COURTNEY FORCE AND TRAXXAS TAKE ON DENVER

DENVER, CO – As NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series teams travel west to Denver, Courtney Force celebrates the idea of racing closer to home than usual for the next three events in a row, the infamous “Western Swing.”

“I’m really looking forward to coming out to the mile high nationals for my second year. We went to the final here last year in my rookie season. It was our second runner-up finish last year. This is where we really started getting our car on track so I’m excited for our Traxxas Ford Mustang team,” said Force

When Force takes her 10,000 hp Traxxas hotrod to the starting line at Bandimere Speedway, it will be the first time she has competed since the 2013 ESPN The Magazine’s “The Body Issue” has been released to newsstands across the country.

The 25-year-old was first approached by ESPN The Magazine in 2012 during her rookie year in the Funny Car category. Force declined, saying she wanted to make a name for herself and become a successful race car driver. After being presented with the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award for NHRA’s top “Rookie of the Year,” Force decided to participate.

“I had the full support of my family. I was obviously nervous to step out of the box and do such a huge shoot like this. My dad did The Body Issue a few years back and when they asked me, I decided I wanted to establish myself as a driver before committing to something like that, so I turned it down last season.”

“When they came back to me in 2013, I thought this would be a really great way to take NHRA to the next level and really reach out to a different audience. Hopefully this can help escalate me as a driver and NHRA. People can take a look and see what we do. We’re running 10,000 hp, 300 mph in just 4 seconds. We are athletes and need to be to drive one of these cars. Being a female in a male-dominated sport, I’m very proud that I could represent NHRA,” said Force.

Force was chosen to be on one of eight different covers for The Body Issue, but later found that she would be the only cover selected to be in newsstands. The issue was released July 12, 2013, one week before the three-race, back-to-back streak kicks off with the 34th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, July 19-21 at Bandimere Speedway.

The Yorba Linda, Calif. native has scored two wins and one runner-up finish so far this season and will now try to become the first woman to win on “Mt. Bandimere” in a category other than Pro Stock Motorcycle.

“This season we’ve picked up two wins already and we’re coming off a semifinal appearance in Norwalk, Ohio. I’m excited to see what our Traxxas Ford Mustang can do,” said Force.

In 2012, Force qualified lucky No. 7 and went to the final round, her second final appearance of her rookie year. She beat Tim Wilkerson, Robert Hight and Ron Capps before losing to Jack Beckman.

“Bandimere Speedway is obviously a track unlike anything else we race on the circuit. It’s a very unique track because of the elevation of the track and conditions are so much different. We definitely want to concentrate on getting to the top of the board during qualifying. I think that’s our biggest downfall lately. We’ve had some tough matchups in the first round on race day. We need to get the jump on our competition during qualifying and hopefully we can go further on race day.”

“We kind of got on a roll starting in Denver last year. It’s going to be exciting being on the west coast and close to home. We’re really going to try hard and see what we can do and maybe one day we can sweep this thing,” said Force.