Force Hood grew up in a household defined by drag racing. Her father, John Force, is one of the most decorated drivers in NHRA history, and her sisters Courtney and Brittany also pursued professional careers in the sport. She attended Esperanza High School in Anaheim, California, where she was a cheerleader, and in 2003 graduated from California State University, Fullerton, with a Bachelor of Arts in communications with an emphasis in television and video.
She married Daniel Hood, a parts manager for the Castrol GTX Funny Car team, in Lake Tahoe on December 13, 2008. Their son Jacob John Hood was born on August 18, 2011. The family appeared on Animal Planet's Cats 101 in 2010. Force Hood was featured alongside her family in the A&E reality series Driving Force, which aired from July 2006 to May 2007.
Force began competitive racing as a Top Alcohol Dragster rookie in 2004. She won three of the season's final five events, including the 50th annual U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis and the season-closing event at Pomona, where she and her father shared the winners' circle — marking the first father-daughter winning pair in NHRA history. She finished fourth in national driver points that year.
Force moved into the professional ranks in 2007, driving a Castrol-sponsored Mustang Top Fuel Funny Car for John Force Racing. At Atlanta that April, she and her father made history as the first father and daughter to race each other in NHRA competition. She won the round, advancing to the semifinals — tying the record for the best Funny Car event finish by a female driver at the time. In October 2007, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, she became the first woman ever to compete in a national-series Top Fuel Funny Car final round, but was defeated on a holeshot by Tony Pedregon. She was named the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Rookie of the Year in the Funny Car division in November 2007.
The 2008 season marked Force's breakthrough as a professional. She advanced to three consecutive final rounds early in the year — at Houston, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. At Las Vegas, a defeat by Tim Wilkerson nonetheless came with a milestone: she became the first female driver ever to lead the NHRA Funny Car points standings. On April 27, 2008, at the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, she met her father in the final round — with John Force seeking the 1,000th round win of his career. Ashley defeated him with a 4.837-second elapsed time, claiming the first NHRA professional-category victory by a woman in Top Fuel Funny Car history.
Force built on her 2008 breakthrough with a strong 2009 campaign. She won at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals on March 29, defeating Jack Beckman in the final. At the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, she beat teammate Robert Hight to become not only the first female Funny Car winner at that event, but the first female driver to win professional NHRA events in two different classes. She finished the 2009 season second in points, the highest season-ending position achieved by a woman in Funny Car history.
Force Hood announced she would take a hiatus from the 2011 season while expecting her first child. John Force drove her Castrol GTX Ford that season. Following her son's birth, she declared her retirement from competitive racing, though she tested a Funny Car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2014 to renew her licence.
She became President of John Force Entertainment, a subsidiary of John Force Racing focused on media development. She continued producing content independently through her own production studio.
Ashley Force Hood's victories in 2008 and 2009 opened a chapter for women in professional drag racing that had remained sealed for the sport's first decades. As the first woman to win in Top Fuel Funny Car, the first woman to lead the Funny Car points standings, and the highest-placed woman in a Funny Car season, her accomplishments are foundational milestones in the history of the class.