Advance Auto Parts driver Courtney Force finishes just short of spectacular weekend in Epping
Photo credit: Gary Nastase and Auto Imagery
EPPING, N.H. (June 4) – The wave of emotions Courtney Force experienced during a 48-hour period at New England Dragway may have been endless.
Since Friday afternoon, Force bested an elapsed time track record, then watched her Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS team put together a spare car after her primary car exploded following the first qualifying session.
She cheered on her husband Graham Rahal to an IndyCar Series doubleheader sweep at the Grand Prix of Detroit, and celebrated as sister Brittany Force won her first NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series race of the season in the Top Fuel class.
Oh, and she nearly won the Funny Car race, which would have set milestones for first husband/wife combinations to win major races on the same day, and first pair of sisters to win NHRA professional races in the same event.
While she hopes that day comes at some point, she was enthused that she advanced to her second Funny Car final of the season and first since the season-opening Circle K Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in California.
The explosion Friday – caused by a ruptured fuel line – presented her crew with a sense of urgency, and the team quickly prepared and presented the spare car for the second qualifying session Friday evening. But the car didn’t make an attempt after an issue during the burnout, nor did it make a full run in the other two attempts Saturday.
But she made four full passes Sunday, and the only difference between first and send was three hundredths of a second. Force’s 3.927-second pass at 332.34 mph was good, but not enough to best Matt Hagan’s run of 3.897 seconds at 332.59 mph. Hagan got the jump at the start, Force led at 60 feet, but Hagan edged ahead and won by about a few inches.
“We hurt some parts and pieces on the final-round lap,” said Force, the 2013 and inaugural New England Nationals winner. “That’s why it slowed us down to a .92. We were hoping to run a little better than our .89 that we did in the semis, but good job by (Matt) Hagan and his team. They outran us, but feeling pretty good about this spare car.
“Bringing out a whole new car, getting it figured out as quickly as (crew chief) Dan Hood and (co-crew chief) Ronnie Thompson did and to be able to get it running consistently on race day – where it counted – is incredibly important,” she added. “It’s job well done by the team. To go all the way to the finals is a testament to their work.”
Starting in the No. 2 position after Friday’s 3.842-second pass at 331.53 mph – set just before the explosion – Force breezed through her first two races. She won against No. 15 Jim Campbell in the opening-round matchup then inched further and further away from Cruz Pedregon in the second round as they headed to the finish.
Force finally became the first driver in five races – or since late April – to stop defending Funny Car champion Ron Capps. Capps got the slightest advantage – a reaction time of .069 seconds to Force’s .077 seconds – but Force edged ahead at the 60-foot mark and never looked back. Her time of 3.895 seconds at 331.77 mph set up the final against Hagan, whom she faced at the Winternationals but couldn’t beat.
“I’m really proud of my team,” said Force, who jumped from sixth to third in the points standings. “Honestly, coming from the explosion that we had in Friday qualifying and to bring out a spare car that we haven’t run and to put it on the racetrack … our first pass down the racetrack was the first round of eliminations, and to go by and get the win and to have a consistent car and then to continually improve on our ETs throughout the day, I’m really proud of my guys.”
The next race for Force and the series in this four-race swing is the NHRA SummerNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.
4-Second Reads:
Best Qualifying Effort: 3.842 sec./331.53 mph (Round 1)
Elimination Round 1 (Left Lane): 3.914 sec./331.94 mph, def. No. 15 Jim Campbell, 4.686 sec./181.30 mph; vs. Campbell – now 5-2 all-time; 2-2 this season; 1-0 at Epping
Elimination Round 2 (Quarterfinals, Left Lane): 3.952 sec./322.19, def. No. 7 Cruz Pedregon, 3.993 sec./319.82 mph; vs. Pedregon – now 6-6 this season; 1-0 this season; 1-0 at Epping
Elimination Round 3 (Semifinals, Left Lane): 3.895 sec./331.77 mph; def. No. 3 Ron Capps, 3.939 sec./327.11 mph; vs. Capps – now 8-15 all-time; 1-1 this season; 1-2 at Epping
Elimination Round 4 (Finals, Left Lane): 3.927 sec./332.34 mph, lost to No. 4 Matt Hagan, 3.897 sec./332.59 mph; vs. Hagan – now 10-12 all-time; 0-2 this season; 0-1 at Epping
Force is now 10-9 this season in 19 elimination rounds.
Force is now 12-4 at New England Dragway in 16 elimination rounds.
Force is now 22-15 all-time in 37 elimination rounds from the No. 2 qualifying spot.
Force is now 141-120 all-time in 261 elimination rounds.
Funny Car Points Standings: 1. Ron Capps, 827; 2. Matt Hagan, 748; 3. Courtney Force, 564; 4. Robert Hight, 561; 5. John Force, 555.