Brittany Force wins NHRA Top Fuel season title

POMONA — Brittany Force became the NHRA’s first female Top Fuel season champion since Shirley Muldowney in 1982 on Sunday in the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals.

Force, the daughter of 16-time Funny Car champion John Force, wrapped up the title in the quarterfinals and went on to win the event at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Force beat Shawn Langdon with a 3.668second pass at 330.07 mph in the final for her fourth victory of the year.

“I can’t believe we are here, it seems like a dream,” Force said. “The reason we are here is because of that Monster team and all the support I have and all the sponsors. Everyone at JFR and that is the reason we are here. We struggled, we had our ups and downs, but we pulled it together when it mattered most. I give all of it up to my crew chiefs, Alan Johnson and Brian Husen, they are the ones that made this possible. They always had my back and they kept pushing me.”

Robert Hight took his second Funny Car title, and Bo Butner won the Pro Stock crown and event title. Tommy Johnson Jr. won the Funny Car event, and Andrew Hines took the Pro Stock Motorcycle race.

Hight wrapped up the title in the first round of eliminations.

“Everybody worked their tail off and was quiet and knew they had a job to do,” Hight said. “This is just huge for John Force Racing. For a couple of years, we have struggled. but it is such a great group. We signed a long-term deal with Auto Club and they deserve better than what we were giving them.”

Hight also had four season victories.