CONCORD, N.C. – John Force Racing showed up in force for the NGK NTK NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway.
Team owner and 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force and his daughter, 2017 Top Fuel champion Brittany Force, were the No. 1 qualifiers in their respective divisions to close out qualifying Saturday afternoon.
It’s the second time in NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series history that a father and daughter have qualified No. 1 on the same weekend in different categories. John and Brittany Force were also the first to accomplish the feat at Houston (Texas) Raceway Park in 2019.
The elder Force ran a 3.902-second pass at 330.55 mph to take the top spot in Funny Car for the 161st time in his illustrious career. Alexis DeJoria ended qualifying second fastest with a 3.930-second run, with Ron Capps qualifying third at 3.943 seconds.
“It’s exciting, I get to wear one of these hats here with Camping World, we’re with Jayco and they sell a lot of product there. Taking this PEAK BlueDEF Chevy to No. 1 with Brittany and Flav-R-Pac over there. It means a lot, being out here with her, I love my kids and my grandkids,” John Force said. “Daniel Hood and Tim Fabrisi, these guys all make it happen for me, I’m just a shoe. We’ve been learning a lot and all the teams work together. Daniel Hood and Tim, they work really well together. We’ve struggled in the past, so, you know, runner up last event and then come out here low ET, that’s good for your feelings. Now you have to make it count tomorrow. They’re doing the job, I’m driving, give me a good car and I’ll win races. So, we’ll see where it goes.”
Brittany Force stayed on top of the Top Fuel field after her track record run on Friday night that saw her make a 3.662-second pass at 333.08 mph. It’s her second No. 1 qualifier of the season and 22nd overall of her career.
“Ending Saturday qualifying today we struggled a little bit. Looking at the big picture we went No. 1 with my dad, we’ve only done that two times. It’s exciting to have two No. 1 qualifiers in the John Fore Racing pits. Pumped on it,” Brittany Force said. “We’re going to have a tough day tomorrow. Even though we got that No. 1 spot, we didn’t get down the race track like we planned so we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Defending Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence qualified second with a 3.683-second pass at 316.97 mph, with Leah Pruett third at 3.718 seconds and 324.59 mph.
Buddy Hull and Luigi Novelli didn’t qualify for the Top Fuel field.
For the fourth-straight race to open the season, Greg Anderson was the top qualifier in the Pro Stock division. His time of 6.524 seconds at 210.50 mph, which he set during Friday evening’s qualifying session, was enough to keep him at the top of the board after two more rounds of qualifying Saturday.
“I love racing at this race track. It’s my home track. I’ve got a lot of experience out here, we test a lot out here, I should know the track well,” Anderson said after his 110th No. 1 qualifier. “Looking forward to a big day tomorrow with the HendrickCars.com Chevy.”
Aaron Stanfield will start race day from the No. 2 position, with defending Pro Stock champion Erica Enders qualifying third for the second of two four-wide races on the NHRA schedule this season.
John Gaydosh and Richie Stevens failed to qualify for the Pro Stock field.
Scotty Pollacheck moved to the top of the qualifying board on Saturday afternoon in Pro Stock Motorcycle with a track record 6.737-second elapsed time at 201.16 mph to earn his fourth career No. 1 qualifier. Steve Johnson qualified second and Matt Smith qualified third.
“We’ve been to a lot of finals at the four-wide but we’ve never been able to get the trophy at the end,” Pollacheck said. “Hopefully tomorrow we’ll change that though.”
While Pollacheck earned the No. 1 spot in qualifying, it was Eddie Krawiec who stole the show. Krawiec set a national record with a top speed of 203.49 mph during Saturday’s final qualifying session.
That pass came only hours after Krawiec became the first Pro Stock Motorcycle rider to surpass the 203 mph barrier with a 203.37 mph run. Krawiec ended the day sixth on the qualifying board with a 6.771-second pass.
Pablo Gonzalez, David Barron, Ron Tornow, Marc Ingwersen, Jianna Salinas and Chris Bostick were the six riders who didn’t qualify for the 16-rider Pro Stock Motorcycle field.