Question: You and Danica Patrick are rising at the same time. How important is your success to women in sports? Do you consider yourself a role model?
Ashley Force: It’s just a really great time for women in racing but in NHRA drag racing there’s been women for years. It just seems like right now there are more and we’re all doing well—Melanie Troxel recently won in Funny Car, Hillary Will won in dragster. There’s been a lot of women in pro stock motorcycles that have been really successful. It’s not quite such a big thing in drag racing but it’s always important to show that it’s not just one fluke or one gal who happens to have a little luck.
There are a lot of women in many different types of motorsports and if you stick to it you can be successful, no matter what your gender. When I started, people wanted me there. My competitors were happy to have a girl in the lane and that wasn’t always the case back when Shirley Muldowney came into the sport. People did not want her there, did not think she could do it. She was the type of personality that didn’t care what anyone thought and did really well and paved the way for the rest of us.
Question: You get a lot of attention beyond your racing skills. What’s the best and worst part of that?
Ashley Force: That’s been probably the more challenging side. I love racing my car. It’s just exciting—everything the fans love about it, I love about it. Every run, it never gets boring. I can’t believe this car that I’m strapped to goes 320 miles an hour.
The challenging part has been the other stuff. I’m a pretty shy person. Some people love fame and attention and everything like that. My dad, he loves getting up in front of people and he’s very comfortable with that. I’m the complete opposite. I’m way more comfortable in the race car or with a small group that I know. To be in front of groups of people has been the part I’ve probably struggled with more—even than the race car. You get used to it. The first time I had to do an interview I cried the night before, I was so nervous. It was something that I just hadn’t done before. But it’s all part of it and it’s all good stuff. It’s about learning how to balance it all and get over the shyness.
Question: How important is the team in your success? What’s more important in racing, money or skill?
Ashley Force: It’s frustrating sometimes. The driver, whether we win or lose, gets all the glory and we’re just one small piece of the whole package. I’ve had so many people congratulate me for being the first woman to win a Funny Car event and that’s nice, but it was also the 10 guys who worked on my team. It was not me alone and it was not an all-female team. It was the guys who got me to that spot and I did my job and they did theirs. I wish we could give more credit to them and I try, but they understand that’s how it is.
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