Ashley Force Beats Out Pops, Becomes First Female Funny-Car Champ

Up-and-coming drag-racing star Ashley Force made history yesterday by becoming the first woman to win a national Funny Car event, beating her own dad, racing legend John Force, at the NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta. She posted a quarter-mile time of 4.837 sec at 320.36 mph. As the guys on Sirius NASCAR radio’s Backstretch pointed out, John Force (like Dale Earnhardt Sr.) is an ultra-competitive racer and not exaclty the type to hand his own kid the win—so Ashely had to battle as hard as anyone for that victory. Congrats all around—the Force family is clearly shaping up to be a racing dynasty to be reckoned with.