It's Official: Brittany Force in Top Fuel this Year|

SONY DSC Elevate racing icon John Force introduced his daughter Brittany as the newest addition to the John Force Racing, Inc., driver lineup Thursday during a press conference at JFR corporate headquarters.

Brittany Force will make an celebrated professional debut, not as driver of a JFR Ford Funny Auto but, instead, every bit driver of a new JFR-built Castrol EDGE Pinnacle Fuel dragster prepared and maintained by crew chief Dean "Guido" Antonelli and assistant crew principal Eric Lane and powered by the Ford BOSS 500 nitro motor.

"Information technology really is a big honor to be the first to drive a Top Fuel dragster at John Forcefulness Racing. "This squad has done so much over the years to evolve and calculation a Pinnacle Fuel car into the mix I believe will help us go on to grow as a squad," said the 26-year-old who volition be the third Forcefulness daughter to turn pro.

Brittany Force

"Being able to drive the first JFR Top Fuel dragster with my dad's support and with Castrol Border as my sponsor is nevertheless very surreal to me but I call up it's something we're all excited about and I'k going to do the all-time job that I can."

A graduate of Cal State-Fullerton, the second youngest of Force'due south 4 daughters, has put a potential teaching career on hold while she learns the family business concern from the seat of a 330 mile an 60 minutes rolling "function." Although she earned her teaching credential and completed her student didactics assignment, the 2d youngest of Forcefulness's four daughters never planned to immediately seek a job in teaching.

"My program from the very beginning was to go to higher and earn a Available'southward Caste before really persuing racing," Brittany said. "I earned my B.A. in English and and then did an extra year to earn my teaching credential. I never had intentions to go correct into teaching, I merely wanted to get school finished because I knew that if I took a break from it, I would never get back to terminate."

The new flavor, which begins Feb. xiv-17 with the 53^rd running of the O'Reilly Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, will be the showtime in which EVERY JFR race car is driven by a member of the drag racing icon'due south immediate family. While Brittany vies for rookie honors in Superlative Fuel, her father, brother-in-police force (Robert Hight) and younger sis (Courtney Force) will compete for the first Mello Yello Funny Car championship in hybrid Mustangs sponsored by Castrol GTX, the Auto Lodge of Southern California and Traxxas, respectively.

"I will always have didactics to autumn dorsum on if things change down the road," said the erstwhile star of the A&East real life serial Driving Force, "but I am very happy with where I am and where things are heading. I have many goals for side by side year and tin't wait to get started in Pomona. One of my goals is to actually get to know my guys so that we tin get a stiff team together. My other goal is to get my first win in my Summit Fuel auto as a rookie driver."

Ironically, Brittany has more dragster experience than anyone else assigned to the Castrol EDGE Team. While it is the starting time dragster assignment for both crew master Dean "Guido" Antonelli and assistant coiffure chief Eric Lane, Brittany has never driven anything else. Afterwards earning her Super Comp license under the tutelage of electric current NHRA Funny Machine champion Jack Beckman, Brittany drove A/Fuel dragsters for Jerry Darien and spent all concluding year testing in a Top Fuel dragster.

When the season begins, Brittany will become the 15^th different professional elevate racer to compete for Team Castrol, the tertiary to practise so in the Top Fuel category in which the late Gary Ormsby won the championship for Castrol GTX in 1989.

"I'm and then happy to be working with Dean Antonelli and Eric Lane," Brittany enthused. "'Guido' was the crew main for my dad the last ii years and before that he taught Ashley to bulldoze a Funny Car. They were then successful together and I'grand really excited to take him on board with me.

"I spent the majority of my testing season working with Eric and Jimmy Prock from Robert Hight'southward team. I get along with Eric very well. He has always been so patient with me. Nosotros always talk most the runs before and after, which helps prepare me for futurity passes. I think we are a practiced match and we will teach each other so much side by side year. I think we are all going to make a very stiff squad."

(Photos courtesy JFR/Gary Nastase)