NHRA 2012 Road to the Future Award winner Courtney Force and her sister, incoming Top Fuel rookie Brittany, were among the fast cars at Palm Beach International Raceway in Florida on Friday as day one of the PRO Winter Warmups went in the books.
Courtney Force posted the best performance of the 12 Funny Car teams present at PBIR at 4.018 seconds (322.73 mph), followed by her teammates Robert Hight (4.021 seconds/318.24 mph) and team patriarch John Force (4.053 seconds/308.35 mph). The rest of the performance sheet for Funny Car:
4. Matt Hagan, 4.060/312.78 mph
5. Chad Head, 4.061/313.15 mph
6. Johnny Gray, 4.066/311.92 mph
7. Del Worsham, 4.067/311.34 mph
8. Bob Tasca 3, 4.073/315,42 mph
9. Ron Capps, 4.075/316.52 mph
10. Alexis DeJoria, 4.081/308.21 mph
11. Jack Beckman, 4.085/311.99 mph
12. Cruz Pedregon, 4.106/297.61 mph
“It felt like an amazing run,” said Courtney Force on NHRA.com. “You can always tell when you are going down there and Robert was right out my window. I could tell he was on a good run too. I didn’t think it would be a 4.01 but I thought it would be a low 4.0. We had been running 4.03s and 4.05s all week in testing. It is a great feeling. I am proud of my Traxxas team led by Ron Douglas and Dan Hood. They gave me a fast race car tonight. We are just having a lot of fun. We are pushing the limits to see what our car can take. I think we have seen what our Traxxas Ford Mustang can do. That was my quickest ET and the fastest mile per hour run for me. I feel good going into a new season.”
Brittany Force made the first side-by-side runs of her Top Fuel career and placed fourth on the time sheet (3.796 seconds/324.26 mph), behind Doug Kalitta in his own Mac Tools dragster (3.759 seconds/328.30 mph), Tony Schumacher (3.776 seconds/324.59 mph) and Kalitta again, subbing for Morgan Lucas in the Geico dragster (3.787 seconds/322.58 mph). The rest of the Top Fuel performance sheet:
5. Clay Millican, 3.804/322.73 mph
6. Bob Vandergriff Jr., 3.825/321.50 mph
7. Clay Millican, 3.828/321.42 mph
8. Leah Pruett, 3.850/307.16 mph
9. Antron Brown, 3.860/302.28 mph
10. Dave Grubnic, 3.870/271.08 mph
11. Sidnei Firgo, 3.883/318.24 mph
“I was nervous about (running side by side) because I have been testing for over a year without anybody in that other lane,” said Brittany Force. “I didn’t know what to expect with the whole visual of having someone beside you plus you add in the staging protocol. The sound of another car going down the track was an unknown for me. It was all fine. I ran against Clay Millican and he is awesome. He came over and talked to me before and after. He is a really great guy. I can’t wait to run him in the regular season.”
Get ready for the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season at www.nhra.com.
Quotes in this piece provided by the NHRA.
Check out Paula’s Examiner columns on motorsports:
Follow Paula on:
- Facebook – Paula Thompson Freelance and Examiner.com Motorsports
- Twitter - @paulat14
- Website – paulathompsonfreelance.com
- Flickr – Paula Thompson Freelance
Contact Paula at paulathompsonfreelance@gmail.com
Comments