American NHRA drag racer
Courtney Fallon Force-Rahal
[1]
(born June 20, 1988) is a former
drag racer
who competed on the
NHRA
tour. She drove the Advance Auto Parts
Chevy Camaro SS
Funny Car
for
John Force Racing
. She is the youngest daughter of 16-time
NHRA
World Funny Car Champion
John Force
and his wife Laurie. She is a graduate of
Cal State Fullerton
having majored in
Communications
. On July 19, 2009, Force-Rahal won her first national event in the Top Alcohol
Dragster
category at the 22nd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals in
Kent, Washington
.
[2]
After her sister,
Ashley
, announced her retirement from competitive racing in 2011, Force-Rahal became the fourth driver for John Force Racing. On July 27, 2014, Force-Rahal passed her sister for the record of most Funny Car wins by a female driver in NHRA history.
[3]
Drag racing career
[
edit
]
Force earned her NHRA competition drivers license in 2005 and her
Alcohol-Fuel
license in 2008.
[4]
She began racing in
Super Comp
before graduating to
Top Alcohol
Dragster
(TA/D), along with her sister
Brittany
, in 2008. She reached the final round twice in 2009, at Seattle and
Pomona
, picking up the victory in Seattle.
[2]
Force has raced her sister Brittany on three occasions, beating her every time. She recorded a career best
reaction time
of .006 in the final event of 2009 at Pomona raceway.
Force's primary
sponsor
throughout her Super Comp career and first year of Top Alcohol Dragster was Brandsource. In 2009, Force picked up
sponsorship
by
Sanyo
, as well as
Ford
.
During the 2011 season, Force tested a Funny Car and earned her NHRA Funny Car license.
On January 10, 2012, it was announced that Traxxas would be the primary sponsor of Force's rookie season.
[5]
Force made her Funny Car debut at the 52nd annual O'Reilly Auto Parts
NHRA Winternationals
. She qualified 12th with a 4.199 ET at 307.44 mph (494.78 km/h).
[
citation needed
]
In the first round of eliminations, she defeated Bob Tasca III with a pass of 4.204 seconds at 309.27 mph (497.72 km/h).
[
citation needed
]
In the second round, she lost to teammate Mike Neff despite running a career best 4.143 ET at 313.88 mph (505.14 km/h).
[
citation needed
]
During the second race of the season, the Arizona Nationals in Phoenix, she took out her father in the first round.
On 5 August 2012, Force won her first FC race, by defeating Matt Hagan in the final round of The Northwest Nationals, at Seattle, Washington.
To kick off the 2013 season, Force qualified in the number 1 position for the O'Reily Auto Parts Winternationals, becoming the first woman to do so.
[
citation needed
]
She would also go on to be the first female Funny Car driver to win that event, beating
Ron Capps
in the final.
At Kansas in 2014, Force achieved the 100th win by a female driver in NHRA by defeating Cruz Pedregon in the Funny Car final.
[6]
On January 24, 2019, Force announced she would stop driving, effective immediately.
[7]
Television
[
edit
]
Courtney Force was featured with her family on
A&E
's
reality show
Driving Force
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Courtney has two older sisters,
Ashley
and Brittany.
[2]
She also has an older half-sister, Adria. Force attended
Esperanza High School
in
Anaheim, California
, where she was a
cheerleader
.
[4]
In 2009, she participated in the
Ford Fiesta
movement and won the
Internet
's most popular agent award. She is married to IndyCar racer
Graham Rahal
, who is the son of
1986 Indianapolis 500
winner
Bobby Rahal
.
[8]
[9]
In November 2020, she gave birth to a daughter, Harlan Ann Rahal.
[10]
In September 2022, Courtney gave birth to Tinley Leighton Rahal and announced on her Facebook page she was stepping back from her roles at her foundation and sponsorship to be a mom.
[11]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Courtney Fallon Force, Born 06/20/1988 in California"
. CaliforniaBirthIndex.org
. Retrieved
11 April
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
Blount, Terry (July 19, 2009).
"Courtney Force Continues Family Dominance"
.
ESPN
. Retrieved
6 March
2010
.
- ^
"Courtney Force wins NHRA Sonoma Nationals"
.
USA TODAY
. 27 July 2014
. Retrieved
7 September
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Courtney Force"
. Menstuff.org
. Retrieved
6 March
2010
.
- ^
"NHRA Story ≫ Courtney Force, Traxxas team up for 2012 rookie Funny Car run"
.
nhra.com
. Archived from
the original
on 7 March 2016
. Retrieved
7 September
2015
.
- ^
"Courtney Force earns 100th NHRA win by female driver"
.
USA Today
.
- ^
"COURTNEY FORCE STEPPING AWAY FROM DRIVING DUTIES | John Force Racing Official Site"
. Archived from
the original
on 2019-01-24
. Retrieved
2019-01-24
.
- ^
Associated Press
(November 27, 2014).
"Courtney Force, Graham Rahal announce engagement"
.
Foxsports.com
. Retrieved
November 27,
2014
.
- ^
Terry Blount [@TBlountSports] (November 22, 2015).
"So happy for @courtneyforce & @GrahamRahal. Great racers, but more importantly, exceptional young adults"
(
Tweet
) – via
Twitter
.
- ^
"Graham Rahal, Courtney Force welcome their first baby - NBC Sports"
.
MotorSportsTalk | NBC Sports
. 2020-11-06
. Retrieved
2021-05-30
.
- ^
"Log into Facebook"
.
Facebook
. Retrieved
2022-11-03
.
External links
[
edit
]