A quarter of a century ago 14-time Funny Car champion John Force was hoping for a son to carry on his drag racing legacy, today Ashley Force, his 25 year-old daughter nearly joined her record breaking father in the history books, almost grabbing her first national event win – and the first Funny Car win for a female in the 39-year history of the class - at the 9th annual Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I didn’t know I was the points leader until after the race. I was surprised. It definitely made not winning a little better. We are enjoying it now while we have it, but we know there are three other teams in our camp alone who are gunning for that number one spot. We are happy to enjoy it now and remember this great weekend in Las Vegas ,” said Force.

Force dropped her second consecutive final round of the season today losing to Tim Wilkerson and veteran Del Worsham two weeks ago in Houston . She has dropped her three finals by a total margin of .229 seconds (.018, .064 and .147 seconds) and at LVMS that margin shrinks to .082 seconds.

She will leave Las Vegas with a five point lead over Wilkerson. She becomes the first woman to ever lead the Funny Car points and only the sixth woman overall to ever lead a professional points class.

“I never even knew it was possible to leave with the points lead. I am just trying to stay in the Top Ten. I have been happy to be in the Top Ten. Maybe I need to be more of a go-getter,” said the 2007 NHRA Rookie of the Year. “Now that we have a taste of that top spot and we see that it is not just the Robert Hights, the (Ron) Capps, the (Gary) Scelzis and the (John) Forces that can do it but maybe Dean Antonelli, Ron Douglas, and my team can do it too.”

Force had to work her way through Tommy Johnson, Jr., Gary Densham, and Bob Bode before she squared off with the veteran Wilkerson in the final round. Wilkerson, a long time family friend, was consistent all day and in the final he never trailed the graduate of Cal State Fullerton.