John Force’s daughter, Brittany, to race top-fuel dragsters

Another daughter of drag-racing legend John Force will join the sport’s major leagues this year.

But unlike her father and two racing sisters, Brittany Force plans to drive top-fuel cars -- the fastest in the National Hot Rod Assn.’s premier Mello Yello Series. The 8,000-horsepower dragsters reach speeds of 330 mph.

John Force, 63, has won a record 15 championships in the sport’s other elite class, funny cars, whose speeds top 300 mph. His daughter Courtney, 24, also races funny cars as did her sister Ashley, 30, before she left in 2011 to have a baby.

So racing in top-fuel will be new not only to Brittany but to her father’s race team, which will prepare her cars.

“I’d like to see [Brittany] qualify at every national event, that’s the goal” this season, which opens with the Winternationals in Pomona on Feb. 14 to 17, John Force said after announcing her plans at his Yorba Linda headquarters. “I want her to be in the game.”

Drag racers typically have three days of qualifying at each race to reach the final eliminations on the last day that determine an event’s winner.

Brittany, who has spent several years racing dragsters in the sport’s minor leagues, said her goals this year are “really getting to know my team” and “go for our first win. I’m going for a win.”

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