COURTNEY FORCE LOOKING FOR STRONG FINISH TO FOUR IN A ROW

NORWALK, OH- Courtney Force will visit Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park this week for the last of a back-to-back four-race swing, the 7th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, July 4-7.

“I’m looking forward to the fact that weather this weekend in Norwalk looks a little more cloudy and slightly cooler than last year so maybe we can see some fast times like we did this past weekend in Chicago. It makes everyone’s jobs a lot more fun to see great numbers like the 3.98’s and 3.99’s we saw, especially the crew and their crew chiefs. They are the backbone behind low numbers and fast times.  It shows how far we’ve come in the NHRA and what these cars can really do,” said Force.

The 25-year old from Yorba Linda, Calif. currently sits No. 7 in the NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car point standings. Force and her Traxxas Funny Car team have picked up two wins so far this season at Pomona for the Winternationals and the 2013 inaugural event in Epping, N.H.

“Since we picked up another win in Epping, our team is trying hard to just stay focused and take it round by round. We want to try and pick up points during qualifying and obviously try to stay ahead on race day. We feel confident that we have a good car so we just need to get it down the track for every qualifying pass so we can learn more from the runs and use it to our advantage on race day,” said Force.

After taking home the Wally at Epping, Force lost in the first round at Chicago, having made only one good qualifying run to make the Funny Car field. The qualifying schedule was shortened to one run on Friday and the Traxxas Ford Mustang smoked the tires right off the starting line.

Force started from scratch on Saturday, but an electrical malfunction drained the battery right after her burnout and left the team with one last chance to make the show. Force posted a 4.04 in the last session to qualify No. 7.

“Obviously things can go wrong with one of these cars. My crew chief Ron Douglas always tells me, ‘Remember that we are in this as a team. We win as a team and lose as a team.’ It’s important that I remember that and know that if something goes wrong, you work as a team to fix the problem, shrug it off and start thinking about the next race since you can’t change the past,” said Force.

Six races in the regular season remain on the board until the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship begins in Charlotte, N.C., September 13-15. Last year, Force finished No. 5 in the championship with just one win and three runner-up finishes under her belt.

“You’re always thinking about the countdown in the back of your head. It’s important to be aware of where you are in points so you can fight to make it in the top 10, but most importantly, you need to focus on your main goal of going rounds at each race and build up as many points as possible,” said Force. “As a driver, you don’t want to get too caught up thinking about every point or it will drive you crazy. You just need to focus on the task at hand and the round that is ahead of you.”