CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
DODGE NHRA NATIONALS
MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY IN MOHNTON, PENNSYLVANIA
SUNDAY, SEPT. 24, 2017
Chevrolet Claims Top Fuel, Pro Stock Wins in Second Race of Countdown
· Brittany Force earns second Top Fuel victory of season
· Bo Butner reclaims Pro Stock points lead with fourth win
· Courtney Force advance to second consecutive Funny Car final
· Chevrolet drivers in title mix entering third of six-race playoff
MOHNTON, Pa. (Sept. 24, 2017) – The Force sisters will be forces to be reckoned with the remainder of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship.
With her Top Fuel victory in the 33rd Dodge NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, Brittany Force moved within one point of second place through two of six rounds of the playoff system, while sister Courtney Force advanced to the final round of Funny Car competition for the second consecutive week to retain third in the standings.
With Bo Butner reclaiming the Pro Stock points lead with a victory over four-time class champion Greg Anderson, it was an impressive and productive day for Chevrolet Racing at the racetrack in Mohnton, Pennsylvania, which set a track attendance record for the four-day race weekend.
Brittany Force, the No. 4 qualifier in the Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster, defeated points leader Steve Torrence in the final with a pass of 3.756 seconds at 326.24 mph to register her second win of the season and fifth of her career. She also dispatched reigning class champion Antron Brown and Top Fuel career victory leader Tony Schumacher. She was the runner-up to Brown in 2016 at Maple Grove Raceway.
“Looking at it, we did not have an easy ladder,” said Force, who has qualified in the top half of the field in 19 of the 20 races. “It was tough all day long and the Monster team killed it all day long. We turned a corner at the right time and we’re right in the Countdown picture.”
Courtney Force, driving the Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS) advanced to the Funny Car final round for the fourth time this season, falling to reigning class champion Ron Capps.
Force eliminated Funny Car track record-holder and No. 1 qualifier Robert Hight in the quarterfinals to exact a bit of revenge from her loss a week earlier to Hight in the final at zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina.
“Being able to pick up those points, we’re staying in the No. 3 spot but at least we’re creating a little bit of a gap for the people behind us and getting closer to getting around the guys in front of us,” she said. “I’m excited to see what we can do next weekend. I think it’s important that or Advance Auto Parts team has found the consistency when it matters most.”
Hight’s Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS cruised to a run of 3.844 seconds at 339.02 mph in qualifications to reset both ends of the track record and earn the 55th No. 1 qualifier honor in his 300th career race. Hight is 14-9 against his John Force Racing teammate.
Hight, who received 10 of the maximum 12 bonus points during qualifications and eight points for being the No. 1 qualifier, is second in points.
John Force, the No. 13 qualifier in the PEAK Coolant & Motor Oil Chevrolet Camaro SS with a career-best run at the track of 3.978 seconds at 324.12 mph, fell in the first round of eliminations. Force is a seven-time winner at Maple Grove Raceway, the most recent in 2013 on the way to his 16th NHRA Funny Car championship.
Chevrolet has won all 20 NHRA Pro Stock events, with Butner picking up his fourth Wally. Anderson (Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS) cut an .008-of-a-second tree to get the jump, but Butner chased down his KB Racing teammate – who was appearing in his 148th career final – to win by eight-thousandths of a second.
“We had a good car from Q1 on,” said Butner, the No. 1 qualifier in the Jim Butner Auto Chevrolet Camaro SS. “I let the car win for me today. I didn’t do my best job driving, but we made good runs.”
Anderson defeated teammate Jason Line (Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS) and Butner ousted Allen Johnson in the semifinals. First-round winners included Drew Skillman (Ray Skillman Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro SS), Erica Enders (Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro SS), Tanner Gray (Gray Motorsports/Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro SS), and Matt Hartford (Total Seal/NitroFish Chevrolet Camaro SS). It was the first round win of the season for Hartford, who was competing in his 11th event and 75th of his career.
The AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals is Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois. FS1 will telecast first-round qualifications live at 6 p.m. ET Sept. 29 and will telecast eliminations and finals live at 2 p.m. ET Oct. 1.
In Stock Eliminator, Philp Lankford of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, advanced to the semifinals in his Chevrolet COPO Camaro. He was the No. 36 qualifier among the 65 entries. David Barton of Robesonia, Pennsylvania, qualified fourth and Jim Boburka was the No. 7 qualifier in the COPO Camaros.
In Super Stock, Bob Bagley was the No. 20 qualifier of 63 entries in his Chevrolet COPO Camaro.
ROGER ALLEN, CHEVROLET RACING NHRA PROGAM MANAGER: “It was an exceptional weekend for Chevrolet at Maple Grove Raceway, which traditionally lends itself to big speeds and low elapsed times. This week was no exception, with Robert Hight resetting both ends of the Funny Car track record and nearly becoming the first person to surpass 340 mph in a Funny Car on the way to earning his 55th No. 1 qualifier honor in his 300th career race. Congratulations to Brittany Force for earning her second Top Fuel win of the season and Bo Butner for claiming his fourth Pro Stock victory and reclaiming the points lead. Also, Courtney Force is showing remarkable consistency with her second consecutive final round in Funny Car. With Chevrolet drivers in the running for championships, Round 3 of the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship next weekend will be exciting.”
An interview with Top Fuel winner BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET TOP FUEL DRAGSTER (No. 4 qualifier; second victory of season and fifth in 116-race career; moves to third in the Countdown):
Q: GETTING INTO IT IN THE COUNTDOWN MODE?
BRITTANY FORCE: Absolutely. This is a huge win for us. This team had to fight all day long and I’m so proud of them. They are the best team to work with, and I’m so pumped going into the Countdown to work with them. Monster, we’re going after the championship.
Q: DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR OPPONENTS THROUGH THE COURSE OF THE DAY: TONY SCHUMACHER, ANTRON BROWN, AND THE POINTS LEADER, STEVE TORRENCE, YOU HAD TO BEAT?
BRITTANY FORCE: Looking at it, we did not have an easy ladder. It was tough all day long and the Monster team killed it all day long. We turned a corner at the right time and we’re right in the Countdown picture.
Q: YOUR TUNER, ALAN JOHNSON, HAS WON HERE 10 TIMES, BUT THESE WERE NOT NORMAL CONDITIONS THAT HE’S TUNED IN.
BRITTANY FORCE: I’m so lucky to be tuned up with Alan Johnson and Brian Husen and the entire Monster Energy team. This team ran pretty dang consistent through qualifying and all through race day, so I have to give it up to my team. We got the win and I’m proud of my whole team.
Q: YOU’VE RACED TORRENCE A WHOLE BUNCH, BUT IS A FINAL DIFFERENT?
BRITTANY FORCE: A final is right there, and that’s the tough thing because I’ve been here three times in a final and got taken out. This was a big one.
”
Q: DID IT HAVE ANY EMOTIONAL IMPACT WHEN YOU SAW YOUR SISTER LOSE JUST BEFORE YOUR FINAL ROUND?
BRITTANY FORCE: I kind of zone it out and I’m just focused on my job, I’m the one up next and I need to do my job, so I kind of put everything out of my mind and don’t think about it until I get to the other end.
Q: IT’S BEEN A TOPSY TURVY COUNTDOWN.
BRITTANY FORCE: Anything can change each weekend. If we keep hanging around the way we have been, with the semifinals last weekend and winning this weekend, we could keep moving up and go after the championship. That’s our plan.
An interview with Pro Stock winner BO BUTNER, JIM BUTNER AUTO, BUTNER AUTO SALES CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fourth win of season and career in 61st race; takes over points lead):
Q: GREG (ANDERSON) BEAT YOU OFF THE LINE. DID YOU THINK YOU COULD CHASE HIM DOWN?
BO BUTNER: We had a good car from Q1 on. I let the car win for me today. I didn’t do my best job driving, but we made good runs.
Q: IT WAS A CRAZY DAY OUT THERE.
BO BUTNER: It’s been a long, hot day but every bit of sweat. It was a great day. I have to give shout outs to the best crew. Chevrolet is on our side. The pressure I had today is not just championship points. I had 27 fallen heroes on my car today, and I kind of made a promise that I would get that car in the winner’s circle today to the mom’s who stuck them on there. So that’s the most relieving part. Points come and they go. That will be forever. It’s a neat and special honor for me.
(Sunday was National Gold Star Mother’s Day. Created to recognize and honor those who have lost their son or daughter while serving in the United States Armed Forces, Butner welcomed Gold Star Mothers to his pit this weekend and ran 21 commemorative stickers on the hood of his car).
Q: YOU’RE THE 17th DIFFERENT PRO STOCK WINNER OVCER THE 33 RACES AT MAPLE GROVE. NOW YOU’RE IN A POSITION TO CONTROL YOUR OWN DESTINY.
BO BUTNER: It’s kind of hard for me to grasp. There are four more races left and let’s do our job.
Q: THE LAST FEW RACES HAVE BEEN REALLY HOT. A LOT OF TUNING TO GET THESE CARS DOWN THE RACETRACK.
BO BUTNER: You have to stage good and make good runs. Actually, here you had to do a good burnout and hit your mark, which a lot of people don’t talk about. I don’t think I made a bad run out of eight, and that shows us the KB team is strong and we kind of showed it today and through qualifying.
Q: WHAT IS IT LIKE RACING GREG ANDERSON?
BO BUTNER: Greg is tough. He doesn’t change. He’s just an animal; he wants to win every time. He’s taught me a lot. He’s my toughest competitor out here, but he’s also my biggest fan and I’m his biggest fan. It’s an honor and it’s going to be a good dogfight. We’ll try to stay ahead.