Women Racing Archives – Page 13 of 41

L2 – Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles 2016

March 26, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Day 2, L2 – Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles 2016 departs through some varying treacherous conditions for the second leg of the journey. Part of the ongoing Coverage of the 26th edition of the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc – the all-woman, off-road rally raid that brings women between the ages of 18 and 65 from more than 30 different countries together in the Moroccan desert.

L2 Rallye Aicha des Gazelles 2016 start — Photo: Rallye Aicha des Gazelles

L2 – Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles 2016

Friday, March 25, 2016

The first leg of the competition provided some upsets, and 12 teams did not return to the base camp, sleeping in the desert. Weather would continue to be an issue for visibility, and organizers cautioned teams to be aware of the time and be strategic in returning to base, even if it meant sacrificing some of the check points.

L2 – Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles 2016 is a new portion of the course. The first CP will be an easy one, reached by flat easy terrain, or maybe even a section of road. After that, the Gazelles will enter a completely different landscape of wide empty spaces alternating with rugged terrain and old mines. The mines add more difficulties for the navigators, as their old trails can look more appealing than the plotted course.

The halfway mark will cross the Ziz, a wide oued crisscrossed with treacherous cracks and crevices. Base camp advised the teams to follow the trail rather than drive straight across terrain where they could get badly stuck.

EXPERTS will begin in the sand, transitioning into a straight route with nothing that should cost them any extra distances if they are able to stay on-course with the haze of dusk that masks the landmarks.

EL BEÏDA / EL BEÏDA – Ideal distance 115 km – Estimated time 9:00 – 8 CPs

Follow along live: http://www.rallyeaichadesgazelles.com/en/Rally/2016/live/

L1 – Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles 2016

March 25, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Today marks the official start of the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles with L1 (Leg 1) stage. Part of the ongoing Coverage of the 26th edition of the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc – the all-woman, off-road rally raid that brings women between the ages of 18 and 65 from more than 30 different countries together in the Moroccan desert.

L1 – Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles 2016

Thursday, March 24, 2016

All of the teams returned to the Bivouac from their Prologue adventure the night before, and were ready to take on the first official leg: L1 – Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles 2016. The early morning call did not provide them much opportunity for sleep, and the windy conditions posed quite the worry of sandstorm conditions on the course.

The day’s first CPs are located in a wide, flat zone where the main challenge will be to keep a straight heading over a long distance. Until CP3, the horizon offers a range of clear features that can be used as landmarks to steer by.

After CP3, they each will face extremely rugged terrain. It will be critical that navigators keep close track of their positioning. Should they end up losing their bearings, triangulation may not be of much help with all of the hilly landscape surrounding them.

They will also face their first run in with the sand.

EL BEÏDA / EL BEÏDA – Ideal distance 105 km – Estimated time 8:30 – 6 CPs

Follow along live: http://www.rallyeaichadesgazelles.com/en/Rally/2016/live/

Elaine Larsen receives Dick Moroso Memorial Award

March 22, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Larsen Motorsports Jet Dragster Super Team owner and driver, Elaine Larsen, was recently recognized by the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame as the recipient of the annual Dick Moroso Memorial Motorsports Award.

Elaine began her jet drag racing career by earning her license at Moroso Motorsports Park (renamed Palm Beach International Raceway – PBIR) in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2002. She is a two-time IHRA Jet Dragster World Champion, and the co-founder of the National Jet Racing Association.

She and her husband Chris, have developed and grown a multi-car jet drag racing super team that helps to educate, train and promote S.T.E.M. core curriculums through a new state-of-the-art 30,000 sq. ft. Jet Technology Center. Partnered with Florida Institute of Technology, the Jet Technology Center helps inspire and teach in the areas of Engineering, Fabrication, Human Factors and Artistry. Elaine currently has 7 jet drivers in her program, and has launched countless careers of young driving talents, crew chiefs, mechanical engineers and fabrication specialists.

Elaine Larsen receives Dick Moroso Memorial Award 2016

Elaine Larsen receives Dick Moroso Memorial Award at the Annual Palm Beach County Hall of Fame Gala, held March 20, 2016 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

The Force behind John Force Racing

March 22, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

The old saying ‘behind every great man is a even greater woman‘ rings true even in the male-dominated motorsports world. These women are often the unsung heroines of the sport that silently dedicate just as much of their lives to racing as their successful husbands. During the recent International Drag Racing Hall of Fame banquet, NHRA Drag Racing’s Laurie Force was recognized for her unsung contributions to the sport. She was honored with the Pat Garlits Memorial Award presented by Mopar for being the Force behind John Force Racing.

Laurie Force, the wife of 16-time Funny Car champion John Force and mother to NHRA nitro standouts Ashley Force Hood, Brittany Force and Courtney Force, has been a leading matriarch on the drag racing scene for over four decades. The award recognized Laurie’s presence behind the John Force Racing drag racing dynasty. Her dedication and passion embodies the spirit of Pat Garlits, and she was commended for remaining the ever-patient wife of 16-time champion John Force. A special video tribute video produced by Ashley Force Hood was played during the ceremony that included interviews with Ashley, Brittany Force, Courtney Force and John Force on Laurie’s sacrifice and hard work over the last 40 years.

In the early days, Laurie wrote my first contracts, mixed fuel and backed the race car up. She was with me from the beginning and there is no doubt I would not be where I am today without the support and love of Laurie,” said a proud John Force during the ceremony.

History of the Pat Garlits Memorial Award

Named in honor of NHRA Top Fuel legend Don “Big Daddy” Garlits’s late wife, the Pat Garlits Memorial Award was first presented in 2014 to Barbara Hamilton, the first woman licensed by NHRA to drive supercharged cars in 1964. In 2015, Joan Gwynn was honored for her contributions to the drag racing community as a supportive wife of 57 years to drag racing legend Jerry Gwynn, mother to racer Darrell Gwynn, as well as her charitable work with the Darrell Gwynn Foundation, and especially her involved with the Drag Racing Association of Women (D.R.A.W.) which has helped injured drag racers and their families for more than 30 years.

Pat Garlits passed away in February of 2014. She was beside her husband Don Garlits as he amassed too many awards to count and set more records than any drag racer in history. The legendary racer and innovator claimed that no matter the awards and accolades he received over his career the best day of his life was when he saw Patricia Louise Bieger for the first time in 1952. The couple was married for over 60 years and Garlits was faithfully by her side until the end of her life.

She loved her man with all her heart, body and soul and never thought of anyone else but him. She was at dad’s side through every win, loss, crash, you name it, she was there,” said daughter Donna in Pat’s moving obituary.

The Force Behind John Force Racing [Video]

Relaxed pace for Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Katie Sullivan

March 22, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Beside the big sea of semi-rigs and stacker trailers, a smaller grassroots-style gooseneck trailer sits at the end of the PRO pit row. The pit configuration is more fitting of the relaxed pace for Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Katie Sullivan and her father-daughter team based out of Corning, California. Sullivan, who at age 18 was the youngest female to ever qualify for and NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle event, has been a steady face in the class ever since, working hard to make her Pro Stock Motorcycle dream a reality.

She began in the Junior Dragster ranks at the age of nine, quickly falling in love with the sport and earning herself one track championship, one runner-up, and numerous event wins in the junior ranks. Around age 12, she fell in love watching motorcycles racing, and knew she belonged on a drag bike. That dream turned into a reality shortly after her 16th birthday. Her first year on a drag bike, she appeared in 5 finals and qualified number 1 at numerous events. But at the age of 17, she suffered a devastating knee injury while playing high school basketball, that sidelined her racing.

Determined to come back to her motorcycle, she spent hours in physical therapy with the goal to climb back on the bike and resume her racing career. Once she was able to overcome the injury, she quickly set her sights on becoming the youngest female to ever qualify in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle. At 18, just days after her high school graduation, Katie was able to accomplish her goal of qualifying for an NHRA national event. She became just the seventh female to do so in the class, and even earned her first round win against her childhood idol, Karen Stoffer in her first professional start.

In 2009, Katie and Charlie purchased their own Pro Stock Motorcycle, embarking on their own program which has allowed Katie the flexibility to finish her college education and handling her full-time responsibilities for her two own businesses: Kalifornia Katie’s Trailer Sales and Tough Girl Designs. Though she would love to be out on the tour full-time, the fun and family-focused relaxed pace for Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Katie Sullivan has been very rewarding for her personally. The duo spend their time together traveling on the road to races, and working on the bike during the evening hours when home. Though it may be a lot of hard work for the small team, and can be especially tiring when returning to a full-time job at home, Katie says her heart is in NHRA PSM racing, as evident by her persistent smile. At the track, she enjoys interacting with the fans in a more relaxed and friendly setting, and takes time to help inspire kids by allowing them to be up close to her PSM bike, even sitting them on the seat for photos.

2016 Gatornationals

Katie and her dad Charlie made the over 40 hour and 2,900 mile haul from their northern California home base to Gainesville, Florida for the 47th annual Amalie Motor Oils NHRA Gatornationals, the Pro Stock Motorcycle (PSM) class season opening event. Last season, they attended 5 events total – Charlotte, Denver, Sonoma, Las Vegas and Pomona – finishing 23rd out of 39 drivers in the class at the end of the year. They made a few changes over the off-season on her Suzuki PSM and were ready to get started in Katie’s eighth professional PSM season of racing in Gainesville.

But the family encountered some unexpected issues in qualifying. In the opening round, Katie made it about 400 feet out before having to abort, coasting to an 11.695 at 68.94 mph. Round two saw her launch stray towards the wall, resulting in another aborted run of 12.132 at 63.73 mph. In round three, she made her best pass of the weekend, running a 7.136 at 187.26 mph, moving her from the bottom of the ladder to the No. 23 position. Between rounds, the team had made some changes to the carburetors looking to improve, but something went wrong in the linkages after the burnout, and while trying to stage the bike for her final attempt to get into the field, the idle refused to come down. NHRA shut the bike down for safety, and Katie would not qualify for the Gatornationals this year, ending up in the No. 25 spot.

Undiscouraged, she plans to try again at the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte later in April. They will regroup and come up with a game plan to pick back up and improve their efforts. Always mindful of their limited resources, they arranged to house the bike with a fellow competitor on the east coast to avoid another pair of cross-country hauls. Though she has yet to earn her first event victory, she’s having fun and to her, that’s just as rewarding.

Best of luck to “Kalifornia” Katie Sullivan!

Mechanical difficulties for Angelle Sampey

March 22, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Angelle Sampey was fresh off a near-perfect test session with her brand new Star Racing Buell NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle entering the 47th annual AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. The three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle World Champion posted her career-best ET on the new bike in only the second pass of testing. As they arrived at Gainesville Raceway, the Star Racing team showed plenty of confidence in the new program. But mechanical difficulties for Angelle Sampey meant the team had plenty of hard work on their hands for the duration of the weekend. She made the field, but would not have the season opening event she had hoped for, exiting early in the first round of eliminations.

Mechanical difficulties for Angelle Sampey plague qualifying

The very first session, Angelle would launch hard, but something went amiss on the bike, and by half track she was coasting to an 8.629 at 98.03 mph effort. Star Racing team owner, George Bryce, took it back to the pits and discovered that the engine had expired in 4th gear. That left them swapping engines between rounds.

Round two, Angelle was able to get it down the track, and jumped up the ladder with a 6.854 second E.T. at 192.44 mph. It was good enough to get her the provisional No. 4 position, but the back-up engine also had issues at the lights.

Angelle made it to high gear before we tossed a pushrod out,” said Bryce after the run. “Still went 6.85, we where down 5 MPH, as she coasted through.”

This meant engine number three for Angelle, and the Star Racing team was back to work in the pits, preparing for the third round of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Sampey, who had maintained the provisional No. 4 qualifying position entering the third round, would complete her burnout and begin to stage when the starter spotted fluid coming from the bike – an oil leak, and shut her down.

After taking care of the oil leak, Angelle and her Star team would have one last qualifying attempt to try and gain some data on the track and the swap to back up engine #3. Sitting at the back of staging awaiting her final qualifying pass, a few in front of her would bump her down the ladder a few spots. She would take the line in the No. 7 position, and would get down the track with a 6.847 at 195.70 mph pass, enough to push her up to the No. 5 final qualifying position. The pass was the third-quickest run of the round, giving her 1 additional bonus qualifying point.

Seeing Red in Eliminations

With a secure spot in the top half of the eliminations ladder, Sampey would face No. 12 Jim Underdahl in the opening round on Sunday. She had lane choice, and entered the round calm and confident on the bike. But unfortunately, the dreaded red light came on for Angelle by just -0.002 thousandths of a second, handing the win to Underdahl. She would post a 6.956-second pass at 197.19 mph.

The bike bogged at the launch,” said Sampey. “I have to tell you, I don’t know what else I could’ve done differently. I did everything like I usually do and I can’t believe it went red. After I launched, it bogged so bad it almost died. We’re thinking that contributed to why it went red.”

An early exit was a big disappointment to Angelle and the PSE/Star Racing team, but Sampey knows the team made a lot of progress, although they did not experience the successes they were hoping for.

George Bryce confirmed that the red light was due more to mechanical difficulties for Angelle Sampey and not driver error.

“We got beat and outrun,” said Bryce of the first round loss. “I missed the clutch tune up, the clutch did not slip at all. A Pro Stock motorcycle must have clutch slip at the launch. When Angelle popped the clutch the bike just reacted too quick AND the engine bogged 2800 RPM. I try to get it to 600 to 700 rpm bog. Of course all of that “helped” her go -.002 red light. She was very calm and confident and the starting line, 1st round but, when the engine almost choked off, it took so long to recover. The time for the quarter mile took too long, 6.95 instead of the time it should have run. Good news is she still ran over 197 MPH on that bogging run.”

Sampey didn’t let it keep her down long though. She knows that they are working out some early issues and is ready to get to the next event to pick back up and show the field what they are truly capable of doing in the class.

“I feel I was lucky to be No. 5 with all the trouble we had with the engines in qualifying. It’s the first race of the season and I’m riding a brand new motorcycle. It’s the first race back with two bikes and we’re trying to learn. It was a productive weekend even though it wasn’t a successful weekend by our standards.”

Pro Stock Motorcycle competitors watch out, Angelle and the Star Racing team is coming for them. The next race for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class will be the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina April 22-24, 2016.

Narrow first round loss for Enders

March 21, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Two-time reigning NHRA Pro Stock World Champion, Erica Enders has had a rough start to her 2016 season. The 47th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals ended in another narrow first round loss for Enders, ultimately losing by a hundredth of a second, her third straight first-round loss this year.

We’re getting so close to where we want to be, and we knew making the switch to Mopar would take some adjustments, but it’s still frustrating when you lose a drag race,” Enders said, “especially when you consider all of the success we’ve had the last two seasons.”

Enders went door-handle-to-door-handle with good friend and fellow competitor Allen Johnson in the opening round of eliminations, running a losing 6.639 at 208.65 mph to his 6.634 at 208.97 mph.

I could see ‘Brutus’ (Johnson) out of the corner of my eye the whole way down,” Enders said. “That’s one big advantage we have without the hood scoop any more — you can see everything. I just did my thing and tried to be perfect going through the gears, but we came up a fender short.”

Johnson left with a miniscule .006-second head start but was able to hold off Enders’ Elite Motorsports/Mopar Dodge Dart as the two streaked down Gainesville Raceway. The margin of victory at top speed was estimated to be about four feet.

I keep saying it but we’ve only had these Hemi motors for a month, so it’s new to all of us, but when Jake Hairston and Nick Ferri tell me there are big things to come, I believe them. The more and more runs we make and the more dyno time those two have, the better it will be.”

Enders and her Elite team have been wrestling with an entire new program – a new car, new NHRA mandated changes to EFI, no hood scoops, shorter wheelie bars, and the typical learning curve associated with that drastic of change.

I know we’ll be alright and the guys are upbeat and telling me not to get down, but I suppose I’ve gotten a little spoiled. At the same time, I know we have the best team, the best crew guys, the best tuners, the best engine builders in the world under this awning, so there’s no doubt we’ll be back to our winning ways very soon. We just have to be patient.”

The next stop on the NHRA tour is the 17th annual Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals, April 1-3, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, although Enders thinks she’ll be in the seat before that race begins.

I’d imagine the guys will want to test some more,” Enders said. “It’s easy for us to go to Keith Haney’s track in Tulsa (Okla.) because it’s close to the race shop and that track is so good it’s just like anything we see on the national tour. We’ll probably hit it hard when the truck gets back to Oklahoma.”

First final for Megan Meyer

March 21, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

NHRA A/Fuel rookie Megan Meyer made quite an entrance in her official rookie season debut at the 47^th Annual Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals. The event earned her team the Best Appearing car award in Gainesville, as well as marking the first final for Megan Meyer in the Top Alcohol Dragster class.

With the persistent rain in Gainesville over the course of Thursday – Saturday, it certainly didn’t look good for Top Alcohol Dragster class – limited to two qualifying sessions. In the first session, Megan lost traction and had to abort the run, coasting to an 11 second elapsed time and barely a spot on the 16 car ladder. They waited through to the late evening for their second round attempt, where Meyers was able to shoot up the ladder with a career-best qualifying time of 5.224 at 276.75 mph. She held the #1 position until she was bumped by Mia Tedesco to the No. 2 final qualifying spot entering Saturday eliminations – the first time two women held the top TAD qualifying spots since Brittany and Courtney Force qualified 1 and 2 in 2010.

This would place her against John Finke for the opening round of eliminations. She takes the lead at the tree, running straight down the the groove with a career-best ET of 5.203 at 278.00 mph to Finke’s losing 5.611 at 257.97 mph. She would face the other Finke car driven by Jackie in the second round on Sunday.

Meyer would carry lane choice into round two Sunday afternoon. At the hit, Jackie’s car would go up in smoke forcing her to abort the run, while Megan would take the advantage at the tree and continue down the track with a 5.611 at 274.83 mph, sailing onto the win and the semi-finals. She would face Jerry Powell, but would not have lane choice in the pairing. On the line, Megan would take the early advantage, never looking back with a 5.234 at 274.61 mph while Powell suffers traction issues and aborts the run. She earns the win, marking the first final for Megan Meyer in national event TAD competition.

On the other side of the ladder, Rich McPhillips would upset No. 1 qualified Mia Tedesco to face Megan. The ninth final for McPhillips, he held the advantage with three previous class victories going into the deciding round. This round, it was McPhillips who would strike first at the tree, outrunning Megan after a pedal-fest with a slower 5.567 at 266.95 mph to Megan’s 5.564 at 273.55mph, a hole-shot victory for McPhillip and a difference of 0.0101 seconds or four feet at the finish line.

AMAZING job to the McPhillips team and I’m so, so, so proud of the Randy Meyer Racing Team for all that they put into this hotrod all weekend long!! We accomplished many achievements in just a few days and I’m still speechless! A huge thank you to all of our sponsors and supporters around the world!!!!!”

Megan Meyer and team win best appearing car at the Gatornationals — Photo: NHRA.com

Megan narrowly misses her first win in Top Alcohol Dragster, and defending the her dad’s 2015 Gatornationals victory, but she and the team did win the Best Appearing Car/Crew in Gainesville, after they unveiled new Racers Evolved livery on their 2015 Copeland A/Fuel chassis.

DeJoria adapts to new chassis changes

March 21, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

The Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patrón team had their work cut out for them entering the 47^th annual NHRA Gatornationals as NHRA Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria adapts to new chassis changes made between races.

Following the Phoenix race, Team Patrón decided to run teammate and 2015 Funny Car World Champion Del Worsham’s back-up chassis going forward. Despite the initial challenges, crew chief Tommy DeLago feels confident that the adjustment will pay off in the long haul and make Team Patrón that much more competitive as the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season labors on.

The Patron team struggled to make it down the track throughout most of qualifying during this weekend’s three-day history-rich event at Gainesville Raceway. The car failed to make a full pull until the fourth round, where a run of 4.041-seconds at 314.61-mph put them in the No. 12 qualifying spot going into round one of eliminations. Sunday morning, DeJoria found herself without the advantage of lane choice against opponent Matt Hagan.

DeJoria falls first round — Photo: Gary Nastase

DeJoria was able to make progress, powering her Patrón Toyota Camry down the drag strip in 3.992-secs in the opening session, her best run of the weekend. But it wasn’t enough to take the win, as the Patrón team came up short against Hagan’s 3.966-second run, ending their day early in Gainesville.

This weekend we started running Del’s back-up chassis,” said DeJoria, a three-time Funny Car winner, adding, “Our car that we started the year off with had a ton of runs on it so we wanted to try out a new chassis and see if making that change could get us back to where we want to be performance-wise. That being said, there are a lot of different things on the car that we all need to adapt to. Not only is the chassis different, taking different input from the crew chiefs, but as a driver, the steering wheel is different, the brake handle is different, the reverser is different, my seat belts are different; so it might take a race or two to get this thing handled. We’re chipping away at it, little by little, and once we figure everything out, I think we’re going to do really well. We made another full pass again today and we’re back in the three-second range again, so that’s a plus. We didn’t get the round win but we were really concerned about trying to make progress with this new setup that we have.”

DeJoria made it to Round 2 in the Pomona season opener, but also exited in the opening round in Phoenix. They are hoping the chassis changes will help them to regain ground in the Funny Car points chase, where she currently sits in the No. 9 position. The team is looking forward to the upcoming 17th Annual DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals on April 1-3 in Las Vegas, where Alexis earned her second Funny Car win previously.

“I think Vegas will be good- we’re looking forward to that race,” DeJoria said. “This chassis will prove to be much better than what we ran in the first two races.“

Brittany Force lands first career Top Fuel win

March 21, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

It was a magical day filled with smiles for NHRA Top Fuel driver, Brittany Force at the 47th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. The third-year driver made it to her eighth career final in Top Fuel against Terry McMillen, the second consecutive final after a narrow defeat against Leah Pritchett in Phoenix. This time, Brittany Force lands first career Top Fuel win, capturing the lead in the championship points for the first time in her career as well.

The Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster was the car to beat all day long. Brittany posted the quickest passes in every round of eliminations, leading up to the final.

Gatornationals Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations

In the first round, she would face Morgan Lucas, a former 2012 Gatornational champ and an adversary she had not yet scored a victory against in their two prior meetings. But in round 1, she would leave first and never look back. Brittany defeated Morgan Lucas with a 3.739 second run at 319.45 mph over his losing 3.770 second, 316.75 mph effort.

Gatornationals Top Fuel Round 2 Eliminations

Brittany would face rookie Tripp Tatum – the 26th competitor she has faced in Top Fuel, and although the Monster Energy dragster dropped a cylinder at launch, Brittany would keep it in the groove through to the finish, running a 3.808 second, at 311.05 mph. Tatum would run a clean 3.890 at 320.05 mph, but it wasn’t enough for the win.

Gatornationals Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

Brittany Force, Terry McMillen, Dave Connolly and Clay Millican remained in the semi-finals, each vying for their first victory in NHRA Top Fuel competition. The first pair would see McMillen take the win after Millican smoked the tires at the start. Brittany proceeded to dispatch Connolly, running her best effort all weekend – a 3.729 second at 323.89 mph. This would give Force lane choice over McMillen in the final.

Gatornationals Top Fuel Final Eliminations

The final round would see the addition of a 102nd different winner in the history of Top Fuel to the books. McMillen was vying for his first at his longtime sponsor, Amalie Oil’s title event, while Brittany hoped to bring home the first Top Fuel win for John Force Racing. Brittany has appeared in eight previous finals, against six different opponents. But wait no more, as Brittany Force lands her first career Top Fuel win – running a 3.772 at 318.77 mph against McMillen’s 3.981 second, 266.90 fireball, engine expiring effort.

Brittany is sixth different driver that Alan Johnson has tuned to their first pro win after Blaine Johnson in 1995, Gary Scelzi in 1997, Bruce Sarver in 2000, Shawn Langdon in 2012 and Khalid alBalooshi, also in 2012. She is the ninth different woman to win in Top Fuel – joining Shirley Muldowney (1976), Lucille Lee (1982), Lori Johns (1990), Shelly Payne (1993), Christen Powell (1997), Melanie Troxel (2006), Hillary Will (2008), and Leah Pritchett (2016) in the record books. Her win coming after Pritchett’s inaugural wally in Phoenix, not only makes it the first time since 1982 that two different women have won a Top Fuel race in the same season, but also at consecutive races, after Shirley Muldowney won the 1982 Gatornationals and Lucille Lee also won the next race in Atlanta.

Photo: Gary Nastase

Last weekend was incredible and we almost made it there and I was definitely very bummed but very proud of my entire team because they worked so hard to get here. Today when we came out here, and driving out to the track and I was feeling good,” Force said from the winner’s circle. “As a driver I had that feeling, I had it in my stomach and just felt like we were going to go all the way. We finally did and I have been chasing this for so many years and this is a proud moment to be standing here today. I have to thank my entire team, my crew chiefs Brian Husen and Alan Johnson – thank you for getting us here. I love all my guys. Thank you to my family, especially my dad, for giving me this opportunity.”

Brittany leaves the Gatornationals event with the Top Fuel points lead heading into the next event, the DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals, April 1-4 in Las Vegas, NV.

Watch Brittany Force lands first career Top Fuel win

The first time is so so SWEET! Brittany Force wins her first Top Fuel Wally in Gainesville. Share to congratulate. #NHRA #AmalieGatornats

Posted by NHRA on Sunday, March 20, 2016