In the time since Courtney Force last won a race, a lot has happened in the world around her.

She got married. She switched manufacturers. Her father, 16-time world champion John Force, has won twice. Her teammate, Robert Hight, added two more victories. While her sister, Brittany, struggling to find her footing in the ultra-competitive Top Fuel class, claimed her first two career wins. That is a lot of celebrating going on around her.

But on Sunday, Force finally got the monkey off her back as she snapped a 32-race winless streak dating back to a pair of back-to-back victories in September of 2014, with a resounding win over class pacesetter Tim Wilkerson at the NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston.

“It was a pretty amazing weekend for our Traxxas Chevy Camaro team. We have been working really hard for this and I feel like this one is even better than my first career win. It certainly took a lot longer,” Force said. “With a winless streak last year and then coming in this season, we wanted this more than anything.”

Force defeated top-qualifier Wilkerson in a tremendous drag race for the SpringNationals title. The two left the line at near-identical times and were welded together the length of the track, but it was Force who pulled ahead near the 100-foot mark and stayed ahead in picking up her eighth career Funny Car win.

Force crossed the stripe with a 3.913-second elapsed time at 327.90 mph, just ahead of Wilkerson’s 3.943 at 323.81 mph.

“I was nervous going into the finals against Tim. I knew what kind of number he could put on the board and I knew I had to be right there with him,” Force said. “Lucky for me and my Traxxas team, they worked so hard on this racecar and really turned things around this season for us. With Dan Hood and Ronny Thompson tuning this car, they gave me a great car in the final and we were able to take home the win today.”

Force added wins over Bob Bode and Ron Capps - both suffering issues during their runs - before facing another close battle in the semifinals against Tommy Johnson Jr. With a trip to the finals on the line, Johnson earned the holeshot, but Force was able to drive around the Don Schumacher Racing-backed driver to earn a ticket to her first final of 2016 with a 3.932 to Johnson’s 3.964.

Wilkerson, who was able to tame the tricky Houston conditions better than most with the top qualifier award and lap-after-lap atop the charts, had wins over Jim Campbell, Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman to reach his third final of the season.

“Honestly, going up against Tim, we have been watching him since the beginning of the season and he is the one to beat out here,” Force said. “He’s got a car that everyone is looking to out run and he is doing such a great job. This weekend, he was running good in the worst conditions. Half the field wasn’t getting down the racetrack and he was out there outrunning everybody and improving his time. The only good thing was that I knew I wouldn’t face him until the finals.

“For our Traxxas team to come from behind and take him down for the win is pretty amazing. This wasn’t even a great weekend for our car, but that actually gives me a little more confidence for the rest of the season because I know we have a better racecar than what we showed this weekend.”

Among the issues Force had to overcome were a couple of fires at the top end, including one particularly scary incident following her second round win over Capps.

“We had a couple of fires down at the top end making it a little exciting. My guys were thrashing to get the car together and back out there after the second round and to be able to still run numbers like that in the heat and humidity, to be able to outrun Wilkerson, is pretty amazing,” Force said.

With Sunday’s win, Force added a number of milestones to her already impressive resume. Among them, her 105 round wins ties her sister, Ashley, in the Funny Car ranks, while her latest victory moves her into a tie for first place in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car standings with Wilkerson.

In addition, Force’s win extends the win streak for female nitro races to five-in-a-row, as Force equals her sister, Brittany, who currently leads the Top Fuel standings, giving John Force Racing a monopoly at the top of the nitro standings.

“It is pretty amazing for the females in our sport. To be able to continue the win streak and be at the top of the standings alongside my sister, is a feeling I can’t even describe,” Force said. “I am going to cherish this moment for a long time. This goes to show that we are on the right track with this car and that we are heading in the right direction with many more wins to come.”

Force also qualified herself for the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout at the U.S. Nationals later this year, a very important item to check off her list.

“That has been on my mind since the start of the season. Every time we come out here we are looking to get that win to lock ourselves into the Traxxas Nitro Shootout,” Force said. “To be locked in and not have to worry about it anymore, is great. And being able to get a win in Texas, the home state of Traxxas, is pretty amazing.”

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