Courtney Fallon Force-Rahal (born June 20, 1988) is an American former

drag racer Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most c ...

who competed on the

NHRA The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsport sanction ...

tour. She drove the Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro SS Funny Car for

John Force Racing John Force Racing is an NHRA drag racing team. In over 30 years of competition, John Force Racing has won two Top Fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest s ...

. She is the youngest daughter of 16-time

World Funny Car Champion

John Force John Harold Force (born May 4, 1949) is an American NHRA drag racer. He is a 16-time NHRA and 1 time AHRA Funny Car champion driver and a 22-time champion car owner. Force owns and drives for John Force Racing (JFR). He is one of the most d ...

and his wife Laurie. She is a graduate of

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

having majored in

Communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

. 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 Kent is a city in King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue metropolitan area and had a population of 136,588 as of the 2020 Unit ...

. After her sister,

Ashley Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsċ'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

, 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.

Drag racing career

Force earned her NHRA competition drivers license in 2005 and her Alcohol-Fuel license in 2008. She began racing in Super Comp before graduating to

Top Alcohol Top Alcohol refers to two different classes in professional drag racing: Top Alcohol Dragster and the Top Alcohol Funny Car. Commonly known as "alky" cars, both are akin in design to the premier Top Fuel classes, but less powerful (about ). In ...

Dragster (TA/D), along with her sister

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, in 2008. She reached the final round twice in 2009, at Seattle and Pomona, picking up the victory in Seattle. Force has raced her sister Brittany on three occasions, beating her every time. She recorded a career best

reaction time Mental chronometry is the scientific study of processing speed or reaction time on cognitive tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of mental operations. Reaction time (RT; also referred to as "response time") is measured ...

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 Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

Sanyo is a former Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, now known as Panasonic. Iue left Matsushita Electric to start his own bu ...

, as well as

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

. 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. Force made her Funny Car debut at the 52nd annual O'Reilly Auto Parts

NHRA Winternationals The NHRA Winternationals (commonly called the Winternats) are an annual drag racing event held by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, California. History The National ...

. She qualified 12th with a 4.199 ET at . In the first round of eliminations, she defeated Bob Tasca III with a pass of 4.204 seconds at . In the second round, she lost to teammate Mike Neff despite running a career best 4.143 ET at . 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. She would also go on to be the first female Funny Car driver to win that event, beating

Ron Capps Ron Capps is a writer, US Army and Foreign Service veteran, and founder of the ''Veterans Writing Project'', a nonprofit organization that hosts free writing workshops for veterans and others. Capps also wrote the book ''Seriously Not All Right: ...

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. On January 24, 2019, Force announced she would stop driving, effective immediately.

Television

Courtney Force was featured with her family on A&E's

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

'' Driving Force''.

Personal life

Courtney has two older sisters,

and Brittany. She also has an older half-sister, Adria. Force attended

Esperanza High School Esperanza High School (EHS) is a public high school located in Anaheim, California and is part of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. It is a California Distinguished School and is home to various California Interscholastic Feder ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...

, where she was a

cheerleader Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...

. In 2009, she participated in the

Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car that was marketed by Ford from 1976 to 2023 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and had been positioned below the ...

movement and won the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

's most popular agent award. She is married to IndyCar racer

Graham Rahal Graham Robert Rahal ( ; born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently races in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner of ...

, who is the son of

1986 Indianapolis 500 The 70th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Saturday, May 31, 1986. After being Rainout (sports), rained out on May 25–26, the race was rescheduled for the following weekend. Bobby Rahal was the ...

winner

Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...

. In November 2020, she gave birth to a daughter, Harlan Ann Rahal. 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.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Force, Courtney 1988 births American female racing drivers Female dragster drivers NHRA drivers Force family Living people Racing drivers from California Sportspeople from Anaheim, California Sportspeople from Yorba Linda, California