C. Force embraces exposure to team, sport

Courtney Force has more to do than just try to win today’s Carquest Auto Parts Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. The future of her father’s team — and maybe the NHRA— is riding on her on- and off-track success.

Fair or not, the pressure is on the 25-year-old daughter of 16-time Funny Car champion John Force. With three wins in her first two seasons — and the cover of last year’s ESPNTheMagazine’s Body Issue — she has the talent, look and personality to perhaps become America’s celebrity-obsessed society’s “Next Big Thing.”

Her emerging fame comes at a crucial time. John Force Racing is losing Castrol and Ford’s longtime financial support after this season. And NHRA’s Mello Yello series TV audience has declined.

“I guess that adds a little bit of pressure,” said Force, who qualified 12th in her Traxxas Mustang. “If you can reach a different audience ... it’s a positive thing for our sport.”

She’s now represented by highhorsepower Hollywood PR firm Rogers & Cowen, whose clients have included Paul Newman. Force, who at first declined the ESPN invitation, says she knows stardom has positives and negatives.

“Once you go to the mainstream audience they see you as (an) athlete, that’s when everything changes, I think,” she said. “You have to make the decision if you want that or not, letting your personal life cross over into that.

“It definitely is nerve-racking. I would never want it to be a distraction. ... If it would interfere with my performance, I would have to take a step back.”

Force said the opportunity to do TV or even movies “would be awesome. It would make me feel they are noticing what we’re doing.”

Her father relishes prospects.

“For women, the time is now,” he said. “The time is here. I don’t want to hold her back. ... We’re taking Courtney down the right road.”

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Schumacher marches on

Tony Schumacher’s 72 wins and seven championships are the most in Top Fuel history. The defending Wild Horse winner doesn’t have a victory in his past 13 races, lost in the first round two weeks ago in Pomona, Calif., but stays strong by following the example of soldiers he’s met through his team’s U.S. Army sponsorship.

“We're surrounded by people who have adversity every day,” said Schumacher, who qualified second. “The hardest job known to mankind is to sign on a dotted line that I'll give my life for our country. The key to the Army, and the key to the Army racing team, is you surround yourself with great people, understand adversity is part of the gig, and you get through it. You have to figure it out.”

Pit stops

Matt Hartford, of Phoenix, qualified 15th in Pro Stock.

» Wild Horse expects an eventrecord crowd today.