Brittany Force breaks Top Fuel track speed record 3 times en route to NHRA Sonoma Nationals title

Brittany Force was fast, faster and fastest (say that three times fast). She broke the track speed record for Top Fuel Sunday at Sonoma Raceway in three elimination rounds in a row, in addition to the time record in the first round.

So when no records fell in the final, it was a bit surprising, but she won her first Top Fuel title at Sonoma, so it didn’t matter.

Force beat San Jose native Mike Salinas in the final, beating him to the line thanks in part to a fast reaction time at the start, and never trailed with Force winning by 0.032 seconds at the line. She was one of four first-time winners at Sonoma Raceway.

This is Force’s fourth Top Fuel win of the year – tying her with Salinas for the most this season – and 15th career win. She was impressed with the continuously increasing speed she was able to generate as the rounds progressed, giving credit to her team.

“The best runs that we’ve had all weekend, and to do that on race day, it’s tough,” Force said. “It’s not easy. And we were able to pull it off. I know we’ve done it in the past before when you came out on race day and we improve and improve. I don’t know if we’ve done it all day long.”

The younger Force set a new track speed and time record in the first round of Top Fuel eliminations in the second race of the day, running the quarter-mile at Sonoma in 3.662 seconds at 336.07 mph, besting Austin Prock.

Force then came back in the quarterfinals and edged out Steve Torrence, breaking the track speed record again at 336.49 mph, edging Torrence by 0.053 seconds.

And then, she did it again to book a spot in the finals: she got another speed record at 337.75 mph to beat Shawn Langdon to set up a showdown with Salinas.

Bob Tasca III edged out Brittany’s dad, NHRA legend John Force, to win the Funny Car title.

For Tasca, it was his third appearance in the finals in three events. The third time turned out to be the charm. He explained that in the previous two weeks, where he was beaten by Robert Hight in both finals at Norwalk, Ohio, and Denver, Tasca knew Hight had the better car. The tables turned this weekend in Wine Country.

“I don’t think I’ve beat the guy in three years,” Tasca said. “Mentally, in Norwalk and Denver, he had the upper hand. His car was just running a little better than our car, and we gave it the best shot we got.

“Out here, we had the upper hand. And he knew it. … they had to come get us. And I think as a driver that puts you in a real nice spot.”

Ron Capps hadn’t lost in the first round of eliminations this season. Then he had to go up against legendary John Force in round 1.

Force booted Capps in a toe-to-toe battle to the line, besting him by 0.028 seconds to advance to the quarterfinals. It was Force’s 268th appearance in an NHRA final.

Force advanced to the quarterfinals with an impressive 330.88 mph run, edging J.R. Todd by 0.026 seconds, and then defeated Alexis DeJoria in the semis to advance to the finals against Tasca.

New Englander Tasca edged Hight, who was looking for his fourth straight win at Sonoma, by 0.018 for his spot in the finals against the Force. I was Tasca’s third straight appearance in the finals.

If Brittany and John had both won their finals, it would have been the second time they’ve done that, the previous instance at Topeka, Kansas, last year.

In other events, Joey Gladstone won his first national event and first "Wally" trophy, besting Pro Stock Motorcycle great Eddie Kraweic by having 0.018 seconds faster reaction time at the starting line, and beating Kraweic to the line, despite being .001 seconds behind him.

“I’ve been waiting for this day since I was 12 years old,” Gladstone said to Fox TV immediately after winning.

Greg Anderson changed engines after the Pro Stock semis, per the race track PA. It wouldn’t matter. Erica Enders edged out the great by .0031 at the starting line, and it was enough to beat out Anderson after an engine issue at the finish line that slowed her car down by more than 12 mph than Anderson’s finishing speed. This would have been Anderson’s 100th Pro Stock win. It’s Enders’ first win at Sonoma in her 18-year career.

Enders told Gladstone earlier Sunday it would be his day. Turned out she was right.

“I’m honored to share the winner’s circle with him because this is something he’ll never forget,” she said. “And being able to capitalize on Sonoma is something I’ll never forget.”

It was Enders sixth win of the year, and she was the top qualifier heading into eliminations on Sunday.

Tough weekend for local

Petaluma native and defending Super Comp champion Marko Perivolaris didn’t make it to Sunday to defend his crown, falling to James Glenn by 0.02 seconds in the third round on Saturday. Perivolaris was taken out by Ron Kelly in the first round of eliminations in Super Gas by 0.03 seconds where he “red lit” by 0.001 of a second and it cost him the race.

“The cars went back into the trailers in one piece and that’s always a good weekend whenever nothing major breaks,” Perivolaris said.

He hasn’t raced as much as he usually has this year due to focusing on the family business. Perivolaris does plan on racing at the Nightfire Nationals in Boise, Idaho, in August, three more NHRA Division 7 events, and the national NHRA events at Las Vegas and Pomona. He’ll also be part of the operations staff for Bracket Racing, LLC at Bristol, Tennessee, and another race in Ohio.

Periolvaris is thankful for the racing he’s been able to do this season. He did advocate for more weekend drag races at Sonoma in addition to the national event.

“I’m just hoping for the sake of these local racers and myself and my family that there are more races at Sonoma Raceway than just the national event,” he said. “It’s by far, I believe, one of the nicest facilities in the country. I just hope there are more weekend drag races than just the national event.”

Great crowd

Both ends of the stands at Sonoma Raceway were pretty full on Sunday, but the NHRA didn’t reach its designated sellout capacity. The NHRA didn’t release an exact attendance figure.