There’s no question Top Fuel driver Brittany Force has established herself as a great driver.
Force was an NHRA champion in 2017 and 2022, and has been a No. 1 qualifier 53 times.
Since 2023, however, finishing in the winner’s circle on Sundays has been a difficult task. Force entered the NHRA New England Nationals this weekend with just one national event win in her last 46 races, and that came at the 2024 fall race at Las Vegas.
Force ended that drought Sunday by claiming the title in Epping.
Force, piloting her Monster Energy dragster, clocked a 3.694-second elapsed time at 340.39 mph to defeat Tony Stewart’s 3.720, 329.91 in the finals.
“We have been working on our performance all season long and I just knew we have been inching closer and closer, and this weekend was it,” Force said. “Kind of the entire team, we talked and a lot of them had a good feeling about” Sunday.
This was Force’s 18th career Wally and her second in Epping. She previously claimed the title in 2017 by toppling Antron Brown.
“Coming into race day in Epping, I won here in 2017, and we just felt good” about Sunday, Force said. “We just kept turning win lights on, and we went 340 mph in the finals and 341 mph earlier in the day, and we were very consistent (running) 69s and 68s all day long. We had a bad hot rod all day long.”
Epping has been good to the Force family. Brittany’s father, 16-time Funny Car champion John Force, has won three times at the facility in 2015, 2021 and 2024. Courtney Force, Brittany’s sister, also won the nitro FC title at Epping in 2013.
On June 2, 2024, John Force beat his teammate Austin Prock in an all-John Force Racing final, to claim his NHRA-record 157th career Wally. That was Force’s last win. He has not driven since he was injured three weeks later in a racing crash near Richmond, Va.
“This is a very special win and unique,” Brittany said. “Coming back here, the last time I stood in the winner’s circle was my dad’s winner’s circle here. This was his last win last season so coming in here there was just more behind it. We want to win every single weekend, but there are some tracks that are a little bit more special. There’s more meaning behind them. This one was very special because we stood in his winner’s circle here last year.
“We wanted to get the job done and this Monster Energy team, we did just that. He (her dad) said he heard my interview and thanked me – that I had dedicated the win, the trophy, to him after everything he’s been through and that we stood here last season and now we’re standing here again.”
Force, who made her first Top Fuel start at Pomona, Calif., in 2013, accomplished another milestone in her victory march as she ran her career elimination-round record to 303-236.
“It is all of John Force Racing,” Brittany said when she was informed about JFR’s six career Wallys at New England Dragway. “It is every single one of these guys. We work hard all season long, and this just happens to be a track we like and we happen to win at. The really nice thing was that conditions didn’t change on Sunday. We have had to adapt to the last handful of races, so it was nice that we felt more prepared coming into race day. I definitely think it plays into the picture. We have been strong here in the past and I’m glad we could get the job done.”
On Sunday, Force, the No. 5 qualifier at 3.703 seconds, used a come-from-behind charge to overtake Clay Millican near the finish line, then marched past Shawn Reed and No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta before edging Stewart.
Force’s dragster has consistently posted the strongest speeds in the Top Fuel ranks. This weekend, she reset the track speed record and clocked the second-fastest pass in Top Fuel history (341.42 mph) in her semifinal win over Kalitta.
Yet, she said the jaw-dropping speed numbers weren’t her team’s goal this weekend.
“I leave that to David Grubnic, John Collins. This team has been incredible. We have a few new additions onto this team this season and we’ve all kind of just gelled together very well,” Force said. “Every guy in a different position, which is kind of a little nerve wracking coming into the season trying to figure out a routine, and we found it instantly. So, I’m really proud of these guys, but that’s more David Grubnic coming in. We weren’t trying to run 340. That was not our goal today. It was to turn on win lights, however that came.
“We won here in 2017. It was the same year that we won a championship. Our team typically does well in cooler conditions, and that played to our favor all weekend long. And I truly believe sometimes you’re just meant to win at specific tracks. I won in Las Vegas last year. I felt like that win was our team’s for sure. It was my dad’s return back after his wreck in Richmond and his first race back. We doubled up with Austin Prock and our Monster Energy team and brought him home a win. And this is just another special unique one. Sometimes I think God just has bigger plans.”
Brittany also knew nothing was going to come easy against Stewart who was appearing in his fifth consecutive final round and is a NASCAR and IndyCar legend.
“The mindset is just trying to stay focused and not let all that noise in and not worry about who’s in the lane next to you and that they’re the point leader and what they’ve been running all day,” Force said. “Just put my faith in this team, my crew chief, that we have a good car and that I need to do my job on the line and turn a win light on.
Stewart captured the title at the Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals near Chicago on May 18 – the national event prior to Epping.
“I start overthinking is my problem, pulling up into a final, and Grubnic before the run just reminded me, ‘You’ve been in championship runs, we’re here in Epping, you’ve been here before, you have won here before. Let’s go have fun.’ First round, for whatever reason, is a really tough one. That’s the one that makes you sick to your stomach. And he said, ‘We’re in the final, this is easy now. Let’s just turn the win light on.’
“Hearing that from him and then all of my crew guys, we had a little bit of downtime before coming up here and we kind of just hung out together and we’re having fun in my pit and it was just getting back to not being so focused, so in your head that it ends up screwing you up, but get back to driving from the heart as my dad says, and having fun with your team because the reason we’re out here is because we love the sport. I love driving. I love working with these guys and sometimes you lose sight of that, so you got to hone back in on that, and we were able to do that today.”
Up next for Force and her peers is the Super Grip Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., next weekend (June 6-8).
“I like going right to the next race. I hate having all this downtime. I mean, we had a week off in between Chicago and now and then two weeks, the one before that and I was actually home for two weeks,” she said. “A lot of the time we’re flying around doing sponsor events and two weeks seemed like a month; it felt like forever. So, I like these races that are back-to-back. You’re carrying that momentum, that energy. You go right into it just a few days later. You haven’t been out of the seat long, you haven’t been out of your routine long. And I feel like that’s good for this whole team. It builds confidence. And we’re ready to get to the next one.”
