Fast females: Brittany Force, Courtney Force snare provisional No. 1 spots at New England Nationals
Brittany Force (Photo credit: Gary Nastase and Auto Imagery)
EPPING, N.H. (June 2) – It has only happened once before – two sisters earning No. 1 qualifying positions for an NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series race on the same weekend. Now, Courtney and Brittany Force of John Force Racing are less than 24 hours away from achieving that mark again after setting track records Friday at New England Dragway.
In an eventful day which included a big incident and an aborted run, Courtney Force – in the Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car – ran a pass of 3.842 seconds at 331.53 mph in the first qualifying session to claim the track record for elapsed time. Meanwhile, Brittany Force, in the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster, waited until the second session and broke both ends of the track record for a Top Fuel car, setting the mark with a pass of 3.686 seconds at 331.36 mph.
The two became the only two sisters in history to claim No. 1 qualifying positions for the same event, when they topped their respective classes during the 2014 race at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas. Also, Erica Enders-Stevens snared the provisional No. 1 in Pro Stock as history could be made if all three women hold on to the No. 1 spots.
“It’s pretty awesome to see all the ladies are No. 1,” Brittany Force said. “That’s something very special. Maybe we could all get the job done this weekend and all-girls winner’s circle. That would be outstanding. It’s cool. Congrats to Erica. Courtney has had a rough day, but the No. 1s got to make her feel a little bit better.”
Courtney Force had quite the day. Moments after crossing the finish line after her record-setting performance, her car exploded in a ball of fire and glided into the outside wall. She immediately got out of the car, waved her hands and saluted the fans.
With a damaged frame and disseminated body, the Advance Auto Parts crew went to work on a spare body and chassis and made it to the starting line for the second qualifying session. But while making the burnout, the car’s right-front brake locked up and took a hard turn toward the wall and stopped. The crew pushed the car back through the staging area, and Force failed to make another attempt.
“It was definitely interesting,” Courtney Force said. “We had a huge explosion which was a first for me, and even more crazy at 330 mph. But I’m just glad I made it out OK and we made a killer run. We had a fuel line burst, which caused the problem. That’s racing. It’s always the little things. But luckily we held on to the top spot.
“My guys were thrashing and got the new Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ready to go for the second session. We got it out there, did the burnout, things were going well, and our front right brake locked up and sent me over to the wall. Nothing was responding at that point. My dad told me right before the run that in 40 years he had never had two incidents in which he hit the wall twice in a row, and not to worry and go into the run confident. I was going in confident. We planned to make a half pass just to make sure things were going good. I’m glad it happened in the burnout and not at the end of the race track, because that could have been bad.”
Meanwhile, Brittany Force’s run to the No. 1 position was a little less eventful, but barely. She smoked the tires in the first qualifying session, but made a 3.686-second run at 331.36 mph in the second session, becoming the first driver to break into the 3.6-second mark. Her speed also set a track record.
But she couldn’t celebrate immediately. After brief delays for weather and track preparation, Brittany Force waited and outlasted several other opponents as they tried to best her mark. They couldn’t, and now she hopes her time stands through two more qualifying sessions Saturday. If it does, it means her first No. 1 at New England and the seventh of her career.
“It has been a rough season for our Monster team since our final round in Phoenix,” Brittany Force said. “We’ve been struggling since then, trying to find our way back. But we went testing in Indy a few weeks ago, and we found the problem. I knew going into Topeka that we had that problem fixed. Unfortunately, we went out early, but we said this weekend is going to be our weekend. We’ve been stuck in a hole, but we’re climbing our way out and we’re going to climb our way back to the top. We’ve got our race car back.”
The Force sisters weren’t the only ones to make solid runs Friday for JFR. Teammate Robert Hight, in the AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS, was second in Funny Car, just seven thousandths of a second off Courtney Force’s time. He ran a best time of 3.849 seconds at 336.74 mph, the speed a track record.
John Force, in the PEAK Coolant & Motor Oil Chevrolet Camaro SS, was 10th after the first day, with a best time of 3.965 seconds at 323.43 mph.
Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 2 and 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Final round eliminations begin at 11 a.m. ET, with three hours of television coverage beginning at 4 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.