Brittany Force makes history with maiden Top Fuel crown

Brittany Force has become the first female NHRA Top Fuel drag racing champion for 35 years, repeating a feat last achieved by Shirley Muldowney in 1982.

The second-generation driver took her fourth win of the year at last weekend's season finale in Pomona, California, with a 3.668 second run at 330.07 mph to beat Shawn Langdon. However, she wrapped up the championship earlier on in the quarter finals of the event.

Force had to wait until June for her first win of 2017, clinching victory in New Hampshire. That would prove to be her only regular season win, but she went on to in three of the six playoff rounds, including the season finale.

"I can't believe we are here. It seems like a dream," said Force. "The reason we are here is because of that Monster team and all the support I have and all the sponsors. Everyone at John Force Racing, and that is the reason we are here."

"We struggled, we had our ups and downs, but we pulled it together when it mattered most," she added. "I give all of it up to my crew chiefs, Alan Johnson and Brian Husen. They are the ones that made this possible. They always had my back, and they kept pushing me."

Force's first title came in her fifth season of competition, and follows her first wins in 2016. Racing for her father's John Force Racing team alongside her sister Courtney, her brother-in-law Robert Hight, and her dad, Force is the team's first and only top-fuel competitor, with the team having won a record number of titles in Funny Car.

Hight made it a double title win for John Force Racing by clinching his second NHRA Funny Car championship in Pomona - his first since 2009.

Hight, also a four-time winner in 2017, beat 2016 champion Ron Capps to the championship, with team mate Courtney Force in third. John Force finished sixth in the final points.

JFR currently holds 20 NHRA titles, 19 in Funny Car -16 for John Force, two for Hight, one for Courtney Force, and one for former driver Tony Pedregon - and one in Top Fuel.

John Force has a record 148 Funny Car event wins, while Courtney Force has more wins than any other female competitor in history - a record she took from her sister Ashley Force Hood. Force Hood retired in 2010 but still tests sporadically.



Images: John Force Racing (Facebook)