Monster Energy driver Brittany Force ready
to contend for JFR’s first Top Fuel title
CONCORD, N.C. (Sept. 12) – John Force Racing has won 18 championships in its storied history, including 16 by legendary owner/driver John Force.
All 18 of those titles are in the Funny Car class, though Monster Energy driver Brittany Force would love to add to that legacy by winning JFR’s first Top Fuel dragster title.
The hunt for the Top Fuel title begins in the NHRA Carolina Nationals this weekend at zMAX Dragway, where the first round of the Countdown to the Championship will be held.
Force sits sixth in the Top Fuel standings, and after the points were reset for the six-race Countdown, she’s only 60 points – or three rounds – out of first.
“Right now, since Indy is done and the Countdown has begun, this is where it all takes off,” Force said. “The team really has to pull together and fight for that championship. This is what we’ve been waiting for all season long, and finally it’s here. We’re locked into the Countdown, and now it’s game on.”
Force has one victory this season and has shown some amazing consistency. In the last 11 races, she’s won at least one round 10 times, advancing to the semifinals five times and winning in Epping, N.H.
Force is also a past Charlotte winner, going to the winner’s circle in the Four-Wide Nationals last April.
“Knowing that we won the Four-Wide there, it sets your mind at ease a little bit for everyone on the team,” Force said. “Knowing that we did it before – yes, it was Four-Wide – but we’ve taken down that track, it’s our plan to do it again.”
Not only does Charlotte start the Countdown, it also starts a stretch of three races in three consecutive weekends.
“I like three in a row,” Force said. “It keeps up in that momentum, it keeps your head in the game because you don’t take time off, you don’t take time away from the team, you don’t take too much time outside of your car. I’m back in the seat of my dragster with just a few days of turnaround. It just keeps the momentum moving forward and it keeps everybody’s head in the game.”
The Carolina Nationals begins with two rounds of qualifying Friday, at 3:30 and 6 p.m. Eastern (live television coverage begins at 6 p.m. Eastern on Fox Sports 1). Two more qualifying sessions are scheduled for 1:30 and 4 p.m. Eastern on Saturday (television coverage at 2 a.m. Sunday on FS1). Final elimination rounds start at noon Eastern on Sunday (live coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m.).
4-Second Reads:
Brittany Force has competed in nine races at Charlotte and every race since 2013, her rookie year.
Force has one victory at Charlotte – the 2016 Four-Wide Nationals. Her best effort in the fall race came in 2016, when she advanced to the quarterfinals.
Force is 6-8 in 14 elimination-round races at Charlotte, and 1-4 in the fall race.
Force is 4-5 in nine first-round matchups, and 1-3 in the fall.
Force’s best Charlotte qualifying effort came in 2016, when she qualified No. 2 for the fall race. She has qualified in the top half of the bracket five times, and each of the last three races.
Force enters the Countdown to the Championship sixth in Top Fuel points standings.
In 2017, Force has one victory, a 23-17 elimination-round record, and one No. 1 qualifier. She has set the event quick elapsed time twice, and event top speed a series-high six times.
In her career, Force has four victories, 110 elimination-round wins and seven No. 1 qualifiers.
Most recent NHRA victory – 2017 New England Nationals in Epping, N.H.
Most recent No. 1 qualifying effort – 2017 NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill.
Best time/speed at Charlotte – 3.729 seconds (2016 #2); 325.61 mph (2014 #1)
Best time/speed of career – 3.674 seconds (2017 Topeka Q3); 333.66 mph (2017 Topeka E1)