Where does the responsibility of the parents stop? When our son raced karts and began to get into the faster, more dangersous classes, we pulled the plug on the finances. We told him that he could finance his own operation and we wouldn't try to stop him. He chose to take my place in my super pro dragster instead. We were happy with that. When he decided that he wanted to step up to TAD, we chose not to finance the move, but again we would not ask him to quit if he were to somehow finance it himself. He chose to stop racing. Were we wrong? I don't think so. We love racing and just gave him a super pro firebird. We just feel that if he wants to race the faster, thus more dangerous types of racing, that we don't want to be responsible for anything that might happen to him. For us it's a psychological thing.
We feel like we've lost a son now with Eric's passing. He reminded us so much of our son, in looks, mannerisms, charm, etc. I can't imagine how much more it would hurt to lose our own son.
One other aspect of the "Ashley" equation is the fact that she cared for Eric very much. You could see it. It was quite obvious to us when they were at the NHRA SEMA breakfast together. Alan was there. He had to notice the same thing that we did. How will this play into her decision?
Of course, she's John Force's daughter and I guess if I were a betting man, I would say that she will continue to race. It's in her blood.