BRITTANY FORCE NO. 1 FRIDAY AT ROUTE 66 NATIONALS
JOLIET, IL – As one of the last race cars down the track at Route 66 Raceway Brittany Force and the Monster Energy Top Fuel team gave the fans a treat racing to the provisional No. 1 spot with a track record elapsed time of 3.692 seconds. The fourth year pro came into the session in the No. 3 spot and was pushed back to No. 8 before re-writing the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals record books beside Steve Torrence. Force picked up three qualifying bonus points and also valuable confidence going into Saturday’s second day of qualifying.
“I got out and was shocked to see what we ran. That was just such a big jump from our first qualifying run. It felt good and I got out and thanked my team, Brian Husen and Alan Johnson. They are the ones that make it happen. It is a team effort. This is absolutely the best birthday present ever,” said Force who celebrated her 30th birthday today.
Going into the second session with cooler temperatures the team was expecting a performance improvement. The dramatic drop in elapsed time surprised Force who is the national elapsed time record holder.
“We were looking at running in the 3.70s on that second run. We definitely stepped it up. It ran better than what we thought. I was happy with it and the team was happy. All my team guys told me ‘Happy Birthday Britt!’ when I got back. They are bad ass and I am lucky to have them on my team. This day couldn’t have been any better,” summed up Force.
Just before Force took to the track Leah Pritchett suffered a motor explosion causing a lengthy delay while the NHRA Safety Safari cleaned up the right hand lane. Once again the Safety Safari worked their magic giving Force and crew chief Brian Husen a clean surface to post a record time.
“Props to the NHRA Safety Safari for getting the track cleaned up and getting the track back to where it should be. That was a good for us and good for the Monster Energy team. Happy Birthday to Brittany,” said Brian Husen, Monster Energy Top Fuel crew chief.
Brittany Force and the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster made a strong run to start the K&N Filters Route 66 NHRA Nationals running the third quickest time of the first round of qualifying. The effort picked up a valuable qualifying bonus point for the two-time winner. Force’s first elapsed time of 3.785 seconds at 326.87 mph was also the fastest run of the day to that point. Force will have the advantage of running at the back of the Top Fuel second session when conditions are optimal for improved times.
The Auto Club 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car powered to the provisional No. 5 qualifying position after the first session. The run which lit up the scoreboard at 3.947 seconds at 313.07 mph was a solid effort to start the day for Hight who is looking for his first Route 66 NHRA Nationals victory.
Under the lights at Route 66 Raceway Hight and his Mike Neff tuned Auto Club Camaro blasted to the top of the field with a 3.894 second run at 325.22 mph. It was the third race in a row for Hight to run in the 3.80s and position the 2009 Funny Car champion as one of the top race cars on the property. By the end of the session Hight’s elapsed time was pushed back to the provisional No. 3 spot. He actually has the second quickest time, equal to Tim Wilkerson but Hight was just a tick slower on speed which was the tie breaker for position.
“That shows you how close this Funny Car racing is. It is pretty exciting. I wouldn’t trade my seat for anything in the world but I would love to be up in the stands with the fans watching this Funny Car category,” said Hight at the top end. “This was a good run for the Auto Club team and that is the third race in a row we have run in the 3.80s. We are going to have some good conditions tomorrow and we might be able to step up a little more then.”
Courtney Force posted a 3.895 elapsed time at over 328 mph in the second qualifying session today to lock into the No. 5 spot for tomorrow’s additional qualifying sessions in Joliet at Route 66 Raceway.
“We had two great runs out here in Joliet today. It’s an exciting weekend for my Traxxas team because we debuted the new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS body and it literally feels like I’m sitting in my Chevy Camaro SS, my street car back home. It’s cool to race a car that feels like the car that’s in my garage. We also have a special color scheme from Traxxas. It’s definitely a cool, loud design and this is the only weekend we are running it so I think both of those things are really exciting for not only my team, but the fans as well,” said Force.
The 28-year-old Traxxas driver posted a 3.938 at over 312 mph in the opening session. It was the first pass for Force’s 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS body and put her in the top half of the field with a solid run to improve on.
“It felt great to get the car down the track on both runs. It got a little to the inside in Q1 and dropped a hole, but we still managed to run a 3.93. Our speed was down because I shut it off a little early, but we came back out in some pretty great conditions in Q2. We ran a 3.895 at 328 mph and it put us in the No. 5 spot.
“We came so close to picking up bonus points on both of those runs, but the competition is just really tight right now with everyone running so closely. We’re thrilled to be in the position we’re in and really excited to have this car figured out so quickly to start the weekend,” said Force.
In the hometown of primary sponsor PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant three-time Route 66 NHRA Nationals winner John Force finished the first qualifying session as the provisional No. 8 qualifier. The winningest driver in NHRA history continues to get accustomed to his new Camaro Funny Car. Force, who is currently No. 9 in the Funny Car points started the day with a time of 3.979 seconds at 312.93 mph.
In the second session Force was running beside Matt Hagan and both Funny Cars made strong runs. Unfortunately just before the finish line Force’s PEAK Camaro Funny Car veered to the right and clipped the timing cones resulting in a disqualification of Force’s time. The impact damaged the nose of Force’s 2016 Camaro and will have his team working deep into the night. The team will stand on their first round effort and will go into Saturday as the provisional No. 10 qualified Funny Car.
“This issue doesn’t have anything to do with the new Camaro body. We are in a learning process. It is not the body. Chevrolet built a great race car. We got this PEAK Funny Car trying to run 3.80s and if you look at its 60 ft and 330 ft times it is flying. The front end could be a little light. It did put out a spark plug on that run and drove me over,” said Force. “On the first run it dropped three cylinders. It is an animal but I am loving driving it. It is exciting. I was in my lane on that first run and it drove me to the right and almost into the wall. On the second run I was in the left lane and it drove me to the right again. This is all part of what we have done the last forty years. We can look at putting some weight out front but we are trying to catch up with these guys.”