BREAKING: Team Force doubles down in John Force’s return
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series rolled into Las Vegas for the NHRA Ford Performance Nationals. It was more than a race, as the teams prepare for the final two races of the season with championships on the line, there was another feature to the event.
The return of a legend, 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force returned to the track for the first time since his accident in June. Force would be there as a spectator watching his three teams with daughter Brittany Force in Top Fuel, with Austin Prock and Jack Beckman driving his Chevy SS Camaro Funny Cars.
The final two rounds of eliminations were held over until Monday morning following an on-track incident, which took place in the semifinal round of Top Fuel with a pair of teammates, Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta.
They were both trying to get back into the points battle following the points leader Justin Ashley’s early exit. Langdon was on pace to score the easy win over Kalitta when his car drifted towards the centerline foam blocks and hit them, thus disqualifying him and sending shrapnel into his rear tire thus exploding the tire at well over 300 mph and sending Langdon into the shutdown area in a sea of sparks.
With an incredible job of driving Langdon was able to get the car safely stopped
With an incredible job of driving Langdon was able to get the car safely stopped without hitting anything else. While that was certainly spectacular, the delay for the event actually took place in the opposite lane with Kalitta. His dragster’s engine exploded when his dragster broke a rearend dumping synthetic fluid down the length of the left lane.
The NHRA Safety Safari after attending to both drivers making sure they were safe, began the long process of restoring the traction but were unable to do it in a timely manner Sunday night pushing the remaining rounds to Monday.
In true cinematic fashion, Brittany Force came through and scored her first win in two years with her father watching from the starting line. Force and her team dominated the field with their stellar performances throughout the weekend.
She scored the pole with a stellar 3.66 @ 334.98 mph blast on Saturday morning’s third qualifying session. In the opening round she defeated Josh Hart with a 3.721 @ 329.26 mph to Hart’s tire smoking 4.133 @ 209.07 mph. Round two she picked up the win over Shawn Reed with a solid 3.701 @ 325.92 mph to Reed’s 3.722 @ 328.62 mph.
Her semifinal round match up with Clay Millican, she would put the quickest run of eliminations up on the board 3.666 @ 331.85 mph to Millican’s 3.705 @ 329.99 mph. She would then defeat Doug Kalitta in the final as Kalitta’s Mac Tools dragster lost traction nearly immediately after he stepped on the throttle.
