BRITTANY FORCE SNARES PROVISIONAL NO. 1 IN TOP FUEL AT SONOMA
Brittany Force’s co-crew chiefs David Grubnic and Mac Savage like to swing for the fence in qualifying.
The duo hit a home run Friday night as Force and the Flav-R-Pac Monster Energy team snared the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot at the Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals with a 3.694-second elapsed time at 329.42 mph.
The only setback with the blistering run was the blown engine as Force was crossing the finish line.
“It definitely wasn’t our best run,” Force said. “We will take that No. 1 qualifier, 3.69 is pretty outstanding. We knew it was a good racetrack and conditions were cool. (Dave) Grubnic always likes to go up there and push because he wants that No. 1 spot. It was a great boom through that finish line. It just blew up. You feel it in there as a driver. My guys came on the radio right as when I went through the finish line, and they were telling me good job. I’m thinking ‘Were they not watching?’ I don’t think it was good, but obviously we put a good number on the board. We will take that.
“You just feel a big explosion behind you, and it throws you around in the seat. It is not pretty. All I’m thinking about is getting the car shutoff and getting it stopped on the racetrack. We have done this before. There’s a lot of work for my guys. There going to be up there all night cleaning that car up. The injector was sitting sideways on it. Not pretty, but we’re No. 1 so we will take that.”
Force arrived in Sonoma third in the points standings. She has three No. 1 qualifying spots this season in Las Vegas, Charlotte, and Denver and this would be the 24th of her career if it holds.
“I don’t know, we will see,” said Force when asked if her time would hold through Saturday. “This is a good track out here.”
At the Mile-High Nationals in Denver July 18, Force qualified No. 1 and then lost in the second round to Clay Millican. Force has two runner-up finishes this season in Charlotte, N.C., and Norwalk, Ohio.