INSIGHT: Brittany Force gets it right

It took precisely 15.048 seconds of elapsed time for Brittany Force to get it all right. After 74 NHRA meets, seven straight final rounds losses and three rounds of eliminations at one of the sport's most storied venues in Gainesville, the 29 year-old prodigal daughter of the greatest drag racer of all-time, lit the wick, and 3.772 seconds later, streaked through the traps with the first NHRA Top Fuel National victory of her career.

Four years in the making, the win not only exorcised a demon, but was full-on proof that she was among the sport's elite. Furthermore, a few weeks later, Force bookended that first triumph with another convincing win at the louder-than-bombs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. With the help of her heavy right foot and the sage advice/wisdom/witchcraft of in-our-time Top Fuel tuning legend Alan Johnson, Ashely Force has certainly hit critical mass in the NHRA star wars. On the eve of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, I caught up with the youngest member of the John Force Racing dynasty and got her special take on all things 1000 feet, 3.6 seconds, wrinkled asphalt and a cloud of spent nitromethane.

Brittany, I've always wanted to ask a Top Fuel driver this question: How much of drag racing is mental?

You know, as driver, I've been out here since 2013 in the Top Fuel dragster and a big part of it is a mental game and finding that focus and leaving all the distractions behind at the starting line. It sounds easy. You pull up there and you focus on the Christmas Tree and it sounds easy, but when you have a hundred things running through your head, you're not going to be able to cut a good light and you're not going to have a good reaction time. A lot of it really is a mental game.

The hard part for me is if I go out one weekend and I have a terrible light on race day, for me, it's coming back from that because I go into the next race mindset of, 'Oh, I screwed up! I can't screw up again!' You can't go out there and try and compete like that. If you're already going into negative, you're just going to screw yourself even more and that's why I struggle with it a little bit. I struggle with being able to pull myself out that. As a driver, sometimes you just get into a funk. You know, sometimes I'll have a few weekends in a row with awesome Trees, awesome lights, awesome runs. And then you can get into a slump and it's hard to pull yourself out of it. In our sport races can be won and lost based off the driver and the reaction time. You really need to give it your all and be on your game when you go to the starting line.

Be it as an owner or a crew chief, Alan Johnson has won an astonishing eleven-NHRA Top Fuel world titles. John Force Racing brought Alan into the team to work with you in 2016. In doing so, he has talked a lot about working with you on your consistency. Can you talk about that?

Yeah, when Alan came on board we made quite a few changes. My routine that I had been doing since my rookie season in 2013, we completely changed. That was difficult for me. I knew it was going to take a few races to get comfortable with it because when you've been doing something for the last four years and then go ahead and change it all, when you pull up to the starting line you're thinking about what you have to do. It doesn't come natural. That's how it was for me the first few races, but now I'm good and set with the changes we made and my new routine and it's comfortable for me.

So, yeah, we did change it up a lot when Alan Johnson came on board, but we've had success with it and I'm going to continue to listen to what Alan and my crew chief Brian Husen have to say. This whole thing is a mental game and it's hard to find that combination of being pumped up for it, but also being relaxed and focused and eliminating distractions. There is a lot going on. It's tough to do, but when you find it, you can find it.

And Alan also put you on a workout program?

Yeah, he did. When he came on board he said, 'Are you open to me giving you a workout plan that I will believe will help you?' I said, 'Absolutely!' He put together a whole workout program. Mostly it's working out the legs. Working out is something I've always done my whole life, but for some reason I always skipped out on the leg exercise. I never really focused on that. I think it's helpful. His main reason for doing it was that he compared my reaction times to a teammate of mine, Steve Torrence. Alan works with Steve Torrence and me. He was looking at Steve's reaction times and comparing them to mine. Our reaction times are pretty close to the same, but his come off so much better because he's a man and he's a lot stronger than me and that's where his reaction times get me. We both have similar reaction times, but the way he steps on the gas is so much more powerful than then the way I do, it makes a big difference in comparing his times to mine.

It's pretty easy to ascertain that Alan Johnson applies and incredible detailed approach to the motorsport of drag racing. Has this approach been responsible for the team's leap forward this season?

Absolutely. Alan Johnson is a name out here everybody knows. He's done so much and he's the best out here. I feel very lucky that I'm teamed up with him. And we've already had success. I was looking for my first win back in 2013 and it finally came this year. I was hoping it would come earlier in my career and it took some more time, but it made it all that much more worth it. We worked hard to get here and to bringing home that first win from the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida felt so good and Alan made that happen and Brian Husen made that happen and my entire team made that happen. It felt good to be in the winner's circle with Monster Energy and it was something that I'll never forget because I had been waiting for that first win for so long. And then the second win came just a few races later at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte.

As far as the performance of the racecar itself, did Alan and Brian dig deep to find further advances and advantages?

There are so many details that go into it. Every single angle on the car and the racetrack – everything. We also made quite a few changes for me the driver in the seat of the car. We rocked the seat more to where I'm more comfortable and can get more aggressive on the throttle pedal. My view looking down the racetrack is also better. Alan has fine-tuned a lot of things for me in the cockpit of the car. This team is outstanding. They've done so much to build my confidence.

Speaking of confidence and drag racing, prior to your first career win at Gainesville in March you had lost out in seven Top Fuel final round appearances. Did that psych you out?

Yes. Absolutely. The first few final rounds that we went to that we ended up losing were different. I mean, the first one we lost, I didn't care. I was excited that we made it to the final round. That was huge. Even though we got taken out, it was pretty exciting to know we had come that far. And then the second loss came and my feelings changed a little bit. And the third, the fourth, the fifth, sixth, seventh did not feel good at all. It was like, 'Ah... You're so close, but you're not taking home the trophy at the end of the day.' You want that win for the entire team and for everything that you're out there fighting for.

The losses got a lot tougher and after a while you start to look at it and start to second guess everything. It was like, 'Is it me? Is it the driver? What is it? Why can't we lock down on that win?' Yeah, it definitely became difficult, but one thing I'm always good at is staying positive and keeping a positive mindset all the time. That first win, though, was something I'll never forget. It was one of the proudest moments in my life and it definitely makes you hungry for wanting more. I definitely want another one so bad. There's nothing better than being seen in the winner's circle with your entire team.

Last year Toto Wolf, the executive director of the Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 effort said, "90% of this sport is the car and 10% the driver, but of you can't get the full 10% out of the driver, you're screwed." Would you apply that theory to Top Fuel drag racing?

Yeah, it's very similar. I think it's mostly even crew chief, because they're the one that puts the car together and makes it run down the track. A small percent of wins are based off the driver, but there have been races where the team only wins because of the driver. It always feels good to return that favor because sometimes I'm not on my game, but my team gave me a good enough run that we were able to make up for me being slow on the Christmas Tree. But there have also been weekends where the car was slow and because my reaction times were so great, it made up for it. So it goes both ways. It just depends on the kind of run that it is.

This weekend's National at Norwalk, Ohio marks the halfway point of the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. You are slotted in at fourth in Top Fuel points. Are you good with that?

I'm happy with fourth. For a while we were in the number one spot, but for me it's about staying in that top ten until our Countdown begins in Indy. And then it's game-on because everyone's points change and everyone starts on the same playing field. For me, it's hanging in there. Yeah, obviously we want to be number one, but as long as we're up there high in the points until Indy, then we'll go after it. I've always looked at it that way. It's about hanging in there and then battling it out at those last few races for our Countdown.