Photos by Dave Kommel
Brittany Force secured the quickest Top Fuel time of the season at the NHRA Finals, qualifying No. 1 for the fourth time in the last five races. She posted a time of 3.643 seconds at 336.65 mph in her Monster Energy/Chevrolet dragster.
Austin Prock (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also took the top spots in their categories during the final race of the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. Force aims for a second consecutive win after her recent victory in Las Vegas.
Force expressed pride in her team’s achievements despite a challenging season.
“We ran a 3.64 and that’s huge. I’m very proud of [crew chief] David Grubnic and John Collins, and the whole Monster Energy team. I wanted as many bonus points as we could get,” Force said. “[The number of cars in the 3.6s] says the competition is fierce. It’s killer out there. I didn’t know how quick I ran but when I pulled off the track there were cameras in my face so I thought it might be better than it felt.
“I’m not disappointed [in being a championship longshot]. Everything happens for a reason, and it all helps pull our team together. We win as a team, and we lose as a team.”
Steve Torrence qualified second with a run of 3.644 seconds while defending champion Doug Kalitta secured third at 3.650. Current points leader Justin Ashley, seeking his first world championship, faces Antron Brown in the first elimination round.
In Funny Car, Prock set a track record with a time of 3.804 seconds, clinching his first career world title. It also put an exclamation mark on one of the most incredible rookie seasons (15 No. 1s and eight wins) ever as Prock becomes the first Funny Car driver since Cruz Pedregon in 1992 to win a title in his rookie season.
“I’ve been working towards this for 19 years,” Prock said. “I started driving race cars when I was 10 years old and all I could think of was being a professional race car driver in any manner and winning the world championship, and we got it done this year.”
“This thing’s been on kill this weekend,” Prock continued. “We made three really, really quick runs, and I’m doing a good job keeping it in the middle of the groove here.”
Greg Anderson remained in the championship chase with a top run of 6.505 seconds in Pro Stock. He stated, “Qualifying means everything. To be able to control our own destiny on Sunday is all you can ask for.”
Glenn is 29 points behind Stanfield, qualifying second with a run of 6.512 at 209.82, pulling to within a round of Stanfield heading into eliminations. He could potentially meet Stanfield in a winner-take-all final round as well, while Stanfield qualified fourth with a 6.517 at 209.98.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Matt Smith qualified No. 1, narrowing the points gap to 119 behind rival Gaige Herrera. Smith said, “We came here to try and get the win… It would be huge for us to win the race tomorrow.”
Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. PT on Sunday at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
