Story By: JERRY BONKOWSKI / JOHN FORCE RACING – CHARLOTTE, NC – Access HendrickCars.com and you’ll find a spectacular inventory of nearly 30,000 cars, trucks and SUVs of every shape, size and description including high performance Chevrolet Camaros and Corvettes.
What you won’t find is a Hendrick vehicle like the one two-time World Champion Brittany Force will drive in pursuit of an elusive first season victory in this week’s 16th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway.
Force’s arrow-like Chevy, a purpose-built 11,000 horsepower rocket of a race car in which the 38-year-old set the current world record for acceleration by covering the 1,000 foot distance, from a standing start, in 3.623 seconds. She also is the record-holder for finish line speed at 338.94 miles per hour.
The second youngest of drag racing icon John Force’s four daughters, Brittany opted out of a traditional career after graduating college and instead decided to join her dad and sisters in the family business. She’s never looked back.
Over eleven full seasons as a drag racing professional, she’s won 16 tour events and has started from the No. 1 qualifying position 48 times. Among women, only Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Angelle Sampey has more No. 1 starts.
In 2017, she became the first woman in 35 years to win the championship in Top Fuel, the sport’s ultimate category, and five years later, she became just the fourth woman after Shirley Muldowney, Sampey and Erica Enders to win multiple pro championships.
Nevertheless, she and her David Grubnic and John Collins led team admittedly have struggled the last two seasons while transitioning to a new engine and clutch set-up. They would love to bring that struggle to an end in Charlotte and they believe they have the firepower to do so.
“This is a track on which we’ve had success in the past,” Force said. “We won the 4Wide (the track’s spiring race) in 2016 and we were runner-up at this race in 2018 and 2021 after qualifying No. 1 both times. Currently, we’re only ninth in points, but we’re pushing through and we’re determined to bring home that first win of the season for HendrickCars.com, Chevrolet, and Monster Energy.”