NHRA: Heading into U.S. Nationals, Brittany is a 'Force' to be reckoned with
Heading into the current season, Brittany Force admittedly was coming off a rough two previous years. In 2020, her father John and owner of John Force Racing, shut down his entire operation for virtually the entire NHRA season due to the exploding COVID-19 pandemic.
When the organization returned in 2021, while the younger Force bounced back somewhat, finishing second in the Top Fuel standings, she achieved that level by reaching the final round six times. But unfortunately, she won just once in all of those tries, something that still eats at her because her and her team expected more wins than they achieved.
Now that it’s 2022 and as she prepares for the biggest drag race of the season, the U.S. Nationals this weekend near Indianapolis, Force is having a dream season, with five wins and leads the Top Fuel standings.
She is driving her dragster like she never has. And even with the point standings due to be reset after Monday’s final round in preparation for the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs, Force is without question the person to beat not just this weekend but also for the entire playoffs.
She’s not just peaking at the right time, she’s dominating like she never has.
“Yes, we're in a great position, the best position we've ever been in coming into the Countdown,” Force told AutoRacingDigest.com.
“The tricky part is once this Countdown kicks off, there's six races and we have to continue to do what we've been doing all season long and rack up points wherever we can on our qualifying runs.
“But chasing those No. 1 qualifiers is only part of it. We need to reach the semifinals, at least, and most of all, final round appearances in each of those races. We need to be winning, we need to be in the final round.
“We've carried that pretty well this whole season, and we just need to keep doing it for the last six races.”
Brittany Force is hoping to earn her second career Top Fuel championship in 2022. Photo courtesy NHRA.
Ironically, while Force’s No. 1 nemesis, Steve Torrence, has won the last four Top Fuel championships, the Texan is off his game this season, with his win at Brainerd, Minn., nearly two weeks ago being his first triumph of 2022.
Still, Force, who leads all Top Fuel drivers in points thus far this season, expects Torrence to continue to regain his old form in the Countdown and be one of the most dangerous opponents out there, the kind of guy that could be the difference between her winning her second Top Fuel world championship – or not.
But in addition to Torrence as her previous No. 1 worry the last four years, Force also is concerned about Mike Salinas and his Scrappers Top Fuel team, which is right behind her in second place in the standings.
“There's no easy team out there,” Force said. “That's the tough part. Steve has won that championship for the last handful of years and he's the team to beat, but so is everyone else, you know. I mean, there's so many good drivers and so many good teams this year.
“Yeah, Steve, they got off to a slower start this season but they're figuring it out right when they need to, and that's all that really matters. So there's going to be tough competition coming in, from every direction.”
Brittany, the second-youngest daughter of patriarch and 16-time NHRA Funny Car champ John Force, the winningest driver in drag racing history, is also enjoying a feeding frenzy of sorts this season – but in a good and unique way.
Not only has she devoured many of her Top Fuel opponents this season, she is also feeding off the success of teammate and JFR team president Robert Hight, who, like Brittany, is coming off a marginal season in 2021 to dominate the Funny Car class thus far this season.
It's become almost a situation where Hight, who has won four times to Brittany’s five this season, feeds off her success and she feeds off his.
“It's a good testament to what JFR is doing this year,” Brittany Force said. “Robert’s team, in fact all of JFR, is doing great. It is funny, it's ironic, how Robert and I a lot of the time seem to land in the winner's circle at the same time.
"We even won a championship together (she won the Top Fuel crown in 2017, while Hight has won the Funny Car crown three times: 2009, 2017 and 2019). I'd love for us to do that again this year."
Brittany first came to the legendary U.S. Nationals with her mom Laurie and dad John when she was just an infant – and has been coming back there virtually every year since, eight of the last nine seasons (not in the 2020 layoff), as a Top Fuel competitor.
No one has to tell her how important this weekend’s event is.
But equally as important is the half-dozen races that follow Indy. There is no letting up, no gimmes. Force knows she has to be at the top of her game from her first qualifying run to the final round of each event.
“You need all six of them, you need to succeed and do well at all six to earn the championship, and you can't pinpoint just one (as more important than the other playoff events),” Brittany said. “No, there's not one track. We want to do well at every single one.”
It’s kind of hard to believe that Force is in her 10th season of NHRA Top Fuel competition. Her older sisters, Ashley and Courtney, enjoyed success in their own racing careers, but nowhere near what Brittany has achieved.
“It's insane that I've been out here since 2013,” Brittany said. “The years keep coming on faster and faster. But that just shows you that I obviously still love it. I love getting up and going to work every day. I love being with my team, driving these race cars and feeling the competitive side of it and turning on win lights and at the end of the day, standing in the winner's circle with your team.
“There's no better feeling than that because it means all the hard work has paid off. And even on those days where we go out early, like in the first round like we did a couple of weeks ago, you find a way to stay positive and move forward to the next one.”
Brittany is now 36 years old. She often wonders how much longer she’ll continue racing as her older sisters both went from being drag racers to being wives and mothers.
“Just being a female in the sport, there's only a few of us out there, so it's very different for a woman in the sport compared to a man,” Brittany said. “Courtney had to make a really tough decision. She wanted to keep driving but she also wanted to start a family.
“She (and husband, IndyCar driver Graham Rahal) now has her second one on the way and she's just an amazing mother. I'm so proud of her. She still comes to my races, but it was a tough decision. Yes, that's always in the back of my head. I am thinking about it, but I'm still not there yet. She'd been married for a while so we thought maybe it might be coming.
“I'm back and forth on the whole family and kids idea. But I definitely have an open mind to it. And I feel like when it happens, it'll happen, if that's in God's plan for me.
“But right now my focus is on my race car and chasing down another championship.”
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