AUTO CLUB ROAD TO THE FUTURE NOMINEE BRITTANY FORCE LOOKS TO CONTINUE STRONG SHOWING AT ZMAX DRAGWAY

CONCORD, NC – Coming off a strong weekend in Indianapolis, Top Fuel rookie Brittany Force returns to the Charlotte area for a second time this season in search of her first career win at zMAX Dragway for the Carlyle Tools NHRA Carolina Nationals.

Force, the third oldest daughter of 15-time Funny Car world Champion John Force, was No. 1 qualifier twice out of four qualifying runs at Lucas Oil Raceway, the highest she has been on the qualifying ladder in her rookie season. She’s hoping to continue riding that momentum heading to the “Bellagio of Dragstrips”.

“I’m glad to be going back to Charlotte,” Force said. “I love Charlotte. Bruton Smith has a beautiful track out there. I’m glad it’s not going to be four-wide this time around and it’ll be just a normal drag race with only one car in the other lane. I can’t wait to get back there.”

Prior to the previous event, the first ever Top Fuel team at John Force Racing added a new member to the roster. John Medlen, who oversees JFR’s research and development program, will now be assisting Force’s crew chiefs, Dean Antonelli and Eric Lane for the remainder of the season. Jimmy Prock, current crew chief on the Castrol GTX Funny Car team, will also be assisting the team.

“We did make some changes before the Indy race and even though we have had our struggles, there’s only one direction to go and that is up,” said Force. “We’re hoping to move forward and advance some rounds and go for our first win before the season ends.

“I love working with John Medlen. He’s family to me. My whole family has been close to the Medlen family for years. It’s really great to be working with him and I love having him on our Castrol EDGE team. Working with Jimmy Prock is great, too. My entire year of testing was pretty much with Jimmy and his team, so I’m excited to have both of them come over and be working on the first top fuel dragster at John Force Racing,” Force continued.

During the off week, the former schoolteacher and her team were able to test prior to the Carlyle NHRA Carolina Nationals. Running a new setup, they learned a few things that will help the team in future races. Crew chief Dean Antonelli believes this will help the Castrol EDGE team coming into Charlotte and the five races that follow.

“Testing went pretty well and we learned some things,” Antonelli said. “Hopefully we got the motor a little happy in the last 400-500 feet of the run. The car ran pretty good on a hot track and was very competitive. We still have room for performance beyond what we did.

“Charlotte has a real good race surface. The starting line is a little tricky I understand for dragsters. We raced there earlier in the year and the way the starting line is configured it makes the dragsters produce a little more driveshaft speed, but other than that it’s pretty much landmine conditions if the temperature is in the 80’s or less, so we’ll be real good there,” continued Antonelli.

The return to zMAX Dragway marks the beginning of a six-race battle known as the Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s playoffs. Despite not making the Countdown, the 27-year-old Yorba Linda, Calif. native still has her eye on one particular prize: her first Wally.

“There are six races left in the season and unfortunately we didn’t make it into the Countdown,” Force said. “The Castrol EDGE team and I are still going to go after our first win. With the changes we’ve made with Medlen coming on board, we think we are moving in the right direction.”