COURTNEY FORCE HEADS TO SEATTLE – Sight of First Funny Car Win

KENT, WA– One last event stands between Courtney Force and the completion of the “Western Swing.” The 26th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals will run Aug. 2-4 at Pacific Raceways, the site of her first NHRA national event win in the Funny Car category.

“Seattle is one of my favorite race tracks on the circuit. I’m really looking forward to racing at Pacific Raceways this year,” said Force. “I’ve won there twice. It was my first win in Top Alcohol Dragster and my first win in Funny Car just last season. I’m excited to get back there this week. Hopefully we can have our Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car going rounds.

Last weekend in Sonoma, Force took out Cruz Pedregon before getting a holeshot win over Jack Beckman and driving her car to the semi-final round, where her Traxxas Ford Mustang had a fuel system malfunction and blew the burst panel off.

“Sonoma was pretty good to us, and we just had a tough break there at the end of the race weekend. We’re finishing up the Western Swing. We moved up a little bit back in Sonoma so hopefully we’ll have just as good luck as we had last year at Pacific Raceways. I am confident in my team and car for this weekend in Seattle. This is my lucky track, so we’re going to go there, do our jobs and hopefully pick up our third win on the season,” said Force.

This is also the track where Force skillfully drove one of veteran Jerry Darien’s race cars to the Top Alcohol Dragster title at the 2009 Northwest Nationals. But, with success comes heartbreak and Force had her biggest challenge of her career at Seattle in 2010.

While racing alongside Mike Austin, Force’s right rear tire exploded destroying a portion of her Ford Racing Top Alcohol Dragster’s rear wing. The now national spokesperson for Ford Motor Company’s Driving Skills for Life initiative succeeded in keeping her dragster away from the guard wall and out of Austin’s lane.

Courtney Force moved up to tie with Jack Beckman for the No. 6 spot in the NHRA Funny Car point standings after her semi-final finish in Sonoma, Calif. She sits just 35 points behind Johnny Gray in the No. 5 spot.