DID YOU KNOW:
In 2017, Brittany became just the second woman to win the Top Fuel World Championship and the first to do so since Shirley Muldowney won the last of her three titles in 1982.
Last year, she became just the 19th pro driver to start as many as 50 tour events from the No. 1 qualifying position and only the fifth to do so in Top Fuel.
She began her racing career in a Super Comp dragster before moving up to Top Alcohol and ultimately becoming the first JFR driver to compete in Top Fuel, the sport’s signature class.
She was one of the nominees for the Driver of the Year ESPY Award presented by ESPN in both 2017 and 2022.
She was married last fall to long-time beau Bobby Lyons.
FOR THE RECORD:
2022 and 2017 Top Fuel World Champion
Current NHRA national record holder for both elapsed time and speed
2013 Auto Club Road to the Future Award winner (NHRA Rookie of the Year)
2017 AARWBA Auto Racing All-America Team member and co-winner of the Jerry Titus Memorial Award as recipient of the most overall votes.
First female winner of a four-wide tour event (April 24, 2016, at Charlotte, N.C.)
CHASING HISTORY
Outside of Shirley Muldowney, no woman has enjoyed more success driving the world’s quickest accelerating race cars than Brittany Force, the second youngest of the drag racing daughters of Hall of Fame driver and team owner John Force.
The newly married 38-year-old this year is seeking her third Top Fuel World Championship in a Mission Foods Series in which she has established her 12,000 horsepower Monster Energy dragster as the gold standard for raw performance.
She enters her 13th professional season as the NHRA record holder at the 1,000-foot distance for both time and speed after ending a two-year victory drought with a convincing triumph in last October’s Nevada Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
After last year becoming just the 19th pro driver to start a car from the No. 1 qualifying position in 50 different events, she now has her sights set on two more Monster milestones – an 18th tour victory and the aforementioned third championship. Those numbers represent Muldowney’s career output during the 1970s and early ‘80s when she was breaking through the glass ceiling in the sport’s ultimate category.
Significantly, Brittany and Shirley are the only women to have won the championship in either of the NHRA’s two nitro categories.
Like sisters Ashley and Courtney, Brittany got her drag racing start at Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School. After completing the licensing process, she raced in Super Comp for three seasons and in the Top Alcohol Dragster division for three more.
When it came time to turn pro, however, the graduate of Cal State Fullerton opted for a ride in the first Top Fuel dragster to race under the JFR banner. In her debut season, she won the 2013 Auto Club Road to the Future Award as the NHRA Rookie of the Year. However, she didn’t win her first tour event until 2016 when she prevailed in the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Florida.
The following year, she chased down Steve Torrence during the six-race Countdown to the Championship to become the first woman in 35 years to win the Top Fuel title. Although she started from the No. 6 position, she took her car to the final round in four of the six playoff races, sealing the deal with a season-ending victory in what today is the In-N-Out Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, setting the track and event performance records in the process.
Her championship defense began ominously in 2018 when she crashed heavily at the season-opening Winternationals on the same Pomona track on which she had won two months earlier. Nevertheless, she was back in the car two weeks later, won at Houston, Texas and finished fifth in points.
Despite her early success, it wasn’t until she was paired with current crew chief David Grubnic that Brittany began to set records as often as she won races. In their first season together (2019), she drove her Grubnic-tuned dragster to a time of 3.623 seconds ay Reading, Pa., that remains the official NHRA record.
Two years later, she started a career-best 12 times from the No. 1 qualifying position, at one time stringing together eight consecutive No. 1s. After settling for second place that season, she won five times in 2022, posted top speed of the meet in 17 of the 22 events, raised the official NHRA top speed record to 338.94 mph and became just the 12th Top Fuel driver to win more than a single championship.
One of the most cherished of her victories was the one she earned on Aug. 15, 2021 at Topeka, Kan., where she shared the winners’ circle with her dad in a double victory celebration for JFR. It remains the first and only time a father and daughter have won pro titles in the same event.
