Auto Club NHRA Finals: Brittany Force breaks speed record again
Top Fuel points leader Brittany Force speaks with her father John Force in the staging lanes prior to the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel points leader Brittany Force relaxes in the staging lanes as she speaks with a crew member prior to the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car points leader Robert Hight prepares for the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel points leader Brittany Force, near lane, heads down track against Justin Ashley during the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel points leader Brittany Force relaxes in the staging lanes as she speaks with a crew member prior to the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader Matt Smith heads down track during the opening qualifying session at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel points leader Brittany Force does her burnout during the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car points leader Robert Hight near lane, heads down track against Ron Capps during the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader Matt Smith waits in the staging lanes prior to the opening qualifying session at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Race fans stand during the national anthem to observe Veterans Day at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car points leader Robert Hight prepares for the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Race fans stand and salute during the national anthem to observe Veterans Day at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Top Fuel driver and 4-time defending NHRA champion Steve Torrence watches qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car points leader Robert Hight sits in his hot rod as he prepares for the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Karen Stoffer prepares to hit the throtte during the opening qualifying session at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Funny Car points leader Robert Hight does his burnout during the opening round of qualifying at the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at AutoClub Raceway at Pomona on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
POMONA — Brittany Force continued her record-setting ways in the dark during qualifying Friday at the three-day NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway.
Making her second qualifying run of the day long after sunset, Force covered the 1,000 feet in 3.641 seconds and broke the speed record she set in St. Louis on Oct. 2 by crossing the finish line at 338.94 miles per hour. Her former record was 338.43 mph. Her time Friday made her the top qualifier after day one.
Force, from Yorba Linda, said: “It was great coming back here and breaking the record. This is the track I grew up on.”
Force, the points leader in the battle for her second national title (her first was in 2017), increased her lead over Justin Ashley from seven points to 13 under the point-and-half format for the Finals.
The top two qualifiers in Funny Car Friday were Cruz Pedregon (3.840 seconds) and Matt Hagan (3.844). Both are in contention for the national title. Points leader Robert Hight had the fifth fastest time (3.866).
Leading the field of qualifiers in Pro Stock was Greg Anderson. Erica Enders, who came into the Finals having already clinched her fifth national title, had the fast seventh fastest time.
In Pro Stock Motorcycles, Matt Smith, who is closing in on his fifth national title, set a track record of 202.70 mph in qualifying but the fastest time was turned in by Angelle Sampey. She covered the 1,320 yards (the distance in her class) in 6.703 seconds, a track record.
In the Top Alcohol dragster qualifying, a highlight came when driver Eric Chesleigh of Claremont proposed to his girlfriend on the track after making a run that qualified him 12th in that lower-level class. The top qualifier was Madison Payne, also of Claremont. She is the daughter of former Top Fuel racer Shelly Anderson. Top Alcohol elimination rounds will be today, beginning at 10:15 a.m.
There will be two more rounds of qualifying in each of the four major classes today, beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Then comes the four elimination rounds in each major class on Sunday, beginning at 11 a.m.
That will mark the last day of drag racing at Auto Club Raceway. The drag strip isn’t going anyway, it is just changing names.
As announced earlier this week, the legendary track will be known as the In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip beginning next year. Also, In-N-Out will become the sponsor of NHRA Finals. That announcement was made in conjunction with a new deal with property owner Fairplex that calls for drag racing to continue on the site until 2033.
What was behind In-N-Out making such a big sponsorship deal? Certainly, the company, headquartered in Irvine, isn’t in need of beefing up its burger business, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary next year. The first In-N-Out opened in Baldwin Park in 1948 and the company has flourished without doing a lot of advertising beyond billboards and, literally, by word of mouth. It is a rarity when there isn’t a long line of cars at any In-N-Out burger place.
Harry Snyder, who along with his wife Esther founded the company, was always a drag racing enthusiast. In 1971 he became half-owner of the old Irwindale Raceway. It closed in 1977, a year after Snyder died of lung cancer at age 63. His son’s, Rich and Guy, who also had a fondness for drag racing, took over the business. But first Rich Snyder died in plane crash in Santa Ana in 1993. The plane crashed while in route to John Wayne Airport. Then Guy Snyder died in 1999 of congenital heart failure due to an overdose of painkillers.
Guy Snyder’s daughter, Lynsi, now 40 and the president of the company since 2010, formerly raced a sportsman class car.
The decision by In-N-Out to invest in drag racing was an easy one. It was all in the family.
