Brittany Force hopes Monster Energy team keeps rolling in St. Louis

Published September 28, 2017

MADISON, IL – Brittany Force and her Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster team are hitting their stride at just the right time.

Force is coming off a spectacular victory in the NHRA Nationals last weekend at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., cementing herself as a contender for the 2017 championship. That win followed a semifinal finish in the first race of the Countdown to the Championship in Charlotte, as Force has moved to third in the Top Fuel standings.

Can Force continue to rise as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to Gateway Motorsports Park for the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals this weekend? Gateway marks the halfway point of the Countdown, with only three races remaining to determine the 2017 champion after this event.

“In the Countdown, there are only six races, and they’re all important,” Force said. “But St. Louis is the halfway point, so you’ve got to make sure you’re still on your game, still fighting and hanging in there to the final few.

“At this point, it’s anyone’s game. Each weekend, you go up, you go down. By the end of a weekend, everyone could swap places. It’s really important to hang in there, gain as many points as you can and perform well on race day. That’s what it’s all about. That’s our plan in St. Louis.”

Force is only one point out of second and 23 points out of first. With 20 points awarded to each round winner in an NHRA race, that’s not a big margin to make up.

Force is in her fifth year in Top Fuel, and she’s improved each season. She was 13th in her rookie season, 10th in 2014, seventh in 2015 and sixth last year. Could a title be in her future?

That’s the goal of Force, tuning consultant Alan Johnson, crew chief Brian Husen and the Monster team.

“I’m so lucky to be teamed up with Alan Johnson, Brian Husen and the entire Monster Energy team.” Force said. “I have to give it up to my entire team. With Alan and Brian and our team, we’re a one-car team out here, and it’s not easy, especially when you’re going up against multiple players.”

Two qualifying sessions are slated for Friday (5 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Central) and Saturday (2 and 4:30 p.m.), with eliminations slated for 11 a.m. Central on Sunday.

Fox Sports 1 will broadcast an hour of Friday’s qualifying live at 5 p.m. Central and will have one hour of coverage on Sunday at 1 a.m. Central. FS1 will provide three hours of live eliminations, beginning at 1 p.m.

Big weekend ahead at Gateway for AAA Missouri driver Robert Hight

– The AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals this weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park is an important race for Robert Hight – for many reasons.

For starters, Hight is in the thick of the championship battle in Funny Car, sitting eight points out of the lead as the Countdown to the Championship hits the halfway point after this event.

Plus, this race is big for Hight because he’s carrying the race’s sponsor on his Chevrolet Camaro SS, as he’ll drive the AAA Missouri Chevy at Gateway.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Hight said. “Those guys in St. Louis really get behind us, and they’re all good folks. It’s one of my favorite cities, one of my favorite tracks. We want go to in there and put on a good show for them. We’ve won there before, so we know how to do it. I’m proud to have AAA on for the next couple races: St. Louis and Dallas. I hope we can get in the winner’s circle and have them join us.”

Hight comes to St. Louis on a hot streak that started this summer, as crew chief Jimmy Prock, co-crew chief Chris Cunningham and the entire John Force Racing team have powered Hight to three victories, six No. 1 qualifiers and the national record in elapsed time (3.793 seconds) and speed (339.87 mph) over the last 12 races.

“It’s a lot of pressure, because you’ve got a great race car, and you don’t want to screw it up,” Hight said. “You’ve got to go up there and make perfect runs. You want to win a championship? That’s what you’ve got to do. We are all up to the task.

“It’s pretty cool when Jimmy Prock can up there and tell you within a hundredth or two what the thing’s going to run. That’s not easy to do especially when you’re trying to run that hard. If you’re being conservative, that’s one thing to go up there and be consistent. But to do it and be quick – it’s an art.”

Hight, the 2009 Funny Car champion, led the Funny Car standings at Charlotte and has helped pad his points total with a plethora of qualifying bonus points. He piled up 10 last weekend in Reading, Pa., to give him 13 in the Countdown – more than double the next driver.

Drivers earn three points for being quickest in each of the four qualifying sessions, with two for No. 2 and one for No. 3. Hight hopes to add to that total this weekend, as well as chase the national speed record – and perhaps become the first into the 340-mph range.

“Can’t wait to get to St. Louis,” Hight said. “The weather forecast looks great long-range. That’s a place you could see 340 miles an hour. It’s a great racing surface, and I love the fans there. It wouldn’t hurt to do it at a AAA event. I think we can do it. I’m excited about St. Louis.”

Two qualifying sessions are slated for Friday (5 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Central) and Saturday (2 and 4:30 p.m.), with eliminations slated for 11 a.m. Central on Sunday.

Advance Auto Parts driver Courtney Force carries momentum into St. Louis after consecutive finals

– On the strength of back-to-back finals and runner-up finishes in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series competition, Advance Auto Parts driver Courtney Force has jumped from sixth in the points standings to third with four races remaining in the annual Countdown to the Championship.

That she did so at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., and Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., is even more reason for optimism heading into the final four races of the Countdown. Previously, her best finishes at Concord was a semifinals appearance, and at Reading, a quarterfinals finish.

Force has won races at each of the upcoming four tracks on the schedule. She won in 2014 at Gateway Motorsports Park, which hosts the next race on the circuit and halfway point of the final six-race stretch that determines champions in NHRA’s professional categories. Two rounds of qualifying for the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals are scheduled for Friday, with two rounds Saturday and elimination rounds Sunday.

“Our Advance Auto Parts team is excited to be back in St. Louis,” Force said. “This is a race we’ve won at in the past, and it definitely can turn things around if we can get a win in the middle of the Countdown. We were able to do it before – we’ve won at this track in the past – and at this point, being that we’ve moved up to third in the points standings, it would be huge if we could get a win. We’re looking for it. We’ve come close so many times this season, and we’ haven’t been able to get the job done, but hopefully we can make it happen this weekend.”

In the regular season, Force recorded a sixth-place finish in the points standings despite not winning a race. However, her six No. 1s and overall strong qualifying results netted her a significant amount of bonus points, keeping her within striking distance as the playoffs began. After earning her seventh No. 1 two weeks ago in the NHRA Carolina Nationals in Charlotte, she ran to a runner-up position, after meeting teammate Robert Hight in the finals.

She started an uncharacteristic No. 8 at Reading, but her Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS ran remarkably consistent on race day, with three runs in the 3.96-second range on an equally atypical hot Reading surface. Those runs pushed her into the final round, which she nearly won, only to come up short when one of her parachutes deployed just before the finish. Regardless, it marked another strong finish and more points, that put her within 39 points – less than two rounds – of Funny Car points leader Ron Capps. She is also only eight points behind Hight for second.

“As long as we can keep our car running consistently, I’ll be happy,” Force said “We’ve got to keep pushing because there are a lot of teams coming up behind us in the points, and if we want to pass the guys ahead of us, we’ve got to push this car and this team to be our best at these last few races. This is the time we’ve got to make it count if we want to get that championship.”

In addition to winning at Gateway in 2014, Force has qualified in the top half of the bracket in all five of her races there, and holds a 6-4 record in elimination rounds. With her recent success, Force has no doubt she can carry her momentum over to the St. Louis-area track.

Two qualifying sessions for the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals are scheduled for 4:30 and 7 p.m. Central on Friday, with two more sessions at 2 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Elimination rounds are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Fox Sports 1 will carry one hour of live television coverage of Friday’s first qualifying session, beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern. FS1’s coverage of Saturday’s sessions is scheduled for 1 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. Three hours of live elimination-round coverage begins at 2 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.

16-time champion John Force heads to St. Louis seeking victory for PEAK Coolant & Motor Oil team

– John Force made it clear Sunday after the NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., that the most important thing for him is to see his entire operation do well. For the most part, he likes what he saw at Reading.

His daughters, Brittany and Courtney Force, each made finals appearances at Reading, with Brittany Force winning in the Top Fuel category and Courtney Force finishing runner-up in Funny Car. Brittany Force moved to third place in Top Fuel points, only one point out of second and 23 points behind points leader Steve Torrence, while Courtney Force remained third, only eight points out of second and 39 points – less than two rounds – behind Funny Car points leader Ron Capps.

Meanwhile, teammate Robert Hight is second in the Funny Car standings, having earned his sixth No. 1 qualifying effort at Reading and another 10 bonus points.

And there’s reason to believe John Force will be happy with all four cars as the series shifts to the Midwest for the next race at Gateway Motorsports Park. Force is eighth in Funny Car points heading into this weekend’s AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, the third and halfway point of the annual Countdown to the Championship for competitors in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Force got a boost Monday that has him and his PEAK Coolant & Motor Oil Chevrolet Camaro SS team optimistic about getting back in the hunt for a championship. Force – eliminated in the first round of the NHRA Nationals – had a best run of the weekend at 3.978 seconds at 324.12 mph, in qualifying, netting him the No. 13 qualifying position.

During a test Monday at Reading, in similar weather and track conditions found throughout the three-day Reading event, a few tweaks and changes to the car resulted in a solid pass of 3.885 seconds at 325.77 mph, which would have given him a No. 4 qualifying position. That the team found almost a tenth of a second gives Force belief he can still contend for his 17th championship.

John Force has tasted success at Gateway. He has three of the team’s six Funny Car victories and has two No. 1s. His last win came in 2013, en route to his 16th and most recent championship.

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