Courtney Force faced major set backs as her car exploded last week at New England Nationals.  Following a problem with her engine, she finished the weekend taking her backup car to the finals, but would Force’s backup car be enough to take her to the front after Englishtown?

“They’ve nicknamed it the ‘old junkyard dog,’ and it’s running pretty good. They can call it whatever they want. It’s running fast and it was the one that took us to the finals last weekend. Hopefully we can seal the deal this weekend,” said Courtney Force

Courtney Force set a new track record at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in second round of NHRA Funny Car qualifying in her backup Advanced Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro.  With an ET of 331.12 at 331.12 MPH, Force was #1 Funny Car qualifier. It was the first #1 qualifier since Atlanta and fifth of the season!
CourtneyForce-Saturday-ETown-carchix-carchicks-racing-motorsports-automotive-nhra-dragracing

Photo Credit: NHRA

Could Force end up taking home a Wally after setting a new track record?  First round Force faced off with Jeff Diehl; she lost some cylinders, but had enough to pulled off a win.  Second round she lined up against Matt Hagan and took command after 330 feet and once again she turned the win light on!
Courtney Force went on to meet Jack Beckmann in 3rd round eliminations.  Force went red, giving Beckmann the win.  Courtney Force is currently 3rd place in NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car Points.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Courtney Force said, “We’ve known from the start of the season that we’ve had something good. (Crew chief) Dan Hood and (co-crew chief) Ronnie Thompson have given me a great race car all year long. To have five No. 1 qualifiers is pretty incredible. It’s great to drive a hot rod like this, especially a spare car.”

Force returns to competition for the third of four consecutive races this weekend.  The NHRA Mello Yello Series powers into Bristol Dragway, Father’s Day weekend for Thunder Valley Nationals, June 16-18th.

Submitted by Car Chix Contributor: Staci Segura

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