LOS ANGELES, CA – Brittany Force, the 27-year old driver from Yorba Linda, Calif., entered her rookie season with reasonable expectations and much enthusiasm behind the wheel of her Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster. The day after she raced to her first career semi-final finish at the 49th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals, the Cal State-Fullerton graduate was awarded the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

The second youngest daughter of 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion and team owner John Force continued the John Force Racing tradition becoming the fifth team driver to win the prestigious award, which recognizes her as the 2013 NHRA Rookie of the Year.

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POMONA, CA – Castrol awarded a tricked-out 2013 Ford Mustang GT to Kevin Turner from Wichita, Kansas at this weekend’s NHRA finals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, CA. This yearlong promotion, kicked off at the 2013 NHRA Winternationals, enabled fans to win this one-of-a-kind Mustang GT by registering online at the Castrol USA Facebook page and at the “Win with Force Castrol Midway Display” throughout the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Three lucky finalists were flown out to the Auto Club NHRA Finals as guests of Castrol. As part of the promotion, they were also treated to a VIP tour of the John Force Racing shop in Yorba Linda, CA and got to have dinner with all the Team Castrol/JFR NHRA drivers.

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POMONA, CA – John Force ended his 2013 Mello Yello NHRA championship season on a high night but not the highest note. Force lost a close final round to Matt Hagan at the 49th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Force’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang had been nearly invincible the past five races. In the final he covered the 1000 ft. race track in 4.0057 seconds but Hagan was slightly quicker with a 4.018 second pass. His win streak may have been stopped at three races but the competitive fire was fanned heading into the off-season.

“(Matt) Hagan is a good competitor. I really wanted that final. I wanted to close this season out tonight. There is only one positive thing that comes out of this. At the other end when he congratulated me on the championship and I congratulated him on the win I knew right then I am ready to race next year,” said Force, who won 19 rounds in the Countdown this season. “This is what I do and I want to win them all if I can. I know you can’t do that but that will be my attitude next season. That is what it takes. Robert Hight has that attitude. My girls are learning that attitude. That is the key.  I have sponsors to find and I have a lot of work to do next year. I am going for seventeen.”

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POMONA, CA – John Force will go into race day at the 49^th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals as the No. 1 qualifier. Force was the provisional No. 1 qualifier on Friday on the strength of his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang Funny Car’s 4.015 second pass. Today during the final qualifying session Force was bumped back by Matt Hagan’s 4.014 second pass before the newly crowned 16-time Mello Yello NHRA Funny Car champion raced into the record books with the first three second pass in Funny Car history at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, 3.995 seconds at 319.37 mph.

Force and his Jimmy Prock tuned Castrol GTX Ford Mustang have put together a historic string of qualifying efforts over the last four races. From coast to coast Force has an average best qualifying elapsed time of 4.004 seconds. Starting in St. Louis (No. 3, 4.023 sec), Reading, Pa. (No.1, 3.987 sec), Las Vegas2 (No.1, 4.011 sec) and today at Pomona2 (No. 1, 3.995 sec). Three of the four runs have been track records (St. Louis, Las Vegas2 and Pomona2).

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YORBA LINDA, CA – John Force Racing has historically opened their Yorba Linda race shop for one day each year for his Holiday Car Show to support the California Highway Patrol and their long standing  CHiPS For Kids Holiday Toy Drive.  This year the newly crowned 16-time Funny Car champion John Force will open the doors of his facility at 22722 Old Canal Road, so fans can tour the shop for ten days prior to Christmas.

Beginning on December 6^th and continuing Monday through Friday until December 19^th the shop will be open between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. for fans to walk through and see some of the most exciting Funny Cars and Dragsters in NHRA history. Fans will simply need to drop off a new $10 unwrapped toy and they will be offered the opportunity to tour the John Force Racing shop and museum.

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POMONA, CA – John Force and the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang continued to flex their muscles Friday, climbing to the top of the Funny Car performance ladder while just missing an Auto Club Raceway track record on the way to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position for Sunday’s 49th annual Auto Club Finals.

While the newly-crowned series champion was putting himself in position to start from the front for the third straight race, rookie Brittany Force was applying an exclamation point of her own by driving the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster through the 1,000 foot timers in a personal best 3.787 seconds and 323.19 miles per hour.

It was the third personal best in the last seven races for the 27-year-old contender for the Auto Club’s 2013 Road to the Future Award that identifies the NHRA Rookie of the Year and it sends her into the final two Saturday qualifying sessions as the No. 4 qualifier.

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POMONA, CA – His Mello Yello Championship may be secure, but John Force still has work to do at this week’s season-ending 49th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Force started his bid for a record ninth victory in the season finale by driving the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang through the 1,000 foot timers in 4.105 seconds at 304.12 miles per hour, good enough for one bonus point and the No. 3 position after the first of four qualifying rounds.

“It is good to come out of the box first session and get down the race track. That gives you a strong tune up. I think we are all in the top four in Funny Car and Brittany is No. 7 in Top Fuel. Everybody is in the top half but tomorrow is a new day,” said Force, a 138-time NHRA National event winner. “We have wrapped up the championship but we are trying to win this race for all our sponsors from Castrol to Ford to Auto Club to Traxxas. Robert and Courtney are trying to get up to the No. 2 and No. 3 spot in the points. I have the championship but I still want to win the race because this is Auto Club Raceway and this is an Auto Club race.”

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POMONA, CA – He may already have clinched a record 16^th NHRA Funny Car championship, but rivals know that John Force isn’t just going to “mail it in” this week when the 2013 Mello Yello tour concludes with the 49^th annual Auto Club Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

In fact, one of the many ways in which Force has kept himself viable for 36 pro seasons is by creating new challenges for himself and his team, not just season-to-season, but race-to-race.  .

As a result, when he sends his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang back to work this week, he will focus on what little unfinished business remains in a season in which he has won four races, qualified No. 1 five times, recorded the second quickest run in the 1,000 foot era (3.985 seconds) and set a national speed record (323.50 miles per hour).

With a year like that, one might ask “what else is there?”

Well, while the 64-year-old icon has won the Auto Club Finals a record eight times, he’s never won the finale in an odd-numbered year.

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POMONA, CA – Courtney Force kicked off 2013 with a victory in her own backyard at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries, the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series season-opener, setting the scene for a great sophomore year in the Funny Car category.

Now, the three-time tour winner is ready to tackle the competition once again at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona for the NHRA Finals.

“It would be huge for our Traxxas Ford Mustang team to pick up another win at Pomona this season,” said Force. “It would be awesome to finish off the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello season on a high note. We are really focused on getting as many points as possible with just this one race left so we can move up and have a strong finish.”

Last time Force raced at Pomona, she qualified in the No. 1 spot and dismissed Phil Burkart Jr., Matt Hagan, Bob Tasca III, and Ron Capps to claim the title.

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YORBA LINDA, CA – Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team are looking forward to coming home. Hight will be racing at his home track in front of family and friends as he targets the No. 2 spot in the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings. Teammate John Force has already locked up the championship but Hight knows that finishing in the No.2 spot and or winning the Auto Club NHRA Finals would give his team momentum going into the off-season.

“You always want to win the last race of the season. That race will hang around with you for months until you can start testing and then come back for the Winternationals. I am excited John locked up the Funny Car championship and equally excited that we are in position to get to that No. 2 spot. We are three rounds out of second place and that is where our focus is,” said Hight.

While the championship may have been decided in Las Vegas there are four tough competitors battling for the two through five spots. Hight and teammate Courtney Force will be trying to drive around Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman during the final race of the season. Hight has won at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona four times in his career. Hagan and Force each have one win at the storied facility with 2012 Funny Car champion only reaching the final but never the winner’s circle.

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