Story By: JERRY BONKOWSKI / JOHN FORCE RACING – DINWIDDIE, VA – The timing could not be better for two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force’s return this week to Virginia Motorsports Park.
In serious need of a victory after a troubled start to the 2024 campaign, the 37-year-old can’t wait to get her 12,000-horsepower HendrickCars.com Chevy back on the all-concrete surface on which she set track records for time (3.654 seconds) and speed (335.82 miles per hour) en route to winning the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals in 2022, the last time the race was contested.
“(I’m) excited to return to Richmond with HendrickCars.com as our primary sponsor,” said the NHRA national record holder for both time and speed (3.623 seconds, 338.94 mph), “(especially) coming out of a strong weekend in Bristol. (Our) team has made progress on the track and we are starting to see results on race day.”
As a semifinalist in the most recent tour event, the former NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year earned the right to compete in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge in which she will have a chance to reverse the order of finish against point leader Doug Kalitta. It will be her first appearance in the bonus race since April when she lost to Tony Schumacher in the Phoenix final.
The 16-time tour winner also is looking forward to a unique change in routine.
“Richmond is changing things up,” she said. “It will be a two-day event, which is something I’ve never done in my career. I’m interested to see the fan response for a Saturday and Sunday event. It will definitely speed things up and we are hoping for a positive outcome (for our team).”
Three qualifying sessions on Saturday, the last two concluding with #2Fast2Tasty competition, will set the fields for Sunday eliminations on what is expected to be a very hot track surface.
Brittany’s 2022 victory at VMP, which included a final round win over Steve Torrence, expanded the scope of John Force Racing’s success in the intermittently contested Virginia Nationals. That win made her the fifth different JFR driver to hoist the trophy in the 13 manifestations of the event, the first in 1995. Furthermore, in her three previous appearances, she has started no further back than No. 3 in the qualifying order.