PEAK Motorsports Update- July 21, 2025

NHRA: Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals - Kent, WA

Monday, July 21, 2025: 

The power that enabled two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force to push her HendrickCars.com dragster to an NHRA national record-setting speed of 341.85 miles per hour in taking down number one qualifier Doug Kalitta in the semifinals of the 36th NHRA Northwest Nationals proved unsustainable in the final round Sunday at Pacific Raceways just outside of Seattle.

Racing against Shawn Langdon, to whom she had never lost a final, the 18-time Mission Foods tour winner’s Chevrolet dragster suffered a malfunction that slowed it from a best of 3.659 to 4.040 seconds at 215 mph. 

It was the 39-year-old’s second final round appearance in the tour’s northwesternmost event and her second disappointment. Nevertheless, there were reasons to celebrate, the least of which was not the fact that she moved from sixth to fifth in points and carries a load of momentum into this week’s 37th NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma, California.

Before she lowered the boom against Kalitta, Brittany had recorded speeds of 340.47 mph (in qualifying) and 340.82 mph in a first-round win over former European Top Fuel Champion Ida Zetterstrom. The former NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year (2013) now owns five of the six fastest speeds in history.

In Funny Car, Austin Prock’s Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS was quickest in qualifying at 3.879 seconds and Jack Beckman’s PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy was quickest on race day at 3.839. Unfortunately, neither of the John Force Racing Chevy’s were able to survive up to the semifinals.

After riding the aforementioned 3.839 to an initial victory over Bob Tasca III, Beckman lost to eventual race winner Matt Hagan in round two. On the other side of the ladder, Prock, who before Brittany’s Sunday heroics was the world’s fastest at 341.68 mph, suffered tire shake issues early and lost to Canadian rookie Spencer Hyde.

Despite Sunday’s results, the two JFR drivers will start this week’s race from the same positions in which they finished the 2024 season – Prock number one and Beckman number two.

For Beckman, Prock’s exit in round two opened up an opportunity to close a widening gap between first place and second – but it wasn’t to be.

The next event on the NHRA Mission Food Series is the Denso Nationals in Sonoma, California, July 25-27th.