Ashley Force Hood topped Funny Car qualifying Friday in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. ESPN
Force Hood piloted her Castrol GTX Mustang to a 4.105 to edge Tim Wilkerson by .004-second for the No. 1 spot in Funny Car. Force Hood and Wilkerson are about .02-second ahead of the rest of the field with Del Worsham’s 4.128 scoring the third spot.
“The first session was just about getting from A to B so that we’d have a good base for the rest of our runs, and fortunately things went our way and we made a good run,” said Force Hood. “But we knew that a lot of the teams would probably improve and go around us tonight. We knew conditions would be stellar, and we were hoping not to miss that chance. As every team knows, you never want to give up that Friday night run, and fortunately for us everything went smoothly and we made a nice pass.
“I knew it was good run. It felt so much faster than the first run. It was pulling really hard, I just didn’t know if it was good enough to get that No. 1 because a lot of other teams had run well, too. Fortunately, it did. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but hopefully we’ll keep making good runs. The bigger picture is doing well on race day, and we have two good runs so far, so we’re excited about that.” NHRA.com
Hood posted an elapsed time of 4.105 seconds at 298.67 miles per hour. That was good enough to top Tim Wilkerson, who recorded a run of 4.109 seconds.
“It’s beautiful out here, and the weather held up for us. I can’t ask for more than that,” Force Hood said.
John Force, Ashley’s father, followed in the No. 7 spot.
“The success of my team, I give to my crew and chiefs,” Force Hood said. “Crew chiefs are like sponges. They absorb everything. The only thing I’m trying to do is not screw up.”
The endless, high-stakes guessing game between drag racers and crew chiefs continued Friday after Thursday night’s heavy rain washed away some of the rubber on the track surface.
Teams were forced to contend with hot and humid conditions early Friday afternoon, then track temperatures dropped nearly 10 degrees for the night session. Dark clouds surrounded the dragway but produced no rain. Bristol Herald Courier
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