Ashley Force Hood Blog
Western Swing
Seattle, WA

Life on the road is great in our El Monte RV and we are really enjoying our time traveling across the west coast during our 3 weeks straight of racing in the Western Swing.

Last weekend we raced in Seattle, WA and it was very beautiful with warm weather and very nice to be parked in our El Monte RV down at the end of the track in the trees with a view of the drag strip finish line. My sisters Brittany and Courtney were also racing in their A Fuel dragsters and it was a very emotional weekend for everyone in the NHRA community. One of their competitors, Mark Niver, was killed in a racing accident Sunday afternoon. He was an incredibly nice guy and a great racer and I also used to race against him years ago when I raced A Fuel. He was always out at the track with his family and grandchildren and always had a smile on his face. I got a chance to talk with him a few races back in Topeka and we chatted about the craziness of the professional ranks versus the more laid-back atmosphere of the Sportsman categories. He seemed to really enjoy doing what he was doing, and getting to race with his family each weekend. We send our thoughts and prayers to his family and know they will always have an angel watching over them.

My sister Courtney also had an accident earlier in the weekend, on Saturday night, and it was the first one she’d ever been in and scared me to death. I always thought I was pretty good in stressful situations, but when I saw the accident happen I fell apart and was crying and just a mess. My husband had to grab hold of me and point up to the big screen to show me that she was out of the racecar and all right. Since then they’ve all enjoyed making fun of me and how overly upset I was when she was just fine. What can I say? When your baby sister is in an accident you are going to freak out. It’s what you are supposed to do as an older sister, and I definitely did my job to the fullest that day!

Though the Seattle event was a very emotional one, there were some happy times earlier in the weekend. On Saturday afternoon (after Courtney’s accident) we had a birthday party down at our El Monte RV for my mom Laurie, husband Dan, sister Brittany and cat Simba as it was all of their birthdays over the course of the weekend. We grilled out, and I decorated the living area of the RV and also the outside with balloons, streamers and happy birthday banners. We also had a cake that my sister Courtney secretly ordered the night before and our PR people Elon and Chad helped to bring out to the RV so none of the birthday people would see! It was a really fun night, all of us together, celebrating and spending a little time together. Seattle was a tough weekend, competitive wise as we all went out early in eliminations. But we are all leaving the event safe and sound and that’s all we can really ask for. Next week we’ll be racing again, down in Sonoma, CA and will hopefully do a little better on the track and turn our luck around.