Heat in the street: NHRA rolls into town for SpringNationals
Racing family’s middle sister, Brittany, coming into her own
Middle children often complain about being overlooked, but top fuel driver Brittany Force might be justified for feeling she doesn’t get equal billing as the middle child in the first family of drag racing.
Force, 29, is the sister of former funny car driver Ashley Force-Hood and current funny car racer Courtney Force and has been driving the top fuel entry for her father’s juggernaut John Force Racing Team for the past four years, but it wasn’t until this season that she has begun to emerge out of the shadows of her sisters, who both enjoyed quicker success than Brittany.
Ashley, 32, put her name in the NHRA record book in 2008, her second season on the tour, when she became the first woman to win a funny car event, while Courtney, 27, earned her first event win in 2012 in just her 15th race.
Early season wins
Brittany Force has won twice in the season’s first five races and enters Saturday’s third round of qualifying in the Mello Yellow Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown in seventh after a thrilling second round qualifying session that saw three track records set in the nitro classes (funny car and top fuel).
“I didn’t think it would be easy out here, but I thought the first win would have come sooner,” Force said. “I would never have guessed that five races in we’d have two wins. To get the first win felt great because it took so long to get there, but I didn’t think the second win would come that soon.”
Force finished a careerhigh seventh in points in 2015, but thanks to the addition of top fuel tuner extraordinaire and former team owner Alan Johnson, who serves as a consultant alongside crew chief Brian Husen on Force’s Monster Energy Drink dragster, she entered this weekend’s event with the top fuel points lead. Johnson, who has won 11 top fuel titles as a crew chief, said Force has impressed him with her dedication to doing whatever it takes to improve.
“Before we even met, I sent her an email with a list of questions to get a feel for how she approaches racing,” Johnson said. “I wanted to know how devoted and passionate she is about racing, and she’s incredibly passionate about it and wants to win as badly as I do.”
Making changes
Johnson, who is also serving as a consultant for top fuel racer Steve Torrence, took the job with John Force Racing on the condition that he could use his equipment and race set ups, and made drastic changes to Force’s dragster, including changing the seating angle to a more upright position to help her feel more comfortable in the cockpit, in addition to engine, clutch and chassis adjustments. He also altered her fitness regimen.
“He asked if I would be willing to change things up if he gave me a workout plan to build strength in my legs, and I said ‘absolutely.’ I’ll take anyone’s advice. There’s always room to grow.”
Force, who said she had never met Johnson before being paired with him, ad- mits to being a little intimidated at first by the man many consider to be the foremost top fuel tuner in the business.
“I really like working with him, and it’s great having him by our side,” Force said. “He’s made those win lights come on. It’s been different working with him because he came in and changed my entire routine, and that was difficult at first. It almost felt like I was starting over again, but now it feels normal.”