with Ashley Force Hood

 
 
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
 

Every month Ashley Force Hood is going to give us a brief look into the John Force Racing teams as seen from her perspective.  She will talk about interesting things she saw that relate to traveling to a race, events at a race or interesting fans or situations encountered along the way! 

Keep in mind Ashley’s schedule is normally very hectic, but she has committed to giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the wacky world of drag racing.


John Force Racing - News

Ashley's June 8 Blog

This past weekend in Chicago it was all about family…lots of family! First off, my two younger sisters Brittany and Courtney raced their BrandSource and Sanyo A Fuel dragsters since they are now both out of school for the summer and on tour with us. My mom was also at the event as well as my father of course, but my husband Dan’s family was also there as he is from Illinois, about 30 minutes from the track, and many of his family and friends are race fans so they attended the event as well. His father Kelly actually works on John Lawson’s funny car, owned by Dale Creasy Jr., so I actually was competing against not only my own father but also my father in law this weekend! We rode to the track each day with Dan’s parents and it was funny walking into the pit areas to go to work with my husband, father, sisters, and brother in law Robert, and having Dan’s dad going to work as well one pit row over! And to top it off my mom and my mother in law would be cheering us all on all weekend too! Drag racing is a family sport, isn’t it?

My older sister Adria was also at the race along with my 4 year old niece Autumn and since they don’t come to all of the races it was really special to have them there as well. Adria’s birthday was on Thursday so many of the ladies from our John Force Racing shops in California and Indiana made the trip to come celebrate and we actually surprised Adria with a girl’s night in the city! It was a great night complete with a limo, dinner and non stop laughter!

Friday it was back to work and it really was a great weekend for racing. The weather was nice the stands were packed and we were excited to be at Chicago since it’s a great track to run on. Come Sunday it was time for competition and my Castrol GTX Ford team was ready to go rounds and close the gap on that #1 points spot.

We won first and second round and were so excited to be going to the semi finals again! It seems like the more rounds you go the faster the day starts going! Heading up to the semi finals we were rushed since rain delays earlier had put everyone behind. As we arrived in the staging lanes I realized that I had left my Hybrid safety back brace in the trailer. My crew guy Nick had to rush back to get it and he is the one who suits me up for the run so this became a problem because it was time for me to suit up and the rest of my team was busy with their own duties getting the car ready to race. Thank goodness my four year old niece Autumn was in the Flex tow van with me! She has grown up around the races and watched her father, grandfather and aunt suit up to race many times and usually likes to try all of our gear on when it’s in the car so she’s familiar with everything from the head sock to the gloves to the helmet! I said to her “Autumn, I have a very important job for you. Nick isn’t here to help me get suited up and I have to start now or I’ll miss my run. Can you be my crew member and help me get ready?” She very seriously looked at me and nodded yes. It was hard for me to keep a straight face as I looked at my stand in crew member…with a Little Mermaid face painting on her cheek from Racer’s For Christ Kids Service that morning! She handed me all of my things, got my gloves on and over my fire suit, tucked my helmet into my suit and strapped on my neck collar. She did everything perfect and very quickly too! Right about then Nick arrived with the back brace and we strapped that on, I gave Autumn a knuckle hit as I do with all of my crew guys and then I went and jumped in the car. We pulled up and raced the semi finals and won!

Though we didn’t win the race we made it to another final and did close that gap to only a few rounds out of 1st place. I was so proud of my niece and very thankful to have her help me out! She enjoyed being a part of it all as well and my team and I love when she rides with us up to run as she always keeps us entertained and laughing! Of course I love the speed of these race cars the adrenaline rush and the competition but above everything I love working with my family including little Autumn. I guess it’s never too early to join the family business!