Ashley Force Hood raced to her third final in a row - class leading fifth overall for 2009 - and moved into second place in the Full Throttle point standings today at Raceway Park. Unfortunately she did not drive away with the victory at the storied NHRA SuperNationals. Her Dean “Guido” Antonelli and Ron Douglas tuned Castrol GTX Mustang made a solid 4.21 second run but two-time world champion and former John Force Racing driver Tony Pedregon got a jump start at the starting line and beat her to the finish line.
“(Reaching three finals in a row) will matter in about an hour and a half,” Force Hood said standing in her trailer. “Then you will get it into a little more perspective. We had a good weekend. It is frustrating. You never want to lose on a hole-shot. You never want to lose period. For a driver (hole shots are) particularly hard to swallow. When your car stumbles a little or doesn’t run as quick you’ll see my crew chiefs upset and I am the one pepping them up. It works the same way for the driver.”
“It is amazing how important the reaction times were in the pro finals. My husband Dan told me that before me the Pro Stock Motorcycle and Pro Stock classes were won on hole-shots and then Antron (Brown) red-lit in the Top Fuel final. This final round for the pros was all about the start and the first couple of feet.”
Prior to the pro final rounds there was nearly two hours of downtime as two separate Alcohol Funny Cars drove off the top-end of the race track successfully testing the new safety measures at the top-end. When asked if the delayed schedule affected her ability to perform Force Hood was positive it did not.
“I don’t think so. I have never seen a pattern. I am still looking for one. I have cut really good lights and I ask myself what I did differently. There are so many little things that are just different. It could be a different part of the day, how you are feeling, or how you did the run before. I think all the runs before the final I was a little more nervous,” said the nine-time finalist. “If anything I was more calm for the final because we did have so much time. There wasn’t a big rush. Sometimes the rounds you are rushed you run right up there and you are wondering if we remembered everything and that run wasn’t like that at all. We were able to take our time and get in.”
The Castrol GTX team was looking for a little 2008 luck to repeat itself at Englishtown.
“We were hoping since last year we went to three finals in a row (Houston, Las Vegas and Atlanta) and won on our third attempt Atlanta. We were hoping that we could do that again and have the third time be the charm,” said Force Hood. “I can’t complain about getting to another final. It gives us that much more data and me more experience in the car. That will come in handy down the road. If you are losing first or second round you aren’t just losing those points you are not getting extra rounds.”
Co-crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli put the day into perspective from his standpoint.
“It is not about who wins the most races. It is about who goes the most rounds. (Eddie) Krawiec (the 2008 Pro Stock Motorcycle champion who did not win a race en route to his title) proved that last year. All we need to do is just keep going rounds and we will be fine,” said Antonelli
Force Hood and Pedregon both outperformed their peers throughout the day consistently making the quickest runs of each session. Force Hood dispatched Jack Beckman, Cruz Pedregon and Bob Tasca III to reach the final.
The 2007 Rookie of the Year has been on a tear so far this season and she knows that she the race car and the talent to get into the winner’s circle. In just her third season she has already outdistanced her performance from 2008. Last season Force Hood reached four finals and already she has been to five along with four No. 1 qualifiers, also a personal record for a Funny Car season.
The JFR race day started with an all John Force Racing first round Funny Car match-up between the Auto Club’s Robert Hight and Castrol’s John Force. Neither driver came close to matching their qualifying performances unfortunately. Hight who entered Sunday as the No.4 qualifier suffered dramatic tire shake 100 feet into his run, essential ending his race day as Force powered past him. Force smoked the tires but quickly pedaled his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang and took the win with a pedestrian 4.659 second pass.
At the end of the day for his Funny Cars Force was adamant that Ashley’s performance was right where he wanted it to be and she did not have anything to worry about. In fact she was in a position that the 14-time champion is aspiring to reach in 2009.
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