ASHLEY FORCE HOOD STAYS No. 1 AT NORWALK

2010 TEAM CASTROL/JFR RACE REPORT13th of 23 races in the NHRA Full Throttle Series4th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA NationalsJune 25-27, 2010
Summit Racing Motorsports ParkNorwalk, OH  ASHLEY FORCE HOOD STAYS No. 1 AT NORWALKNORWALK, OH – Castrol GTX Mustang driver Ashley Force Hood came out swinging in the first session of Saturday qualifying at the 4th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals running the second quickest time of the session but it was Mother Nature who landed the knock-out punch. The second qualifying session of Funny Cars was cancelled as two strong but brief rain showers blew through Norwalk and drenched the capacity crowd and racing surface.  The final Funny Car qualifying session was cancelled after just seven cars took to the track. Force Hood’s Friday night time of 4.032 seconds held up at the top elapsed time.Luckily for John Force Racing and its legions of fans John Force was able to be one of the only seven Funny Cars to make runs. Unfortunately his final run of the day, 4.238 seconds, was only quick enough to eek him into the field as the No. 16 qualifier and he will race Force Hood in the first round.Force Hood does not relish the fact that she will have to race her father and teammate in the first round but she knows that there are many thing that are out of her control. Weather and her loquacious father are two of those things.“You get a lot of confidence from running well in the night session and in the hot sessions. It shows that we are able to adjust to what is thrown at us. You can’t control the weather. You can only control your car and how you adapt. My team and crew chiefs have done a great job this weekend,�?? said the 12-time No. 1 qualifier.This is the 11th time in thirteen races of the 2010 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series that a JFR Ford Mustang has been the No. 1 qualified car. BrandSource will give a lucky fan a Whirlpool Washer & Dryer set through the “Win with Force�?? at track and online promotion. John Force Racing has never not held the No. 1 qualifying spot at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.Force Hood has a high level of confidence in her Mustang as well as her crew. She also knows that her Mustang even with as much personality as it has is still just a machine.“I just have a really good running car. We have had it all weekend long and we are excited to be going into race day feeling this confident. The car doesn’t know who is in the other lane whether it is dad (John Force), my brother-in-law (Robert Hight), my best friend or someone you don’t like. It just doesn’t know the difference. That is how we race and especially when we race my dad,�?? said Force Hood.“He talks so much and he is so involved and I have a very different style than him. I do my own thing. I do think he tries to mess with me. I don’t think he does it on purpose but he is constantly talking about everything to do with the runs. I want to tell him, ‘Dad you just do your thing you have been doing it for over 30 years. I’ll do my thing.’ Whoever has the best car will go on to the next round and most importantly whoever wins should go out and win the race.�??After John Force ran posting a 4.238 second time Tony Pedregon and Jeff Arend were the last two Funny Cars to race and neither improved their positions. As the cars were turning off at the top end a steady rain turned into a downpour almost instantaneously as teams and photographers scrambled to cover-up their valuable equipment. Ironically, the stands began emptying seconds before the hard stuff really came down. Force Hood chalked that up to local weather knowledge.    “I was in my Mustang belted up and ready to go and then the rain just started pouring. It surprised all of us. I think the locals all knew because someone said the stands cleared out before it started raining really hard. We were going to try and make another really strong run. In the heat I don’t think we would have been trying to improve too much on our time,�?? said Force Hood.In the lone full qualifying session of Saturday Force Hood posted the second quickest time a lap of 4.185 seconds while teammate and eventual No. 4 qualifier Robert Hight smoked the tires on a 4.829 second run.  Force Hood was the only Funny Car driver to collect valuable qualifying bonus points in all three sessions ringing up an additional seven points.Hight will face Jeff Diehl in the first round. He has never raced the journeyman driver from Salinas, California.  In the first session of the day the 14-time Funny Car champion covered the most ground in his pedal-fest pass as the legendary driver wrestled his Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang down the track. His 25th anniversary Mustang lost traction then hooked up on and off for 1000 feet. His final time of 4.861 seconds was quick enough to get him into the field but only in 14th position. As the final session began Force slipped back three places sitting momentarily in the 17th and non-qualified spot.His last run was enough to get him into the show but not enough to ensure a non-JFR vs. JFR first round race. From the top end Force was diplomatic with announcer Alan Reinhart saying that he was just glad to be in the program so he could give the fans a show on race day. Force will be a featured guest on the ESPN2 RaceDay program tomorrow working as the most recent winner and current Full Throttle points leader.John Force Racing enters Sunday with two round wins to its credit already as both Courtney Force and Brittany Force won their first round match-ups in Top Alcohol Dragster. Brittany, the No 5 qualifier, dispatched Rich McPhillips when her BrandSource A Fuel Dragster covered the ¼ mile track in 5.520 seconds to McPhillips’ 5.874 seconds. Courtney Force powered her Ford Racing A Fuel Dragster to an easy win when Dave Hirata red-lit. Force’s 5.591 second pass would have still been too much for Hirata’s 5.832 second run.Courtney Force will face Mike Kosky in the second round and Brittany Force will square off with Ken “The Iceman�?? Perry. Final eliminations will get underway at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park at 11 a.m. * * * *THE DRIVERS:JOHN FORCE, 61, Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang
Final Qualifying: 16th quickest run at 4.238, 293.03 mph
Qualifying bonus points: 0
First Round Opponent (W-L): Ashley Force Hood (5-5)ASHLEY FORCE HOOD, 27, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang
Final Qualifying: 1st at 4.032, 311.99 mph
Qualifying bonus points: +7 (2nd quickest Q1 and Q3 and quickest of Q2)
First Round Opponent (W-L): John Force (5-5)ROBERT HIGHT, 40, Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang
Final Qualifying: 4th at 4.067 seconds, 310.05 mph
Qualifying bonus points: +1 (3rd quickest of Q1) 
First Round Opponent (W-L): Jeff Diehl (0-0)BRITTANY FORCE, 23, BrandSource A Fuel Dragster
Final Qualifying: 5th at 5.420 seconds, 262.85 mph
First Round Opponent: Beat Rich McPhillips
Second Round Opponent: Ken PerryCOURTNEY FORCE, 22, Ford Racing A Fuel Dragster
Final Qualifying: 6th at 5.440 seconds, 263.82 mph
First Round Opponent: Beat Dave Hirata 
Second Round Opponent: Mike Kosky * * * *FOLLOW JOHN FORCE RACING AT www.twitter.com/jfr_racing.com* * * *RACE SCHEDULE:Sunday, June 27:Eliminations, 11 p.m. (local time) * * * *NEXT EVENTS:23rd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals, July 9-11, Seattle, Wash.
23rd annual FRAM/Autolite Nationals, July 16-18, Sonoma, Calif.
31st annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, July 23-25, Denver, Colo.
29th annual Lucas Oil Nationals, Aug. 13-15, Brainerd, Minn.
56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, Sept. 1-6, Indianapolis, Ind. * * * *CONTACTS:Dave Densmore                                     Elon Werner
Denswood Sports                                    John Force Racing, Inc. 
214-244-0008                                          214-244-1184 denswood@aol.com                                elon@johnforceracing.com