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Most Memorable Moments of 2017: No. 1

The 2017 season was full of exciting moments, but which were the most memorable? NHRA fans took part in a vote and selected the 17 Most Memorable Moments of the season. No. 1: Brittany Force wins her first Top Fuel championship.
12 Dec 2017
Posted by NHRA.com staff
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BrittanyChamp

The 2017 season was full of exciting moments, but which were the most memorable? NHRA fans took part in a vote and selected the 17 Most Memorable Moments of the season, which will be revealed in reverse order through the end of the year.

No. 1
Brittany Force accomplished a series of firsts by earning her first Top Fuel championship on the final day of the NHRA Drag Racing season. She brought home the first title of her career. Force also won the first Top Fuel Dragster title for John Force Racing, and became the first of John Force’s daughters to win a championship.

“It still doesn’t seem real,” Brittany Force said. “And the only reason it is real is because of all the support I have around me. Today is huge. We made history. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

Force established a legacy of her own by taking down Richie Crampton in the second round at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, with Steve Torrence watching from the top end. She went on to take home the final Wally of the season (her third of the Countdown). Force dominated the playoffs, a culmination of the hard work her team put in all year long.


No. 2
Clay Millican always said he would get his first NHRA victory, “when the time is right.” On Father’s Day, in Bristol, Tenn., the time was right. He defeated Leah Pritchett in his home state for one of the most emotional victories of the season. After finishing as the runner up eight times in his career, Millican got to take home his first Wally.

“I love what I do,” Millican said. “There were times I ever wondered if this was going to happen. I don’t deserve this credit. I’m really happy for David Grubnic and all of the boys who work on this car, and I mean that 100 percent."

When he took to the stage in the winner’s circle, serenaded by the crowd to the tune of “Rocky Top,” there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Millican, perhaps more than anyone in the sport, deserved this hero’s welcome. He finally got his moment, even if it took a little longer than anyone expected.


No. 3
When Brittany Force won her first Top Fuel championship, it meant a lot to her. It also meant a lot to the people around her, like her father (and team owner), John Force. The legendary racer fell to his knees with tears in his eyes and, for at least a moment, was left speechless. When he composed himself, his emotions hadn’t left.

“Just really proud,” said John. “She's been so sick all week. And I told her, like when she was little, I take that little sickness out of her belly and Mom said that's what Dad always did.”

John hopped in his car shortly after Brittany’s winning run and performed a huge burnout, a little celebration of his own for his daughter’s first championship. The two embraced when they met at the top end in another memorable moment that encapsulated the special dynamic the two have.


No. 4 
Terry McMillen brought home the first victory of his career in a year filled with special wins. The driver of the Amalie Motor Oil dragster turned on the win light against Brittany Force at the Fall running of the Las Vegas event, finally running down that elusive first Wally.

"This is the stuff you dream of as a small kid," McMillen said. "To have that opportunity to go out there and get that win is truly an amazing feeling. Hats off to my crew."

His first win came in his 195th race. McMillen defeated Riche Crampton, Clay Millican, and Shawn Langdon en route to racing Force in the final round. It was his third final round of the season, including the Four-Wide, and fourth of his career. McMillen’s first final came against Force, at the Gatornationals in 2016.


No. 5 
In a historic season for Robert Hight, the driver didn’t settle for just being the quickest man in the sport, he also became the fastest. Hight ran the fastest speed ever recorded in any class with an incredible 339.87 mph pass at Sonoma Raceway, coming ever so close to becoming the first to break the 340-mph barrier.

“When you have Jimmy Prock as your crew chief, he tries to get everything he can out of that racetrack,” Hight said. “It’s the coolest noise when you hear that nitro engine running up that kind of rpm; it’s music to your ears.”

Hight held on to earn the No. 1 qualifier position. He accumulated eight over the course of his incredible season, in which he also earned his second Funny Car championship. The Hight-Prock duo also posted a 45-20 round record, won four races, and reached seven final rounds. The big speeds tuned up by the “Prock Rocket” were certainly a part of the equation.


No. 6
Robert Hight made history by making the first-ever Funny Car run in the 3.7-second range. The driver did it in Brainerd with a 3.793-second pass, setting the national record for elapsed time in the process. With Jimmy Prock turning the knobs, Hight wowed the crowd at Brainerd International Raceway and once against established himself as the quickest man in Funny Car.


No. 7
Clay Millican and David Grubnic proved they were very much for real at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals by resetting the Top Fuel elapsed time record. The blistering 3.631-second pass shattered the previous mark, a 3.64 run by Leah Pritchett in Brainerd. Millican’s run was no aberration; the Tennessee native continued to run quick times the remainder of the season.


No. 8
Bo Butner entered the 2017 season without a Pro Stock Wally to his name. He finished it with a Pro Stock championship thanks to five Wallys and a phenomenal performance in the final race of the season. He beat both Greg Anderson and rookie Tanner Gray in Pomona to clinch his first-ever Pro Stock title, wrapping up a memorable season.


No. 9
Robert Hight captured his first championship since 2009 after entering the Countdown in the No. 2 position. The Auto Club driver reached three finals in the final six races, won two of them, and qualified No. 1 three times. His four wins paired with resetting both ends of the national record make Hight’s 2017 season one of the best in recent memory.


No. 10
Steve Torrence looked to be well on his way to yet another victory, this one his first in his home state of Texas, when a wild crash sent him into the wall at Texas Motorplex just outside of Dallas. He turned on the win light against Richie Crampton and, thanks to his Capco Contractors team, made it to the next round against Brittany Force.


No. 11
A historic career reached a round number in the Windy City as Dan Fletcher earned career victory No. 100. The veteran Sportsman racer hit the century mark by winning the Super Street Wally at Route 66 Raceway. He joins John Force and Frank Manzo as the only two racers to hit the 100-win mark.


No. 12
J.R. Todd looked dead in the water against Jack Beckman at the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals, but the first-year Funny Car driver got back on the throttle and completed the biggest comeback of the season. Todd blasted past Beckman at blistering speed to move on to the next round; he would go on to win his first Funny Car Wally later that day.


No. 13
Leah Pritchett could not have imagined a better debut to her first full season with Don Schumacher Racing. The Top Fuel pilot earned back-to-back victories at the Winternationals in Pomona and at the Phoenix event just weeks later. That kicked off a career season for Pritchett, who went on to a fifth-place finish.


No. 14
In just the fourth start of his career, 17-year-old Pro Stock rookie Tanner Gray collected his first career win, defeating Bo Butner at the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas. Gray, whose victory made him the youngest Pro winner in NHRA history, would go on to win four more Wallys and be named the season’s top rookie driver.


No. 15
Steve Torrence pulled off an impressive double on NHRA’s biggest stage, at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. A day after claiming the $100,000 payday for winning the Traxxas Nitro Shootout specialty event, Torrence and his Capco Contractors team also won the main event title, besting fellow Texan Kebin Kinsley in the final round.


No. 16
Independent Texas Top Fuel campaigner Kebin Kinsley, who had never reached a final round in his short career, nearly pulled off the biggest upset of the year by reaching the final round of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals. After beating low qualifier Clay Millican and former world champs Shawn Langdon and Tony Schumacher, breakage felled Kinsley in the final round against points leader Steve Torrence.


No. 17
Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria made history in Brainerd when she recorded the 250th pro-class win for females in NHRA competition. Moments later, Leah Pritchett added to the historic occasion by winning in Top Fuel to create the first all-female nitro winner’s circle.