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Courtney Force focused for Mile High

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Courtney Force focused for Mile High
Photo: Auto Imagery

An already dominating Funny Car season has Advanced Auto Parts driver Courtney Force focused for Mile High action this weekend at the 39th Annual Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals.   Force and her Advance Auto Parts team have scored eight semifinal finishes in the first thirteen races of the season,  with a career best four wins and eight No. 1 qualifiers.  The current NHRA Mello Yello points leader for the last seven races has only qualified outside of the top four one time in 2018.

“I am excited to head back to Denver to kick off the Western Swing. We were No. 1 qualifier the last two years at Bandimere Speedway,” said Force. “This Advance Auto Parts team had an early exit last season but we have also raced to the finals in Denver. That is the kind of success we are looking for with this team. We want to extend our points lead and start the Western Swing on the right foot. We are really excited to be on the West Coast and looking forward to a great weekend.”
Force has two runner-up finishes in her career at Bandimere Speedway,  including a side-by-side race in 2016 against her father John Force who took his win in a photo finish victory.   Her rookie season landed her in the final, but funny car veteran, Jack Beckman denied her first career victory.  Force would pick up that win a few weeks later in Seattle.
 
“It is always fun to race at Denver. This track is tricky with the altitude. It creates a challenge for all the teams and it makes it exciting for the fans. It really does challenge everyone on the team to be at their best. I think this will be a great weekend for our Advance Auto Parts team,” said Force.
 
Courtney’s father, John Force, is the only funny car driver to ever sweep all three races on the famed and often grueling Western Swing of the tour.   Denver’s Mile-High event marks stop one of the Western swing.   Courtney Force focused for Mile High competition is one of the favorites to join her father as a driver capable of winning three races in a row.  With previous win experience in the Sonoma and Seattle venues to her credit,  a strong showing this weekend could continue to add her name to the record books.
“We are just going to take each one of these races one at a time,” said Force. “You can’t sweep the Western Swing if you don’t win in Denver this year. We have an amazing crew led by Dan Hood and Brian Corradi. I know they will give me a great race car. We stumbled a little in Epping but that is behind us and now we are focused on running like we did last season on the Mountain.”
 
Last year, Force left Denver with the track elapsed time and speed records for Bandimere Speedway with a blistering 3.889 second, 328.30 mph run. That kind of performance at mile-high, horsepower robbing altitude was something no one thought feasible just a few short years ago. But Courtney Force has made a career out of exceeding expectations, and this season she is focused on adding a National Funny Car championship to her list of accomplishments.
 
The 39th annual Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals begin with qualifying on Friday and Saturday with sessions at 6 and 8 p.m. on both days. Eliminations are set to take place Sunday at 11 a.m.

Top 10 debut for Harli White

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Top 10 debut for Harli WhiteAdding a few new venues to her resume resulted in a Top 10 debut for Harli White, an ASCS National Sprint Car driver.    

“It helps a lot going to new tracks,” she said. “You have to adapt really quick and figure out the setup, gearing and things like that. As a driver you have to figure out what way the track likes to be raced. That is one thing I’ve learned is to adapt quicker than I used to. It also helps being in different parts of the country with the different conditions and altitudes.”

White first visited Gillette Thunder Speedway in Gillette, Wyo., a week ago Wednesday for a Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour event.   Her first visit to the facility, Harli was able to advance from sixth to fifth place in a heat race, lining her up in the 14th position for the main event.    Rain would delay the race, but after racing resumed, White maneuvered to an 11th-place finish on the heavy track, just missing a top ten debut.

“It was the luck of the draw in the heat race and it didn’t go in our favor,” she said. “I didn’t get a good start in the A Main. It singled out and then I got lapped so that didn’t help at all. When you’re down a lap you don’t want to get in the way of the leaders battling for a win so you race a little different.”

A weekend off after her Gillette debut to rest, and White packed up and entered Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, South Dakota Monday for the ASCS National Tour.

“It was really cool,” she said. “It was a unique little bullring. It was cool to go up there and I enjoyed adding another new track to my list.”

White finished her heat race where she began – in the fourth position – before ending the evening with a 10th-place finish in the A Main event.   That finish marked another Top 10 debut for Harli White, and her seventh top 10 during ASCS National Tour competition this season.

Harli will resume competition this Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, where she will race the next couple of weekends in preparation for the 360 Knoxville Nationals Aug. 2-4.

“I’m going to focus on time trials since we don’t do that often,” she said. “That’s a key thing at Knoxville. After that we’ll focus on getting through the heat and racing cars. The air is a big deal. We don’t get to see that very often so it has a big effect on how your car handles at Knoxville. These next couple of weeks will be important to give us momentum going into the 360 Knoxville Nationals.”