Courtney Force Wins Thrilling All-Camaro Final in Kansas

Daughter of NHRA legend John Force drove to her Camaro to win number three on the season.

This past weekend, Courtney Force and teammate Robert Hight were the top dogs in the NHRA Funny Car class at the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals, with the two John Force Racing Camaro race cars going head-to-head in the final round. Last time the two met in the finals was in the first round of the Countdown to the Championship last season, where Hight took the first step towards his 2017 NHRA championship.

This time, Courtney Force got her revenge and the video above from the NHRA YouTube channel shows the exciting final run.

Qualifying

In the qualifying portion of the event, Courtney Force once again found herself in the top spot, but the early track time wasn’t so good to teammates John Force and Robert Hight. John Force had to settle for the 11^th spot on the ladder while Hight was third-from-last, starting in the 14^th spot.

Qualifying wasn’t a whole lot better for the rivals at Don Schumacher Racing, with the Dodge Charger funny cars starting in the 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and 12^th spots on the ladder.

Early Eliminations

In the first round of the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals, Courtney Force and Robert Hight both won while John Force lost. The patriarch of the team lost to Tommy Johnson Jr, but in the next round, Hight would get revenge for the boss’s loss, beating Johnson with the quickest run of round #2.

Also in the second round, Courtney Force beat Matt Hagan in a tight battle, with the JFR Camaro winning the race at the starting line. That set up a pair of final four pairings consisting of a Camaro and a Toyota Camry shooting for the finals.

Courtney Force took on J.R. Todd, who has won two races earlier this year, but after the Camaro driver took the starting line advantage, the Toyota ran into issues – giving the win to the Chevy funny car. On that semifinal pass, Force ran a 3.895 at 330.39 miles per hour; the quickest run of the elimination rounds.

In the other semifinal race, Robert Hight won in similar fashion, starting with a starting line advantage and ending with the Toyota running into problems. On this run, Hight laid down a 3.911 at 330.55 miles per hour. That was the second-quickest run of eliminations, trailing only Courtney’s earlier 3.895.

The Final Round

In the finals of the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals, Courtney Force took on Robert Hight in a battle of John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro funny cars. In the previous round, these two cars turned in the two quickest runs of the event, so it promised to be an excellent drag race.

Hight grabbed a narrow starting line advantage (.062 to .068), but by half-track, Force had pulled ahead. During the last third of the race, Hight appeared to drop some cylinders and as he lost power, his car slowed down and Courtney Force cruised to her third win of the season.

Championship Standings

With her third win of the 2018 season, Courtney Force holds the top spot in the championship race by 80 points over Jack Beckman.

Robert Hight sits fourth, 158 points behind Courtney Force and John Force is 12^th, 348 points back of his daughter.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com