FONTANA, California – John Force understands what it is like to be a motorsports legend. The 66-year-old California native is a 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion who has amassed 143 career victories. His two daughters, Ashley and Courtney, followed their career path to NHRA, although Ashley has since retired from competitive drag racing. Courtney, however, has eight career NHRA victories including seven in Funny Car.
She is also engaged to Verizon IndyCar Series driver Graham Rahal, who won Saturday’s MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway in a dramatic, thrilling and spine-tingling race.
John Force understands high speeds by taking his Funny Car well over 300 miles per hour. Last Saturday, he watched his future son-in-law go wheel-to-wheel, inches apart in a race that was sometimes four- and five-wide and featured a series-record 80 lead changes, topping the previous mark of 73 lead changes set at the same track on Nov. 4, 2001 in a CART race.
