KENT, Wash. (July 22, 2023) – John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS team rallied to their first No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways. Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevy Camaro SS team will start from No. 4 while in Top Fuel, Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team are No. 5 and Brittany Force with Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy are No. 10.
John Force and the PEAK Chevy team started day two of qualifying at the Northwest Nationals from the No. 2 spot. They had a solid pass to start Saturday’s qualifying with Force handling the PEAK Chevy to a 4.041-second pass at 318.92 mph. Force would take over the No. 1 spot in the final session by a landslide with a 3.915 pass at 327.35. The No. 2 qualifier only had a 3.961. With the No. 1 start, he’s earned a bye in the first round of eliminations.
“My crew chief, Danny Hood, does a great job, he’s got Tim Fabrisi to back him up and a great bunch of guys that really support me. We got a race to win tomorrow. Our team cars are good, some are a little bit off. Some are hot, I didn’t think we’d be that fast. Danny said, ‘Hang on.’ When he does that, I know he’s pushing it. I’m excited. Some days you get beat up and you feel like everything is going wrong. Then you run like that and you feel young again. That’s pathetic, but that’s the way it works,” Force said. “I love Seattle. They’ve made a lot of improvements up here and invested a lot. The fans showed up today. Yesterday was light but we had them here today and I want us to do it again tomorrow. Let’s keep Frank Tiegs, who loves it, sponsoring this thing. Let’s do it again tomorrow, let’s have a safe race and an exciting end to the weekend.”
It is Force’s seventh No. 1 at Pacific Raceways and 166th in his career. It is his first No. 1 qualifying position since September 2022, when he took the No. 1 spot at the NHRA Carolina Nationals in Charlotte.
Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools team consistently improved during their three qualifying efforts. With a 4.028 on Friday night, they jumped to a 4.006-second pass at 323.66 mph on Saturday afternoon and then broke into the three-second range with a solid 3.963 at 320.81 mph that ultimately earned them the No. 4 qualifying position and a date with long-time rival Cruz Pedregon in the first round.
“Feels good to have improved each session. Jimmy Prock and this Cornwell Tools team, they learned from each run, and it showed so it has me excited for race day,” Hight said. “We need some consistency; we need to go some rounds. It’s coming together, and it’s good timing. SO we’ll just see how tomorrow goes. Would love to get a back-to-back win here for Frank Tiegs and Flav-R-Pac and celebrate in the winners circle with our partners at Cornwell Tools too.”
Austin Prock and the Montana brand team were consistent through qualifying at the Northwest Nationals. After a 3.808-second run on Friday evening, Prock handled the Montana Brand dragster to a 3.774-second pass at 323.27 mph Saturday afternoon and then a 3.818 at 315.56. Prock’s efforts landed him the No. 5 qualifying spot but an unfortunate matchup with teammate Brittany Force in the first round.
“This Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team made some progress today. We had a really nice pass in the second session this afternoon, but we dropped a cylinder in the final session and couldn’t improve,” Prock said. “All in all, a good day. I’m looking forward to the greatest day of the week, Sunday.”
Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac team had nothing but room for improvement entering the day without having made a full pass on Friday night. They’d put together a 3.808-second pass at 319.22 mph on Saturday afternoon before having to shut off early in the final session for only a 4.042 at 221.63. As the No. 10 qualifiers, they’ll take on their teammate Austin Prock in the first round.
“I’m excited to be here a the Flav-R-Pac Northwest Nationals. We qualified in a tough position No. 10 and right out of the box we face teammate Austin Prock in the first round,” Force said. “It’s unfortunate. That’s drag racing for you though. We’re both going to battle it out. At least one of us is going to the second round to make Frank Tiegs and all of Flav-R-Pac happy. This Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team is looking for a long day, we need to turn our luck around after two tough days of qualifying and get this win.”
The Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways continues with eliminations Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Television coverage of the event continues with a second qualifying show Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will be aired Sunday at 4:00 p.m. ET on FOX Broadcasting Network.
