Still seeking the consistency that sent her to Top Fuel World Championships in 2017 and 2022, Brittany Force understands that her bid for an historic third title at the wheel of her national record-holding Monster Energy Chevrolet is a long shot entering this week’s 28th NHRA Midwest Nationals.
When qualifying begins Friday at World Wide Technology Raceway, just across the river from St. Louis, the Californian racer will trail pacesetting Antron Brown by 178 points, the equivalent of roughly nine rounds of racing.
Nevertheless, the second youngest of drag racing legend John Force’s four daughters remains upbeat in a season in which she has been quick and fast but also up-and-down, failing thus far to advance into a final round.
“The great thing about the Countdown is that everything resets and that makes it anybody’s game,” she said. “We would have liked to have done better (in the first two Countdown races), but we’re still in it.”
The 38-year-old knows better than most what actually is possible in the playoffs having watched teammate Robert Hight win one of his three Funny Car championships from the No. 10 starting position in 2009 and teammate Austin Prock move from 12th to third in the Top Fuel standings in 2022.
“We can’t be focused on the other people, hoping they’re not going to do well,” she said. “That’s not going to get us anywhere. We’re just focusing on our team, what we can accomplish, and just looking straight ahead at that; not being worried about everyone around us.”
While the path to a championship that would tie her with Shirley Muldowney is a circuitous one, there is a milestone well within her reach this weekend.
Coming off No. 1 qualifying efforts at two of the last three races including the Labor Day U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, she needs just one more No. 1 start to reach 50 in her pro career. That would be a significant achievement insomuch as only 18 other pro drivers have managed to reach that plateau, only four of them in Top Fuel.
To do so this week, though, will be a little more challenging insomuch as WWTR is one of the two tracks (Epping, N.H.) on which the 16-time tour winner never has qualified at the top. Her best effort was a No. 2 start in 2021.
Still, it is moving up in the driver standings that is most important to the woman who two years ago raised the WWTR track speed record to its current 338.43 miles per hour.
“Our focus remains one run at a time,” she said. “We need to qualify in the Top 5 to pick up some (bonus) points Friday and Saturday and then go rounds on Sunday. This Monster Energy team has worked incredibly hard and remains focused on getting back into the winners’ circle this weekend.”
This story was originally published on September 26, 2024. 
