Brittany Force Breaks Shirley Muldowney’s NHRA Wins Record
Brittany Force may be leaving the NHRA at the end of the season, but she’s definitely not mailing it in on her way out the door.
The John Force Racing driver has been setting speed records all season and won the NHRA Nevada Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday to become the winningest female driver in NHRA history.
Force’s 19th career win and fifth at the track broke a tie with Shirley Muldowney she’s been in since winning the New England Nationals in May. She defeated Shawn Langdon in the final at Las Vegas by .0177 with a 3.704 sec run at 337.33 mph.
“This win is a special one,” Force said. “This race is now something more than any other race, because of that number 19, lining it up as the winningest female driver in Top Fuel makes it more special. When we look back on this win, this one now will be because we were able to do that with two races left.”
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The two-time NHRA champion, 39, announced in September after the end of the regular season that she was stepping away from full-time racing to try to start a family with her husband, Bobby Lyons.
“Ever since I made my retirement announcement, my guys have said they wanted at least one more win for me and I wanted to end strong and get back to that winner’s circle. It’s been far too long. I put my heart into it. My team puts their heart into this car. It’s very special,” Force said.
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Force broke her own track speed record during qualifying in Las Vegas and reset the all-time Top Fuel speed record several times this season, the fastest coming at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis at 343.51 mph. She also holds the quickest 1,000-foot time at 3.623 seconds, which she put down in Reading, Pa., in 2019.
Force has one shot left to make it 20 wins before she hangs up her helmet at the season finale the weekend of Nov 13-16 on her home track, the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in California.