J. FORCE, B. FORCE NO. 2 FRIDAY AT ZMAX DRAGWAY FOUR-WIDE
CONCORD, NC – The first day of qualifying at the 7th annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods was cut short by persistent rain showers but not before John Force and Brittany Force could race to the provisional No. 2 positions in Funny Car and Top Fuel respectively. The father and daughter tandem will lead the team into the second day of four-wide qualifying at zMAX Dragway starting at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow.
John Force was just a tick slower than the quickest Funny Car missing the No. 1 spot by .005 seconds in his PEAK Antifreeze Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car. The winner of the inaugural Four-Wide Nationals was fired up at the top end after the run.
“It is a four lane fight. It is awesome and it is awesome for the fans. I won the inaugural and Robert (Hight) has won it a couple times so coming out of the box and running good feels good. I am sponsored by Hendricks and City Chevrolet and I feel like Tom Cruise from Days of Thunder,” exclaimed Force after his run.
Rain showers moved over the track before the second session could begin and Force resigned himself to getting one run and looking to new success on Saturday.
“I feel good but I hate losing a session. It might save you a few bucks but we would rather learn and I would rather run. The Monster Energy dragster is up there and this PEAK Chevrolet Camaro ran good. Everybody is in right now. The door will open again tomorrow. I feel confident but I feel confident all the time. This is Four-Wide and we are in the hunt,” said Force.
The Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster team continues to impress and make strides. In the first session Brittany Force was lined up in lane four and at the hit of the throttle she blasted smoothly down the track. As she crossed the finish line her scoreboard lit up with a solid 3.771 second elapsed time just behind Steve Torrence’s 3.736 second run.
“It always feels good to get that first pass out of the way. This race is a whole new ball game. Instead of looking at the usual two blubs you have to look at four bulbs this race. You have three other people up there with you and it can get a little confusing. You just have to make sure you are focused and you know where you are at,” said Force, who currently has the Top Fuel points lead. “You can’t let anything throw you off your game. Unfortunately, we lost the second run due to weather. We get two more tomorrow and we will take it from there. We are number two right now and we will try and get a good set up for race day. It feels good to be back in the car after a couple of weeks off.”
Brittany Force and John Force each picked up two valuable qualifying bonus points for their runs in the first session.
Before Brittany strapped into her dragster she was presented with a special commendation from nearby Belmont Abbey College. A group of students and professors from the Motorsports Management program were at the track to see some behind the scenes activities and make Brittany Force a “Crusader for the Day” in honor of her first Top Fuel win.
“It was an honor that they came out and gave me a nice certificate. More than that I think it is cool they are focusing their program project on John Force Racing and the Monster Energy Top Fuel team,” said Force. “I like it because even though I went to Cal State Fullerton and went to school to be a teacher I know where they are at as students. I enjoyed talking to them and hopefully motivating them.”
Courtney Force ended Friday in the No. 11 position after one round of qualifying and will keep her time moving into Saturday at the Four Wide Nationals. Force made a move toward the centerline in Q1 and had to back off the throttle early, putting a 7.810 ET at 85.65 mph on the board.
“The Four-Wide format is one of those events where everything is so chaotic, but it’s a lot of fun for the drivers and for the fans. It’s a lot of fun sharing something different like this with my Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS team. We only get one shot in each lane over the four qualifying runs. Unfortunately since Q2 rained out, there’s going to be one lane for everyone that we won’t get to make a run in before race day.”
“I’m really hoping to get qualified in the top half tomorrow. We were able to stay in the No. 11 spot so our time will carry over to tomorrow, but we’re definitely going to be focused on making some good runs. Our car picked up the front end a lot in Q1 and it took me over close to the centerline. We already know what to do, so we’re going to fix it and get ready for tomorrow. The rest of this weekend if we can get this car qualified in the top, we’ll be able to choose our lane and we’ll be alright. It’s one of those race tracks that’s really unique and difficult to adjust to, but it’s going to be a lot of fun for the fans on race day,” said Force.
Funny Car points leader Robert Hight and the Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro will be starting Saturday with a clean slate. In the lone qualifying session his Funny Car went into immediate tire smoke and coasted down the track in lane four.
“We just went right up into smoke coming off the starting line. We’ll look at what happened. We get two more shots tomorrow and I have a lot of confidence. We’ll get data from the other Funny Cars and I am sure data from the Top Fuel Dragster will help too. Tomorrow will be a new day,” said Hight.