She seems like such a nice young woman, having studied to become a teacher and all. 

And she has that big, famous Force smile. 

But under that helmet and under that Top Fuel canopy on her Flav-R-Pac Dragster, Brittany Force can be merciless. 

She was this weekend – all weekend long – at the NHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park, south of Richmond. 

She wasn’t about to let teammate Austin Prock outshine her in qualifying. He set the track record early Saturday at 3.672 second, eclipsing her 3.710-second mark from Friday. But she reclaimed it minutes later with a 3.669. And just to put an exclamation point on her achievement, she lowered her own elapsed-time record to 3.654 seconds in blazing to her 34th No. 1 starting position. 

Oh, and while she was at it, she added the track speed record, just to show everyone who’s the boss right now in the Top Fuel class. 

But why stop there? The points leader had a bye run as eliminations opened Sunday, then dismissed Shawn Langdon and two-time 2022 winner Mike Salinas before taking on – and disappointing – four-time and current champion Steve Torrence in a monster match-up.

Force claimed her category-best third victory in the past four races, leaving Torrence winless after seven races for the first time since 2017. And in earning her 14th overall triumph by 15-thousandths of a second, she sent a clear message to her competition.

“This has been our greatest season yet, to come on this strong with this many wins” Force said after clinching John Force Racing’s fifth double-nitro sweep and first since last August 15 at Topeka. She shared the winners circle with Funny Car’s Robert Hight, as well as with Pro Stock Motorcycle victor Matt Smith. 

“The first round [on a bye run] we blew the tires off the thing,” she said, referring to her Flav-R-Pac Dragster. “It’s hard to get confident after a run like that, when there’s heat all day. We just kept stepping up our runs. This Wally [trophy] is for [crew chief] Dave Grubnic, because he makes the impossible happen.”    

Force and Company navigated the hot, slippery, truly tricky 1,000-foot course and capped her day by defeating Torrence with a 3.770-second, 334.07-mph performance to his 3.781, 326.24. 

Torrence had beaten Scott Palmer, Tony Schumacher, and Prock to reach his second final round of the year. 

Force, of Yorba Linda, Calif., said her first victory at this East Coast dragstrip was special: “We’ve never won here in Virginia, so it was very cool to get this win. Any win is special, but to qualify No. 1, set the track record, and then get the win, it’s great. Robert and I seem to have a lot of luck together, and it was great to see him win. Our whole team has come a long way, and we’re already ahead of ourselves from last year.” 

Torrence, driver of the Capco Contractors Dragster, said pocketing that first victory of the season – after most of his 51 victories have come with striking regularity in the past five years – would have been “a big morale boost for us. We’ve been struggling. Everybody knows it. The car’s running well, and we’re still in the top three or four in points. So it’s not that bad of a struggle. But it’s definitely something we’re not as accustomed to as going out there and winning races consistently. These Capco Boys have stuck with it. Everybody’s kept a good attitude. That’s what it’s all about, because these things are Top Fuel cars. They’ll make you look like a hero one day and a zero the next.” 

His car chief, Bobby Lagana, said, “This is not a struggle. Bad things that happen in life are real struggles. We’re here drag racing. Everybody’s got somebody who’s sick or just having a tough time. Just pick ’em up. This is drag racing. Life is tough. This is fun.” 

Force won in April as she and Torrence finished 1-2 in the final quad at the Las Vegas four-wide event. But in two-wide format, Force hadn’t defeated Torrence in a final-round match-up since Sept. 24, 2017, at Reading, Pa.