Courtney Force shattered her dad's year-old Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park 1,000-foot Funny Car records Friday with a 3.996-second elapsed time at a 321.58-mph speed to seize the provisional No. 1 qualifying position for the Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals.

"It's only Friday, but it definitely makes you feel good as a driver, knowing that you've got a car that can run that number . . . [and] not just once," the Traxxas Chevy Camaro racer said at Chandler, Ariz., after posting her second sub-four-second pass in as many races.

Courtney Force shattered her dad's year-old Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park 1,000-foot Funny Car records Friday with a 3.996-second elapsed time at a 321.58-mph speed to seize the provisional No. 1 qualifying position for the Carquest Auto Parts NHRA Nationals.

"It's only Friday, but it definitely makes you feel good as a driver, knowing that you've got a car that can run that number . . . [and] not just once," the Traxxas Chevy Camaro racer said at Chandler, Ariz., after posting her second sub-four-second pass in as many races.

She missed by one-thousandth of a second her chance to equal her career-best E.T. (3.995 seconds), which made her the No. 1 qualifier two weeks ago at Pomona, Calif. If no one knocks her down in the order, she'll have lead the field for the ninth time.

"Who knows if it will hold? Tomorrow I think conditions will cool down again for the second session," Force said. "But it feels great for tonight. It's a lot of fun for our team. We've come out here to Phoenix and haven't had the best luck in the past. Hopefully we can turn it around this weekend."

She's just 16 elimination-round wins shy of 100 and 21 behind sister Ashley Force Hood for the all-time round-win record for a female Funny Car racer (105). Force Hood's husband, Dan Hood, is Courtney Force's crew chief, along with Ron Douglas.

Force was seventh after the first session but had slipped to No. 11 when she lined up alongside Tim Wilkerson midway through the late afternoon session. She held off last year's event winner, Alexis DeJoria, who was No. 2 overnight with a 4.000-second blast (at 313.58 mph) as she drove her Patron XO Café Incendio Toyota Camry from 10th place in the following pairing.

"I thought she was going to run it, too," Force said, referring to a three-second pass. (DeJoria has several.) "It's exciting that we could be 1 and 2 right now. It's not very often that we get to say two girls get to be 1 and 2 out of a full field of men. Whether it’s me or her, I hope we can stay up top."

DeJoria's Kalitta Motorsports teammate, Del Worsham, was just five-thousandths of a second behind her in the tentative No. 3 spot. The top 12 racers clocked a 4.0-second or better E.T.

As temperatures rose only to 20 degrees or so and dipped to minus-6 Friday at his Christiansburg, Va., cattle farm, reigning class champion and Winternationals winner Matt Hagan continued his hot streak in Arizona. The Rocky Boots/ Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger driver was the early leader Friday with a 4.025. He escaped the harsh weather – "It's been a long week of farm chores in the cold and snow," he said – but he couldn't outrun the women and Worsham later in the day Friday.

Courtney Force's performance eclipsed father John Force's 3.990-second E.T. and 317.79-mph speed that set the bar here last February. (He still owns both ends of the national record with his 3.965-second E.T. and 324.12-mph speed from the 2014 Winternationals.)

Jack Beckman, who failed to qualify at the season-opener two weeks ago at Pomona, Calif., saw his troubles continue Friday. He smoked the tires on his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger both times Friday and is No. 16 in the order. But Beckman might not be safe, as Terry Haddock has yet to take to the track. Haddock has been directing his wife Jenna's 2015 Top Fuel debut, forgoing his own Funny Car chances so far. 

The act of cutting and pasting articles from this publication to a message board is a clear copyright violation as is pulling photos to post on social media sites. All articles and photography published in CompetitionPlus.com are protected by United States of America and International copyright laws unless mentioned otherwise. The content on this website is intended for the private use of the reader and may not be published or reposted in any form without the prior written consent of CompetitionPlus.com.