Force back in town to root on youngest daughters

John Force will be at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's dragstrip today and Saturday, but he won't be racing.

And he won't be relaxed.

He gets more nervous watching his daughters race than he does driving his own funny car.

Force competed during last weekend's NHRA national event at the speedway.

He returns today to watch his youngest daughters -- Brittany, 22, and Courtney, 20 -- compete in the elite category of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.

The series is for all nonprofessional NHRA categories, including 260 mph Top Alcohol dragsters, which the Force sisters drive.

Also supporting them will be older sister Ashley Force Hood, a two-time Nitro Funny Car winner and new "test" pilot for Brittany and Courtney. Hood's younger sisters had to return to their college classes after losing in their first rounds of competition last weekend, so Hood tested one of their dragsters Monday at the speedway.

"It was a lot of fun," Hood said of piloting the dragster that she used to drive. "Everybody kept telling me to remember it was a dragster and not a funny car. That was funny."

Hood helped crew chief Jerry Darien fix a few problems with the car, and they capped the day with a best quarter-mile run of 5.43 seconds at 266 mph.

Racing is scheduled for today through Sunday afternoon, with the two alcohol categories running three qualifying sessions beginning at 3 p.m. today. Eliminations for the eight-car fields are scheduled for Saturday.

• PHOTO SEMINAR -- Noted motor sports photographer David Allio will conduct a race photography seminar at 1 p.m. Saturday at the speedway. Registration can be completed before 4:30 p.m. today by calling 632-8213 or at DavidAllio.com.

• REMEMBERED -- Peter Bryant, a noted sports car racing mechanic and author, died March 31. The longtime Las Vegas resident was 71.

The British native began building Can-Am sports cars in the late 1960s and wrote an autobiography titled "Can-Am Challenger."