Maybe those yellow hats from being a number one qualifier aren't everything they are cracked up to be. After Steve Torrence grabbed the top qualifying spot on Saturday, It was Brittany Force who ended up hoisting the final Wally from Houston!
“I love Houston,” said Force. “Winning here, with this team, we’ve had some great years. I won here back-to-back in 2018 and 2019. I won in 2018 after a terrible wreck. That was an emotional win because I didn’t know if we’d come back. Now, we’re here with David Grubnic and Mac Savage and it’s incredible to be able to do it again. This Monster Energy team wanted to close out Houston on top and we did it.”
“We looked at the ladder and we felt confident coming in,” Force added. “We wanted to be No. 1, but we got moved to second but still thought we had a good shot at it. We also didn’t make every single qualifying run but it didn’t seem to hold us back. We’ve just been working so hard to get where we are.
“This was a baby holeshot but it was huge. This is for all those runs where my guys gave me the car to win, and I didn’t give it back to them. This is for them.”
Force took over the points lead thanks to a solid day that includes wins against Josh Hart, Shawn Langdon, Billy Torrence, and Ashley. Force now has 13-career wins in 30 final rounds.
RPM Round By Round:
Round 1 - Brittany Force is 13-6 in round 1 when qualified 2nd. Josh Hart beat Brittany Force on a holeshot in the final round at Charlotte last year. Force is 3-2 against Hart in prior events. Hart with the starting line advantage but loses traction right at the hit and clicked it off. Force is straight down the groove with a good clean pass.
Round 2 - This is only the 2nd meeting between B. Force and Shawn Langdon since the start of the 2018 season. When they race Langdon "leaves first" 81% of the time. Force is 9-7 against Langdon in prior events. Langdon with the starting line advantage, but is up in smoke early and clicks it off. Force is straight down the groove with a good looking pass for the win.
Round 3 – Force and Billy Torrence have each won 4 times against the other in prior events. They have identical reaction times. It appeared they both dropped cylinders around the same time. Force's seven cylinders out ran Torrence's seven cylinders. Force is advancing to her 30th final round.
Round 4 – Justin Ashley is 3-1 against Force in prior events and this is the first time they have faced each other in a final round. Force with the starting line advantage and the power to hold on for the hole shot win. Brittany Force's MOV: 0.0291 seconds (approximately 14 feet). Force wins for the 13th time in her career and the second time this season. This was a great side-by-side drag race for the last Top Fuel race in Houston.
See a full recap of the full day:
See Sundays photo gallery from NHRA National Dragster:
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