Dad might have seen Elvis at 1,000 feet in Memphis, but his daughter didn’t see a thing other than her Ford Mustang moving down the course faster than her fellow competitors during first day qualifying at the NHRA Mid South Nationals.

Ashley Force’s 4.079-second run at only 298.87 miles per hour put her in an incredible position to score her second career No. 1 position. This was her anniversary present to her dad, John Force and mom Laurie, who when asked how long they had been married commented, “If you ask mom she’ll probably say 100 years.”

Dad loved the present because she put a Ford at the top of the qualifying list. Mom was very proud because as John put it, "Ashley, that's her baby."

Friday night’s run was out of character for crew chief Guido Antonelli. Ashley is accustomed to more cautious numbers and a car not as aggressive as Friday’s provided.

“I was surprised when I got those numbers,” said Ms. Force. “I felt like I was just driving all over the place. Some runs they’re real good runs they go nice and smooth and don’t feel that fast but others do. It just depends. I thought when we got out there we were going to run a high teen or a mid teen. I was very pleasantly surprised with the number. I was shocked that we pushed it that hard, usually my team is on the consistent side. We don’t try to go out and run the world record. We just go out and try to get on base for Sunday’s race, but apparently we were in the mood to push the car more.”