Ashley Force drove her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang into the record books by becoming the first female Funny Car driver to reach a final round, all but cementing her status as the 2007 winner of the Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award that identifies the NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year. Force reached the milestone in just the 20th start of her career.

“I know a lot of people talk about me being a gal and reaching these milestones but I would not have made it to the final round without the eight guys on my crew and the hard work of (co-crew chiefs) Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas. We want to win races for our sponsors and our teams. Today was tough because Robert (Hight, brother-in-law and Countdown to One contender), got knocked out early but we all pulled together behind our Castrol GTX Ford Mustang,” said Force.

ASHLEY FORCE, 24, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang
Qualifying position and performance: 13th at 4.819 seconds, 315.78 mph. Race results: Beat Gary Densham, Del Worsham, Jim Head, Tony Pedregon

Notable: Made history as the first female to reach a final round in the Funny Car class… Moved up to 11th place in points, nine points out of the Top 10.

Quotable: “I can’t complain about this day. After the year we’ve been through to be able to make it to my first final was exciting. I’m sorry we didn’t win, but we’ll be out there again next week.”

 Article source: www.motorsport.com