Brittany Force was disappointed when she lost in the first round two weeks ago in Chicago, which temporarily kept her from getting her 300th NHRA round win. She responded like a two-time Top Fuel World Champion on Sunday, beating No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta and point leader Tony Stewart in the last two rounds to win the 12th NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway.
In the final round, John Force’s second-youngest drag racing daughter drove her Monster Energy dragster across the finish line in 3.694 seconds at a speed of 340.39 miles per hour, beating Stewart by .007 seconds.
“This is just a big one,” she remarked. “Here is where I last stood in the winner’s circle with my dad, and I wanted to win for him. This one is for him and everything he’s done in the last year (after he got hurt in a 300 mph crash in Richmond, Va.). It’s been incredibly hard, but we’re so proud of him and I’m just glad he’s here. “I need him out here.”
The happy team owner remarked, “I’m always happy to see my daughter win and be able to celebrate with her in the winner’s circle.” “I really wanted her to finish it.” The whole Monster Energy team deserves a big thank you. The automobile was doing well today. It went down the racetrack every time in eliminations, and she set two of the fastest speeds in Top Fuel history.
The 16-time Funny Car champion said, “It was a dominating win.” “She said this was the race I won last year, which was really cool and made it more special.” For Monster, HendrickCars.com, PEAK, Cornwell Tools, GRP, and all the other sponsors that support JFR, she’s doing a terrific job.
Brittany not only became the 12th Top Fuel driver to win 300 rounds in the 75-year history of the NHRA series, but she also raised the winner’s trophy for the 18th time in her 12-year pro career. This ties her with Shirley Muldowney for the most event wins by a woman in the sport’s signature class.
As if that wasn’t enough for one day, she set a new track record by going 341.42 mph in her semifinal win over Kalitta. That was just a hair off the 341.59 mph NHRA national record she achieved last April in Charlotte, N.C.
This was her second triumph at New England Dragway, the all-concrete track that she won in 2017 on her way to her first championship.
A seemingly prophetic Force all but foretold what would happen Saturday night when she said at the end of qualifying, “I’m feeling optimistic (and) believe we have a good shot at picking up our first win of the season.”
For the 38-year-old and a Monster Energy staff lead by David Grubic and John Collins, it was “mission accomplished” on Sunday night. She’ll enter the qualifying process for this week’s 23rd NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tennessee, in fifth place, 164 points behind Stewart but less than 100 points behind second place Shawn Langdon.
“I knew we would get back to this winner’s circle,” said the 2013 Rookie of the Year, “and I’m so proud of all these guys.” Something felt different as we got ready for the race—our whole squad felt good.
“It was a terrific story. Tony had five final rounds in a row and faced a Force in the end. Before the run, Grubnic said to me, “You’ve been here before.” You won here. “Just have fun.” That reminder let me remember why we do this. We love it. “You have to drive from the heart, like my dad says.”
The JFR Funny Car group had a difficult and costly day, but Austin Prock and Jack Beckman still held the top two spots in the Mission Foods driver standings.
Prock got burned again by a Cornwell Tools Chevy SS that has been acting like a Jekyll and Hyde. He was upset in round one by Buddy Hull after qualifying No. 1 for the 17th time in 27 starts since transferring from Top Fuel to Funny Car. His national record-holding Chevy strangely lost traction as soon as the defending series champion pressed the gas against No. 16 qualifier Buddy Hull.
Prock claimed he was “frustrated” at the outcome. “We all are. I didn’t expect that at all, and I know my colleagues didn’t either. We don’t blow the tires off when we hit. I can’t remember the last time it did that.
He stated, “I got it to recover, but it just wasn’t enough,” so “we’ll regroup and go to Bristol.” But this hurts, that’s for sure. We had a wonderful race vehicle this weekend, and the weather was perfect for us to go to another final round and try to win again, but we messed it up.
But Prock was lucky enough to avoid the same fate as Beckman, who was hurt when his PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy crashed into the guard wall while trying to catch up to Spencer Hyde in the semifinals.
Beckman said, “I’m fine,” as he got out of the wreckage. “My feelings are injured, our race car is hurt, and we still don’t know what occurred, but I’m not hurt. That has never happened to me before, yet the safety gear worked. Thanks to Simpson and everyone else who helped us get the safety gear. We’ll bounce back. I promise we’ll unload our extra car, which is a 2016 Chevy SS, and we’ll be back in Bristol and ready to win again.
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