Their family similarity is funny

Sometimes it’s hard to tell that Ashley Force is the daughter of legendary drag racer John Force -- except at 300 mph on the drag strip.

John Force is arguably the sport’s most popular driver not only for his 14 funny car championships but also for his boisterous personality.

But Ashley, a second-year funny car driver who made history by winning her first race in April -- by beating her father, no less -- is reserved and still learning to handle her own popularity while mastering her 7,000-horsepower dragster.

“I’m a shy person,” she said before Friday’s qualifying round for Sunday’s Auto Club Finals in Pomona, the season finale for the National Hot Rod Assn.’s Powerade Series.

“Dad, he loves getting out in front of people, he feels so comfortable,” said Ashley, 25. “I get more sick to my stomach going out in front of a big group of people than climbing into my race car.”

Ashley Force is one of three women -- with Melanie Troxel and Hillary Will -- who have won this year in the NHRA’s two premier classes, funny cars and top-fuel dragsters. Troxel led the second qualifying round of funny cars at Auto Club Raceway with a pass of 4.105 seconds at 304.25 mph. J.R. Todd led top-fuel qualifiers for a second straight day, at 3.851 seconds and 308.14 mph.

Qualifying ends today to decide the 16 drivers in final eliminations Sunday.

Ashley Force briefly led the funny car standings in April, but she has since dropped to sixth in points and out of range to win the championship.

“We were really good in the beginning of the year, then we went into a slump,” she said. “Next year I’d like to not have a slump.”

She is fortunate to have the top-rate equipment and crew of her father’s Yorba Linda-based race team, whose other three drivers are her dad, Mike Neff and Robert Hight.

Hight, who is battling for the funny car title this weekend, is married to Force’s eldest daughter Adria.

And Ashley next month plans to marry another Force crew member, Dan Hood, 27, in Lake Tahoe.

Ashley and the other family members gained added fame from the recent reality TV show “Driving Force,” which chronicled their lives on and off the track. Force’s other two daughters, Brittany and Courtney, also are climbing drag racing’s ranks.

Ashley made history by becoming the first woman to win an NHRA funny car race when she captured the Southern Nationals in Atlanta. She did so in dramatic fashion by beating her father at the same time John Force was going for his 1,000th round victory in his 500th career event.

“I can’t say enough about what she’s done,” even though “there’s a different personality there than me,” John Force said. “She’s matured, she’s held her own.”

Ashley said that “Maybe because I’m a girl, it’s sad to say, but I really truthfully think people weren’t expecting too much from me,” she said. “Which is good for me because then I could build my way . . . and I could learn, which we all have to do.

“People say, ‘Oh, it’s in your blood.’ It doesn’t matter if you come from 100 years of racers, you still have to learn in the car.”

And, for her, learning to be a fan favorite.

“We have really good fans,” she said. “For me it’s only a personal thing, it’s just a challenge for me that I’m very uncomfortable in front of people.”

“I’m not like Dad,” she added. “I wish I was.”

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james.peltz@latimes.com