Phoenix, Arizona (February 28, 2016) – John Force Racing attacked the track at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park outside of Phoenix qualifying 2-3-4 in Funny Car. Led by Courtney Force in the No. 2 spot JFR was the dominant team throughout the weekend.
The youngest Force held the No. 1 spot throughout the Friday and Saturday until there were only four Funny Car left when Ron Capps slipped around the 2012 Rookie of the Year with a 3.925 second pass to Courtney’s 3.930 pass from Friday in the heat. Force and Robert Hight were paired up as the last Funny Cars to run but they both overpowered the track and had to qualify on the strength of their previous efforts.
In the final session John Force did step up in the PEAK Antifreeze/Republic Services Chevrolet Camaro with a 3.938 second run that has him qualified third going into race day. It was the second quickest run of the final session and added two qualifying bonus points for the eight-time CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals winner.
“What can I say we ran 3.93 but we want to be low and get that No. 1 qualifier. I am here with Republic Services along with PEAK and we want to give them a good race car. We have four good race cars now and we will see what we can do tomorrow,” said John Force. Force posted qualifying runs today of 3.989 and 3.938 seconds to go along with two more three second runs from Friday of 3.973 and 3.99 seconds. The consistency for Force gives the winningest driver in NHRA history a strong hot rod going into race day against John Hale.
“I am most excited about feeling like we have turned the corner. Our hot rods will run with all the teams now. We still aren’t the quickest but we are excited about the direction we are going. That Monster Energy dragster is going down the track every run and being 2-3-4 in Funny Car. I have no complaints. I wanted to sweep the place with a 1-2-3-4 start since we are representing Republic Services but they are sweeping your streets so we will have to settle for that,” joked Force.
The Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car and Robert Hight took a shot at the No. 1 spot on their final run and had good reason on the strength of their third session 3.945 second run which was quickest of that round. They finished qualifying as the No. 4 Funny Car and will face two-time Funny Car world champion Cruz Pedregon in the first round.
“I am proud of this Auto Club team and really all our John Force Racing Funny Cars. We are 2-3-4 in qualifying and we all got qualifying bonus points. That kind of consistency will help us on race day I hope. I am looking forward to racing Cruz Pedregon tomorrow. He is a tough competitor and I know I will have my hands full,” said Hight.
After four rounds of qualifying at the CARQUEST NHRA Nationals, Courtney Force settled in the No. 2 position going into race day at the second event this season. This is the second year in-a-row that Force has qualified her Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car in the No. 2 position. She will have lane choice against Terry Haddock in the first round.
“Our Traxxas team came into today the top qualifier and we were trying hard to hold onto that spot. One of the great things about coming out here to Phoenix is we’ve done pretty well here in the past and we have qualified well, so we have had some really good data to build on,”
The youngest daughter of John Force made a massive run on Friday with a 3.930 ET right out of the box, which was a track ET record for Funny Car at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. The 3.93 held through three sessions of Funny Car qualifying before competitor and Funny Car veteran Ron Capps bumped her to the No. 2 position by .005 of a second.
“Being out here with this team is a lot of fun. We can joke around with each other and everyone gets along really well. When we rolled up for Q3, my guys thought it would be a good idea to hide a snake head under my head sock. So when I was getting ready for Q3 in the lanes I found it. It shook me up because I hate snakes. They thought it was hilarious. The cool thing is I have a great team around me because we’re out here working and doing what we love, but we get to have fun while we’re doing it. I’m very lucky to be on a team like this and to have my brother-in-law as one of my co-crew chiefs is pretty cool,” added Force.
“We went out there and picked up two bonus points on that run even after they pranked me. It was a solid pass. We pushed too hard on that last pass because it was really all or nothing at that point. We were trying to run in the 3.80s because that’s what we were running in testing,” said Force.
Haddock is Force’s 31st different competitor since she began racing Funny Car in 2012.
In Top Fuel Brittany Force closed out her qualifying effort with the fourth quickest run of the final session with 3.769 second run at 319.14 mph. She will race Shawn Langdon as the No. 5 qualifier versus No. 12.
“That last run was another great run by this Monster Energy team. I have a lot of confidence in this team and I am pumped to go into race day tomorrow. I will have a tough first round against Shawn Langdon but we’ll be ready. I have to thank Brian Husen, Alan Johnson and my Monster Energy guys for giving me a great race car this weekend. We are No. 5 in a tough Top Fuel field and I am excited to get back to the track tomorrow,” said Brittany Force, CARQUEST Nationals runner-up in 2014.
In the third session John Force Racing was tops of the Funny Car class with Robert Hight posting the quickest run 3.945 right in front of teammate Courtney Force’s3.966 second run. John Force kept his quality elapsed time streak at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park with another three second run 3.989 second pass. Hight garnered three qualifying bonus points and Courtney Force picked up two additional points and held onto her provisional No. 1 spot heading into the final round of qualifying.
“There are some good cars behind us but Mike Neff was shooting for that kind of run yesterday with this Auto Club Chevy. We had some fuel system problems that made us drop a cylinder one run and it just wasn’t happy. It is nice to have Courtney over there in the pits and to work together with her Traxxas team. The results are showing,” said Hight from the top end after his third qualifying session run.
Brittany Force and the Monster Energy Top Fuel team took to the hot track outside of Phoenix with another strong run that was the third quickest of the session and kept her in the No. 5 spot in qualifying. Her 3.782 second pass was only bested by Doug Kalitta and Steve Torrence.
NHRA ON TV Feb. 28 Finals - 5PM - 8PM ET/2PM - 5PM PT (FS1) LIVE
THE DRIVERS
JOHN FORCE, 66, PEAK Antifreeze/Republic Services Chevrolet Camaro SS
Final Qualifying: 3rd at 3.938 seconds, 323.81 mph
Bonus Qualifying Points: +3 (3rd quickest of Q1 and 2nd quickest of Q4)
First round opponent (W-L): John Hale (3-1)
ROBERT HIGHT, 46, Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS
Final Qualifying: 4th at 3.945 seconds, 317.87 mph
Bonus Qualifying Points: +3 (Quickest of Q3)
First round opponent (W-L): Cruz Pedregon (20-13)
COURTNEY FORCE, 27, Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS
Final Qualifying: 2nd at 3.930 seconds, 323.97 mph
Bonus Qualifying Points: +5 (Quickest of Q1 and 2nd quickest of Q3)
First round opponent (W-L): Terry Haddock (0-0)
BRITTANY FORCE, 29, Monster Energy Top Fuel Dragster
Final Qualifying: 5th at 3.769 seconds, 319.14 mph
Bonus Qualifying Points: +2 (3rd quickest of Q1 and Q3)
First round opponent (W-L): Shawn Langdon (2-3)
RACE SCHEDULE: Sunday, February 28
Final Eliminations 11:00 AM
