BRITTANY FORCE WINS LUCAS OIL NATIONALS; NOTCHES THIRD WIN OF 2016

BRAINERD, MN — Brittany Force made the most of her return to the final round at the 35th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. Last year Force came up a little short to No. 1 qualifier Richie Crampton but today against two-time world champion Antron Brown Force took the win in a wild, fireball spewing final run. Force and her Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster had just enough power to outrun a tire-smoking Brown, who she beat last year in Brainerd in the semifinals. Continue reading BRITTANY FORCE WINS LUCAS OIL NATIONALS; NOTCHES THIRD WIN OF 2016 →

CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
LUCAS OIL NHRA NATIONALS
BRAINERD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY AT BRAINERD, MINNESOTA
POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
AUG. 21, 2016

TOP FUEL WINNER BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET TOP FUEL DRAGSTER:

YOU GOT YOUR THIRD VICTORY HERE TODAY, BUT YOU WENT THROUGH A SUMMER SLUMP. WHAT DID IT TAKE TO GET YOU GUYS BACK ON TRACK?

“It feels so good to get that third win of the year. We’ve been really struggling, so be able to get the job done today with the Monster Energy Chevrolet team is awesome. We’re back and going right into Indy, the biggest race of our season, and this is exactly where we want to be.”

PRO STOCK WINNER DREW SKILLMAN, RAY SKILLMAN RACING, RAY SKILLMAN CHEVROLET CAMARO SS:

WHAT A BIG WIN FOR YOU; JUST THE SECOND IN YOUR CAREER.

“What a blessing we’ve had. The Ray Skillman Chevrolet Camaro has been great for us and what a great decision we made to go with Gray Motorsports. Our team has worked so well together, and everyone at Ray Skillman Performance Chevy has backed us this whole time. We finally brought it home today.”

FUNNY CAR:
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, TRAXXAS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 6 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “It was a good weekend for our Traxxas team. It felt great to get back in the car this weekend. Everything felt good, everything was brand new so we were definitely getting used to a few adjustments. We actually changed the steering a little bit this morning to get the direction of the car where we want it to go. I just have to learn from that; it’s a little bit of an adjustment for me as a driver. It’s part of the process when you have a new car. I’m really thrilled with my team to put a brand new car together from top to bottom and then running a body that we’ve never run before I definitely want to give all the credit to my guys after such an outstanding weekend. To hold onto the second-place spot (in the Funny Car standings) going into Indy is huge for us. I think we learned that we definitely have another great race car and we owe a lot of that credit to the team and all the guys back at the shop, who put a lot of hard work into getting this car ready for Brainerd.”

JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, REALTREE PEAK ANTIFREEZE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 7 qualifier; fell in first round): “It’s really good for (Brittany Force) mentally to get in the Countdown and for the whole team. For whatever reason they got fast today running with the pack. For her to get a win, (crew chief) Brian Husen and the great Monster team, I’m excited for them.”

ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 9 qualifier; fell in second round): “Our issue is consistency. We have all the parts and skill to run low 3.80s, we just need to put it together for consecutive runs. We have run in the 3.8s and we ran 3.91 against (Matt) Hagan. We should have run quicker and we’ll test this week in Indy. Our focus now is the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, the Traxxas Shootout and of course the Countdown. We are moving in the right direction with this Auto Club Camaro.”

PRO STOCK:
VINCENT NOBILE, MOUNTAIN VIEW RACING, MOUNTAIN VIEW TIRE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “We thought we hurt the motor, so we ended up changing it out for the semifinals. We ran that engine before but I had some new pieces in it and my car didn’t like it, the car just shut off right before third gear giving Drew (Skillman) the win. All-in-all, the last few weekends have been incredible. I can’t thank my team enough for giving me one fast hot rod.”

JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier; fell in final round): “We just had a bad run and it didn’t work out like it was supposed to. We definitely got faster (as the weekend progressed). The guys did a really good job. We just came up a little short.”

GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 8 qualifier; fell in second round): “I had a great car in the first round. I was a little off in qualifying and was a little bit concerned. But we made some changes and got it back. I was No. 2 for low ET first round only to my teammate (Jason Line) so things were back on track. Second round we missed it just a little bit. I missed the light a little bit and missed the starting line a little bit. Bottom line is we slipped a little bit and you can’t slip in this class. Either way, Chevrolet is walking away with a trophy here.”

SHANE GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, VALVOLINE/NOVA SERVICES CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 6 qualifier; fell in first round): “Qualifying well is very satisfying, no doubt, and it points to consistency, which I always have said is one of the top ingredients you need to win races out here. But this qualifying streak has yet to translate to four winning rounds on Sunday, so we’re still pushing hard to take that final step. No complaints, by any means; we’re just hungry for a bit more.”

ALEX LAUGHLIN, LAUGHLIN MOTORSPORTS, GAS MONKEY GARAGE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 9 qualifier; fell in first round): “For the longest time this season, we weren’t really focused on the points, just taking it one race at a time, until we realized how close we were to staying in the top 10 and that we might have a shot at staying in. We definitely need to go a few rounds in Indy to get that spot.”