COURTNEY FORCE
Achieving a Balance

Courtney Force has won more successive racing rounds in one event than even her famous father, 14-time NHRA Funny Car Champion John Force.

In fact, had she been driving a fuel Funny Car like her dad’s Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang when she won five rounds of racing at Houston, Texas, she would have landed on the podium as a race winner.

Unfortunately, competing in Super Comp, the category in which she learned her high performance ABC’s in a BrandSource-sponsored dragster, five wins merely constitutes a good start. 

As a result, the 19-year-old still will be seeking her first major victory this season as a rookie in a Top Alcohol Dragster division in which she will split cockpit time with older sister Brittany in an A-Fuel dragster maintained by veteran Jerry Darien.

Courtney picked up her A-Fuel license during the pre-season testing season at Firebird Raceway. It had been nearly five months since the youngest Force had been behind the wheel of the 250 mph dragster but she showed no signs of rust as she powered down the track to clinch her license on a designed shakedown run.

“It went good. I wasn’t really planning on making a full pass because it has been about five months since I have been in the car. I had to get used to the whole routine again. I was only planning on making a launch or maybe driving to half track but it felt good so I thought I’ll just stay in it. I made that decision while I was going down the track. It felt good so I just kept it straight and finished it off.”

Along with her mother Laurie and Brittany, Courtney earned her NHRA competition drivers license in 2005 after graduating from Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School.  Ironically, she was the one daughter her father always believed would follow him into the family business – and she hasn’t disappointed. 

A second year student at Santiago Canyon College, Courtney followed sister Ashley’s lead while attending Esperanza High School in Yorba Linda, Calif., and took an auto shop class along with more traditional courses.

“Their mother has tried to give them balance in their lives,” Force said of his daughters.  “She tells them that there’s more to life than just racing.  I tell them that if they want to be champions, they have to live racing, night and day but, bottom line, I want them to do whatever they want even if it’s not racing.”

Statuesque like her mother, Courtney is undecided on a full-time career in racing but has learned the family business in the glare of the spotlight as one of the stars of Driving Force, a real-life TV series that last aired on A&E Network in 2007.

-www.johnforceracing.com-