Ashley Force, daughter of NHRA champion John Force and star of A&E's Driving Force, entered the record books over the weekend by becoming the first female Funny Car driver to reach a final round of competition.  The 24-year-old racer competed for Team Castrol at the Seventh Annual ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at the city's Motor Speedway on October 26 to 28.

"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,” the Driving Force star said.  “We want to win races for our sponsors and our teams. [That day] 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.”

After 27 days at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, drag racing champion and Driving Force star John Force returned to his home in Southern California on Saturday, October 20.  One of the conditions of his release was to be able to prove he can get in and out of a passenger car, which he demonstrated last Friday.

The 58-year-old was admitted to the hospital last month for serious injuries that he sustained when his Funny Car crashed at NHRA Fall Nationals.  He suffered a compound fracture of the left ankle, broken right foot, broken and mangled fingers on his right hand, ligament and tendon damage to the right knee and a dislocated left wrist.

More often than not, it takes an unfortunate experience to make people realize the immense value of life and time.  For rookie racecar driver and Driving Force costar Ashley Force, the unfortunate experience came in the form of the September 23 car accident that left her father, John Force, with serious injuries.

Despite the accident, Ashley Force, who rushed to her father on a golf cart following the crash at the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals, has expressed her gratitude for having been given another chance to be with her father.

John Force, star of A&E's Driving Force, was seriously injured while racing against Kenny Bernstein on September 23.  As he still recovering from the accident, he pulled himself out of the TORCO Racing Fuels Nationals, held on October 5 to 7 at the Virginia Motorsports Park, leaving his son-in-law, Robert Hight, to compete at the race car event alone.

In another upset for the Force team, Hight was unable to succeed the late Eric Medlen as Funny Car champion of TORCO Nationals over the weekend due to a clutch malfunction.  Hight lost the competition to Ron Capps when his car's clutch activated prematurely, causing his 8,000 horsepower Mustang to lose traction several hundred feet into the race.

Previously, it was reported that NHRA drag racer and Driving Force star John Force was injured in a car crash while racing against Kenny Bernstein on September 23.  Fortunately, the 58-year-old father of three did not sustain any head or neck injuries, thanks to special changes applied to the cockpit of his car.  The changes were made following the death of his teammate, Eric Medlen, last March.

Force, however, still has more plans for increasing vehicular safety.  Fueled by his recent accident, Force is now focusing his energy on developing a new feature that will protect drivers' lower extremities.  "The next issue is to put the driver in an Indy Car-type monocoque [a vehicular construction that combines the body with the chassis] that protects his legs,” he said on his website.

John Force, drag-racing icon and star of the reality series Driving Force, is fortunate to be alive after sustaining serious injuries during the O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals, which was held in Ennis, Texas last Sunday, September 23.

The wreck occurred just as the Driving Force star crossed the finish line against Kenny Bernstein.  Bernstein's Funny Car drifted into Force's lane cutting the final timing cone and a foam block which shot into Force's lane. The front half of Force's car traveled into the path and impacted Bernstein's car before making contact with the retaining wall.  The rear portion of the car, with Force still strapped in, eventually thrust across the track and came to rest on the right-side retaining wall.