NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

NHRA’s women of power continue to create history during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, with the latest milestone coming at last weekend’s NHRA Midwest Nationals, where, for the first time in class history, four women qualified for the Top Fuel field at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis.

Two-time Top Fuel champion Brittany Force and class rookies Jasmine Salinas, Ida Zetterström, and Julie Nataas all qualified for final eliminations, representing a full fourth of the 16 qualified cars in NHRA’s quickest and fastest class.

Force qualified No. 3 as she continued her pursuit of a third championship, while Salinas and her new teammate, reigning NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster champion Nataas, qualified No. 7 and 15, respectively. The event marked Nataas’ debut in the class. Reigning European Top Fuel champ Zetterström qualified No. 9.

“I’m proud of my friend and teammate Julie for doing such a great job in her debut, and being a part of NHRA history is incredible,” said Salinas. “The more diversity we have in the sport, the more of an impact we will make in the world of motorsports.”

While many events have featured three female drivers qualified in the Top Fuel class, this was the first time that there have been four. Five female drivers tried to make the tough cut at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals, but only two, Force and Zetterström, ultimately qualified.

It was just two years ago that a record five women qualified in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class at the Midwest Nationals.

Thirteen women currently compete in NHRA’s four Professional classes – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle – while hundreds more regularly compete in NHRA’s other series, including the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and NHRA Summit Racing Series.

Earlier this season at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Maddi Gordon became the 100th different woman to win an NHRA national event when she collected her first career win in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class of the Lucas Oil Series. At the Midwest Nationals, second-generation racer Alison Prose became the 101st woman with her victory in Super Comp. 

All told, NHRA’s 101 female national event winners have accumulated 385 victories, led by six-time Pro Stock world champ Erica Enders, the unrivaled all-time winner across all motorsports, who has compiled 49 victories, and three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champ Angelle Sampey, who has 47 victories. Women in NHRA’s four Professional classes have racked up an impressive 195 wins.

NHRA has a rich history of female competitors dating back to 1966 when Shirley Shahan became the first woman in the traditionally male-dominated sports to win a national event, the NHRA Winternationals. Shirley Muldowney is widely recognized as the sport’s trailblazer and female role model. She was not only the first woman licensed to compete in Top Fuel but also the first to qualify, win a round, win an event, and win a championship, which she did three times in a career that spanned 30 years.

[Read more: From Shirley Shahan to Maddi Gordon: A history of NHRA's 100 female winners]

Women have won 23 NHRA world championships, with Amy Faulk, Jackie Alley, Mia Tedesco, Leah Pruett, Allison Doll, Megan Meyer, and Rachel Meyer also claiming championships alongside Muldowney, Enders, Sampey, Force, and Nataas.

Earlier this season, NHRA’s female racers made even more history in pushing for and helping craft an amendment to the NHRA’s Driver Replacement Policy that addresses the challenges female racers face when balancing their racing careers with family planning. It is the first such policy created in any major motorsport.