National Hot Rod Association “Winternationals” are one of the early season major events
to celebrate the NHRA’s 75th anniversary.
The first day opened with a few surprises, but LOT’s of speed and a few upsets. Southern
California has some gorgeous weather recently, today was the exception, with cold and
overcast weather moving in early in the day. Nevertheless, the day stayed dry, unlike a
recent event, where large hail stopped the event just 4 races from completion.
The surprise was Brittany Force’s loss to Kaitta in the final round of the $80,000 Right
Trailers Top Fuel All Star Call Out event. Friday is normally qualifying rounds for the pro
“Fuel” classes, Right Trailers threw out a substantial pot of dough, green stuff for an all
“Top Fuel” call out to make Friday exciting.
No surprise was two-time Champion Brittany Force going to the #1 spot with a pass at
3.64 seconds . What was a surprise was the fact that 6 or 7 other Fuel cars broke into and
under the 3.7 second ET range!
The surprise was that Brittany, one of the most consistent racers in top fuel, after wading
through the rest to make it to the final of the Right Trailers Call Out, didn’t win! In a close
race with Doug Kalitta, After multiple, consistent 3.64 ET;’s It appeared that Brittany’s car
“Laid Down” on her at the latter half of the race, slowing down from 330 MPH top speeds
to just under 300, a drop of of over 30 Miles per hour, and one of her few loses in a long
career in top Fuel!
Well , the saying is “Tomorrow is another day”, and I suspect that the Force racing team
will figure it out by tomorrow morning, and Brittany will be back in the hunt before the day
is out!
Story: Richard T. Haight
Photos bt Chuck Null and Richard T. Haight
