race champion Del Worsham on the way to a Sunday victory in the 22nd annual O’Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston, TX.
The win stamped her as more than just a novelty in the hunt for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Championship. No victory was bigger, though, than a final round conquest of “Fast Jack” Beckman, the man who taught not only her, but her younger sisters and her mother to drive competitively.
In that race, she left the starting line first and never trailed, recording a 1,000 foot time of 4.122 seconds at 306.19 miles per hour, second quickest of the day and easily the best in the right lane. Beckman trailed in 4.227 seconds at 303.43 mph.
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"Today was just my day," said the 2007 NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year. "Everything just fell into place for us. I was nervous about the lane because you saw what other cars had done in it. We knew the left (lane) might be a little bit better. I just wanted to go A to B and not make any mistakes."
While it was her second tour victory, it was her first since her marriage last December to Daniel Hood and that made it even more meaningful for the woman who, two years ago, won the "World's Hottest Athlete" on-line poll produced by AOL sports.
"It's our first win together as husband-and-wife. I was definitely glad to have him there. He was right there in the thick of things in my pit area all day. He loves to work on cars and that is what he is good at. I am so happy to have him there working on it for me."
For JFR, it was a most timely victory. The team had not celebrated in the winners’ circle since Robert Hight prevailed last September in the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Ind. It was the team’s 180th Funny Car victory overall and it’s 13th at Houston where John Force had won seven times previously.
Ashley’s second victory came in her sixth final round appearance and it boosted her to third place in the points.
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