Dirt
Brittany Force scores first Top
Fuel win at NHRA Gatornationals
By Nate Van Wagnen
T
he fastest member of the Force
family, Brittany Force, made team history last month when she won the 47th
Annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, the first Top Fuel event win for John
Force Racing. Coincidentally, team president
Robert Hight also won in Funny Car, giving JFR
its first nitro double up. It was Force’s second
final round in three races after joining forces with
legendary Top Fuel tuner Alan Johnson and crew
chief Brian Husen.
Force’s Monster Energy-branded dragster was
simply the best racecar on Sunday, in terms of
consistency and performance. Racing out of the
fifth spot, Force raced past Morgan Lucas and
fellow first-time hopefuls Tripp Tatum and Dave
Connolly before lining up against Terry McMillen
in the final round. She denied McMillen his first
event win at his sponsor’s race when she clicked
off a 3.772-second elapsed time at 318 mph in
comparison to McMillen’s explosive 3.981-second effort.
“It feels good to finally bring home the win,” said
Force, daughter of 16-time Funny Car champion
John Force. “Our car was on fire all weekend. It
went down there and had great runs. This is a
very proud moment for me and the John Force
Racing team, the Monster Energy team. It took
everyone to get us here.”
Force’s Gainesville win is the second for tuner/
consultant Alan Johnson, who also tuned Steve
Torrence to the seasonopening win at the Winternationals. Force joins
Blaine Johnson, Gary
Scelzi, Bruce Sarver,
Shawn Langdon and Khalid alBalooshi as drivers
who earned their first pro
victories under the nitro
guru’s tutelage.
“I’ve been chasing this
for so many years. It is
a very proud moment. I
have to thank my team
and everyone who helped
me get here,“ Force commented. “In Phoenix we
almost made it. I was
definitely bummed after
that, but proud of my
team. They have worked so hard to get here. This
weekend (Gatornationals) we came out and I
was feeling good. Sometimes a driver just feels
that way and I had it. I felt it in my stomach,
and I was hoping we were going to go all the
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way, and we did.”
Force held up her end of the deal, too, as she
left the starting line first in all four rounds of
eliminations, stepping up for the final round with
a .053 reaction time.
“I am getting more
comfortable in the dragster every run. Brian and
Alan changed a lot of
things inside the cockpit
and I am still get used to
some of the changes. I
am also doing some special leg workouts to improve my reaction times.
My whole team has been
great this year and really
the win in Gainesville
was a true team effort,”
added Force.
Now with their first
win on the board, Brittany Force and her Monster Energy team can
focus on their next goal –
winning the NHRA Mello Yello Series Top Fuel
world championship.
“I am excited to get
my first win for John
Force Racing, Monster
Energy and all our sponsors but I don’t want to
win just one race. This
is a process and I will
keep working on getting better every race.
It gives you confidence
to go rounds and I have
dreamed about winning
for so many years. Like
Robert (Hight) said in
the press conference
after the Gatornationals getting the first win
was the hardest one and now we just have to try
and do it again,” said Force.
For his part in the double up, Hight and his
Mike Neff-tuned Auto Club Camaro dipped into
the 3.9-second zone during the first three rounds
of eliminations. In the final round, Hight and
opponent Ron Capps both encountered trouble, but Hight came out on top to win his third
Gatornationals Wally, joining Kenny Bernstein,
Gordy Bonin and Capps as three-time winners
at the event considered to be one of drag racing’s “majors”.
“The first five or six years I came here I don’t
think I won a round. It’s funny; sometimes you
just have a racetrack that you do well at and this is
one of them now. I’m very fortunate to be driving
for (crew chief ) Mike Neff, and this is my second
win at Gainesville with Mike Neff. This is a major
race. When you look at the majors in golf, this
is a major. To win a major here, the East Coast
kickoff, is pretty rewarding,” Hight said.
Issue 109
PHOTOS: NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER, NATE VAN WAGNEN
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