Drag racing’s Courtney Force adds to family’s NHRA legend

In less than 4.5 seconds, rookie Courtney Force put her mark on the Force family’s legendary place in NHRA drag racing.

The 24-year-old Courtney, youngest daughter of John Force, the record 15-time funny car champion from Yorba Linda, won her first funny car competition Sunday in the National Hot Rod Assn.’s premier Full Throttle Series.

She did so by defeating reigning funny car champion Matt Hagan in the final round of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Northwest Nationals in Seattle with a pass of 4.238 seconds at 293.54 mph on the 1,000-foot dragstrip.

“Every guy worries about losing to a girl, but I don’t at all,” Hagan said afterward. “She’s driving the wheels off that thing.”

Courtney Force’s win came in her 15th competition at the top level of funny car drag racing. It took her older sister, Ashley Force Hood, 23 events to notch her first NHRA victory in 2008 when she became the first female winner in the NHRA’s funny car class.

In the earlier elimination rounds Sunday that culminated with the race against Hagan, Courtney Force also defeated her 63-year-old father, one of drag racing’s most popular figures.

“I felt so bad, but I told him he’s the one who taught me how to race so I guess it’s his own fault,” Courtney Force said.

Said John Force: “She really did it herself out there today. I was just trying to give her a positive vibe. She doesn’t need it. I’m just so proud of her today.”

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