Winner wilkerson, force reaches semis at pacific raceways

[TMN]

WINNER WILKERSON
7/19/2009

FORCE REACHES SEMIS, COURTNEY FORCE TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER WINNER AT PACIFIC RACEWAYS

BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Kent, Wash. — The Force name returned to the winner’s circle Sunday at Pacific Raceways, but it was neither drag racing icon John Force nor his high profile daughter, Ashley Force Hood, who claimed the hardware at the 22nd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals.

Instead, it was Ashley’s 21-year-old sister Courtney, an agent for Ford’s Fiesta Movement, who celebrated a breakthrough first win in the Top Alcohol Dragster category by driving her Sanyo Supercharged HD dragster past the similar machine of Chris Demke.

Courtney’s victory salvaged the day for John Force Racing Inc., which was unable to advance either one of its Ford Mustangs beyond the semifinals in the highly-competitive Funny Car division in which not a single driver has yet clinched a berth in the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

With the Force Mustangs on the sidelines along with that of Bob Tasca III, it was left to Tim Wilkerson to salvage a win for the blue oval brigade. He did so by upsetting No. 1 qualifier Tony Pedregon in the final to earn his first win of the 2009 season, a performance that powered him into fifth place.

It wasn’t an entirely lost weekend for the JFR Fords. Mike Neff reclaimed a spot in the Top 10 in points, Force Hood moved a step closer to clinching a playoff berth and Force himself took the Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang to the semifinals for the second time in the last three events.

Neff, who struggled mightily the previous week at Morrison, Colo., returned to form by qualifying No. 2 and beating Jeff Arend in the first round before his day ended against points leader Ron Capps. That pushed him from 11th to ninth in points at the wheel of the Ford Drive One Mustang.

As for Force, he solidified his hold on the No. 8 position with another solid, if not spectacular, performance that included a first round win ahead of Del Worsham and a second round conquest of Tasca.

The only JFR driver who really struggled was Robert Top Gun Hight who, after qualifying 10th, was beaten in the very first round by Wilkerson. As a result, he was unable to make up any ground in the Auto Club Ford and remained 12th in points.

Force Hood, who earned her racing stripes in Top Alcohol before moving up to Funny Car, failed to reach the semifinals for the first time in the last seven races, losing to Pedregon by .006 of a second in the second round. As a result, she slipped to second place in points at the wheel of the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 21 points behind Capps.

“I know this point battle is going to go back and forth and jump around,” Ashley said. “I’m sure there will be more drivers involved than me, Capps and Tony. The points are just that close. There are no bad teams in the bunch. It is just amazing how competitive this class is right now (and) I’m really excited to be right in the middle of it all.

“We’re doing really well [although] we didn’t do as well as we would have liked this weekend. Outside influences, like the media and the fans, all want to talk about the points, especially when you are doing well, [but] we, as a team, are trying not to get too caught up in all that.

“We were first [in points] last weekend, but we aren’t now,” said the two-time tour winner and 2007 NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year. “[We] got to number one not by thinking about the points, but by doing all the little things [and] it won’t do us any good to start changing a lot of stuff now. We know what we’re doing. The points don’t make us try any harder. We are always trying our best [and] we’re going to keep at it. This race was a setback [and] we haven’t really had a setback this season.

“We know that next weekend it can all change again. A perfect example is Tony. Last weekend everybody was talking about Capps and me being tied and this weekend Tony is right in the middle of the points chase again. It’s going to be like that the rest of the year.

“We aren’t going to start worrying about the points until maybe Las Vegas. Even if it comes down to the last race of the year in Pomona, the car doesn’t care about the points. The car only knows what it knows. We have to work on the car. We can’t let the points change what we do.”

An enthusiastic and rejuvenated John Force, who finally won a racing round on the Western Swing for the first time in two years, reflected on a day of ups and downs for his team.

“I think we have a well-rounded team,” he said. “One of the things we have is a lot of potential with our drivers in my own family to move up in the future. They are the Next Generation. They’re learning. They’re on top of the world because Courtney won today. She did what she was supposed to do the way [crew chief] Jerry Darien taught her [and] she got a win.

“My teams moved up in the points [today]. Ashley is just a round out of the points lead. Robert is struggling right now [but] we are going to put a lot of focus on his car this week on how we can get ‘er to run at Sonoma. It is just not where it needs to be. My car is finally coming around. I’m excited and I’m starting to come around mentally. At the end of the day to see three daughters racing is great. Brittany had that fire to win in the semifinals against her sister. She wanted to win, too. I am very proud for Courtney, but I have to be honest, I am proud for her mom, Laurie. These are her children. She raised them, God bless her. I know what it means to her to see them deliver and Courtney delivered today.”

“It was a rush,” Force said of watching his youngest win the 186th NHRA race for JFR. “It is a moment of emotion where you want to scream and cry at the same time. These are little kids that I watched grow up and to see them come out in a sport that I have loved my whole life and I gave everything to is very emotional. I wanted my children all to feel what I felt. Even if they don’t stay in the sport, to know one time the feeling of being in the greatest show on earth, NHRA Drag Racing. Courtney got a taste of that today.”

Even Hight, who lost in the first round for the seventh time this year, was optimistic.

“We have always done well in Sonoma [site of next week’s 22nd annual Fram/Autolite Nationals],” he said. “We won it last year and we’ll try and keep the streak alive. [It] would be four-in-a-row for John Force Racing. The first in the streak was Eric, then John, then me last year. For my car right now, it is getting to be do or die.

“We didn’t get hurt too bad this weekend, but sure could have done some damage. It goes right back to qualifying. Basically I had third low ET of the first round. It would have beaten just about anybody else in that first round except Capps and Wilkerson. Tim happened to be in the other lane against me. My Mustang was hurt. It was hurt early, early.

“We were pretty disgusted when the round was over when you consider if the engine would have run right [but] it burned up the No. 6 cylinder early in the run. Sometimes I say we are better off being on the slow side. Now, Jimmy is going the other way. He thinks there is a lot more left in this thing. Next weekend we are going to be more aggressive.

“I’m excited. I’m not going home to Yorba Linda. I’m going to drive down to Sonoma with my daughter Autumn in one of these Ford Flexes. She’s going to get to watch DVDs and I’m going to make it fun for her. She has been out here this week with me. I want to let her be a kid and do some fun things. Thursday we’re going to get after it. We’re going to work hard to get [the Auto Club Mustang] ready to win this next race.

“It’s almost like Hagan and Pedregon and myself [10th, 11th and 12th in the points], none of us want that number ten spot. I can tell you I want it and I want more than that. Sonoma is where we better get after it and make a move.”