Would NHRA’s Ashley Force Hood Be A Good Fit In NASCAR?
She has more career wins in major league racing than Danica Patrick. Not only that, she’s leading the points in her specific category and could potentially win the championship this season.
And while there’s no indication that she’s interested in racing in NASCAR, or if anyone in NASCAR wants to lure her to compete in the Sprint Cup series, keep your eye on NHRA Funny Car points leader Ashley Force Hood.
The daughter of 14-time Funny Car champ John Force, Ashley has been tearing up the asphalt this season in only her third full season in the Funny Car ranks. Not only did she win earlier this year at Baytown, Texas, Force has finished in the top-five in every one of the 12 races thus far this season, adding four runner-up showings to her second career win.
Now, granted, every race for Force Hood typically lasts less than five seconds and covers only 1,000 feet on a straightaway. But given what she’s achieved so far, not to mention having the genes of the greatest driver in drag racing history, how long will it be before some Cup team owner asks Force Hood if she’d be interested in going NASCAR racing?
I’m not even sure she could handle NASCAR-style racing, with the huge disparity of tracks to race upon, from the smallest short tracks like Bristol and Martinsville, to the biggest superspeedways of Daytona, Talladega and Indianapolis.
But if Force Hood decided to go give NASCAR a try, she’d make folks forget about Danica in a split-second. Ashley is the real deal and even though she’s made her living up to now wrestling fire-breathing, 8,000-horsepower belching nitromethane-powered Funny Cars, if she’s like racers in any forms of motorsports, the unique challenge of switching from drag racing to stock car racing would intrigue and interest her.
Now watch, after they read this, don’t be surprised if guys like Jack Roush (who got his start in drag racing) and Rick Hendrick start calling Force Hood to gauge her response. I think it’s pretty clear Danica will never race in NASCAR – or, at least, anytime soon – so why not give Ashley a chance to prove herself.
Catch y’all Thursday.
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