'Grandpa' John Force and daughter Brittany still big names as NHRA heads for Brainerd

John Force arrived at Brainerd International Raceway for the annual NHRA national races with a narrow lead in the Funny Car points standings.

"They have youth on their side, and they are coming after the old gunfighter,'' Force said. "There are a lot of good teams and crew chiefs … and they've figured out how to win.

"It's gotten tough every week. But don't bet against the old gunfighter. I'm not going to give up.''

This is a quote that has stood the test of time.

It was offered in August 1998, when the old gunfighter was 49 and on his way to an eighth Funny Car championship for a season. It also could apply this week, with Force, now 72, holding a narrow lead in pursuit of a 17^th championship.

The only difference is that Ron Capps, the closest pursuer among those drivers with youth on their side in 1998, is a close second in 2021 – and he's now seven years older (56) than Force was as the self-described "old gunfighter.''

Force has not had a Funny Car title since 2013, although son-in-law Robert Hight had his second (2017) and third (2019) titles since then, and daughter Brittany pulled off the monumental feat of winning the Top Fuel championship in 2017.

And then came last Sunday and another historic moment for the Force drag racing dynasty: a sweep of the nitro classes, with Brittany winning in Top Fuel and John in Funny Car at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kan.

"This is something I'll never forget,'' Brittany said after the dual wins. "This has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, and there have been so many close calls …''

The Force delegation went from Topeka to Kearney, Neb., for an employees event at the Baldwin Filters factory. Brittany arrived in Brainerd on Tuesday and admitted to a hope for some good sleeping weather in Minnesota's lake country.

"I'm tired, but I also can't wait,'' she said. "Dad and I want to keep that momentum.''

Brittany's sisters, Ashley and Courtney, drove Funny Cars for the family racing team.

Courtney quit the circuit in January 2019. She is married to Indy racer Graham Rahal and they had a daughter last November.

"I'm the last one left racing, I know,'' Brittany said in a phone conversation this week. "Sometimes, living out of a hotel on weekends, I miss my sisters, who are also my best friends.

"When I see them, though … it's great. Ashley is coming this weekend with my nephews. And Courtney now has a baby, and that's so exciting for all of us.''

The Force daughters all have been successful on the quarter-mile blast of nitro. Courtney retired as the winningest women's Funny Car driver with 12 victories. Brittany's win in Topeka was her 11^th in Top Fuel.

Which brought up the question: Dad, sisters, brother-in-law … all Funny Cars? How did you wind up in a Top Fuel rocket when starting on the national circuit in 2013?

There had been a degree of frustration for Brittany and her crew before Sunday. The dragster prepared by crew chief David Grubnick and his team was the top qualifier four times, without winning an event.

"We had a lot of simple mistakes, driver and team,'' she said. "These are my guys and, overall, we're doing great. We've moved to No. 2 in the points standings.''

The roadblock to the top is Steve Torrence. He has won three straight Top Fuel titles and has a large lead again in late summer. Sort of the mini-version of the Funny Car teams that were chasing Brittany's papa John from 1993 to 2002, when he won 10 straight titles.

The Force team decided not to compete after NHRA's pandemic shutdown early in 2020. John told racing writer Jordan Bianchi this past March that Force's company had contracts with sponsors for a schedule of races that he wouldn't be able to deliver in a season that didn't resume until midsummer.

As it turned out, NHRA raced twice early, shut down until July and had only half of its schedule. The financial obligations and the very limited number of spectators caused BIR to cancel last August's event.