Blink and You’ll Miss the NHRA’s New Fastest-Ever Run
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been watching NHRA drag racing—you’ve never seen a run as fast as this one from Brittany Force on Sunday. That’s because, at 341.85 miles per hour, it’s the fastest in the sanctioning body’s history. It beat Austin Prock’s previous record of 341.68 mph at Pomona Dragstrip, putting Force ahead by .17 mph.
Force and Doug Kalitta lined up alongside each other in the Northwest Nationals Top Fuel Semifinals. By the end of it, there was a 16.57 mph deficit as well as a .093-second gap. Somedays, you’re on, and it’s safe to say that Force was on that day.
The NHRA notes that four of the six fastest runs in its history have taken place at this track, Pacific Raceways. That’s likely because it’s darn near sea level at 308 feet of elevation, meaning the air is nice and dense. It’s essentially the opposite of now-defunct Bandimere, which saw cars racing at 5,800 feet above sea level.
Force went on to race Shawn Langdon in the finals but couldn’t snag the overall victory. While I’m sure she would have liked to take home some hardware, she has to be happy with the record. She said in a statement that she hopes it “will hold for a while,” though the old one stood for a little less than a year.
