[h=2]NHRA: C. Force wins FC Nitro Shootout[/h] NHRA
Courtney Force won the lucrative Funny Car portion of the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout and Matt Hagan secured the No. 1 qualifier Sunday at the 62nd annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.
Clay Millican (Top Fuel), Bo Butner (Pro Stock) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the 18th event of 24 on the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule. The Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals is the final race of the regular season.
Force sprinted to a $100,000 payday in her Traxxas Chevy Camaro SS by posting a 4.018-second pass at 266.04 mph to defeat teammate Robert Hight's 4.596 at 180.09 at the controls of his Auto Club of Southern California Chevy Camaro SS during the final round of the specialty event.
This is Force's first final round appearance at the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout and her fifth time in the event. She entered as the No. 2 seed with her Houston victory. She outlasted Alexis DeJoria and Matt Hagan in the earlier rounds before facing Hight.
"I went out today with the mindset of calm and relaxed," said Force, daughter of 16-time Funny Car world champ John Force. "We got that run in last night and that was huge. It qualified us for fourth so my guys got me into today not thinking about a qualifying run which is huge for a race like this. To win an event like this in front of all these fans in Indiana is huge for our team. To be able to outrun Robert and get that win is a big one for our Traxxas team.