Ashley Force first in Funny Cars

Ashley Force might have lost to Tim Wilkerson in the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series Funny Car finals at The Strip in Las Vegas on Sunday, but she came out leading the standings.
Force has a five-point lead over Wilkerson after five races. She has yet to win a race, but she has emerged as the top driver in Funny Car so far this year.
“A lot of the fans came up and they were just sure (I would win),” said Force, daughter of 13-time Funny Car champion John Force. “They were making bets on me and telling me how much money they had on me because I had that left lane, but it wasn’t so obvious to me. We kept picking the left lane. I really was thinking either we’d both get down the track or we’d both go up in smoke together.”
Cruz Pedregon came into the Vegas races leading the Funny Car standings, and left in third place. His brother, Tony, who will be racing in the Toyota Pro-Celebrity race at the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, is fifth.
"Hot track conditions are part of drag racing. One of our strong points is our ability to get down the warmer tracks -- that's why we're looking forward to racing in the heat of Atlanta in a couple of weeks," said Cruz Pedregon. "It was another solid weekend -- we made some good runs in the heat and qualified fifth. We're in the top three in points and our strong races are ahead of us."
Jack Beckman of North Hills lost in the first round of eliminations and dropped to sixth in the Funny Car standings.
"We're going to test here (Monday) and we're going to test Tuesday and we're going to fix our Valvoline/MTS race car," Beckman said. "We struggled this weekend, we were fortunate we qualified. We're lucky we are leaving here still in a solid position in the points. What we need to do is get back that momentum so we never have to look back at what could've been if we had won that round."
Next up is the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., near Atlanta, April 25-27.

NHRA Funny Car standings after five races:
1. Ashley Force 326
2. Tim Wilkerson 321
3. Cruz Pedregon 294
4. Robert Hight 290
5. Tony Pedregon 285
6. Jack Beckman 280
7. Gary Densham 260
8. John Force 229
9. Del Worsham 219
10. Ron Capps 204