John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car made their 260th final round appearance Sunday at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway and came away from the weekend with the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series points lead.

Following a difficult two days of qualifying that put them in the No. 11 spot, John Force and his PEAK Chevy team found their race day mojo.

In the first round of eliminations, Force handled his Chevy hot rod to a 3.875-second pass at 334.65 mph to defeat most recent event winner Tim Wilkerson’s 3.892 at 322.81. In the second round, Force took on Paul Lee and managed to run an event best time of 3.861-seconds and speed of 334.65 mph to out-run Lee’s 3.909 at 333.99.

The second-round victory would line the 16-time champion up against three-time champion and president of John Force Racing, Robert Hight. It would be a close drag race with both drivers going 3.909-seconds.

Force’s reaction time of .054 would give him the win, the points lead and set the stage for a final round against Tommy Johnson Jr.. Filling in for Matt Hagan, Johnson Jr. would go 3.926-seconds at 330.23 mph to better Force’s 3.946 at 328.54.

“Well we got the points lead. That’s important,” Force said. “Danny Hood and Tim Fabrisi, they figured this PEAK Chevy out and really gave me a heck of a car today. The whole PEAK team, they worked hard, put things together and all I had to do was drive the car. It was fun today, the crowd, Maple Grove Raceway up here in Pennsylvania, great way to start the Countdown. Now we get to do it all over again next weekend.”

All the points Johnson gained this weekend went to Hagan per the NHRA’s replacement policy for medical reasons, but the veteran was thrilled to race.

“It was pretty cool. I was astonished. We’ve come a long way in a week,” said Johnson, who now has 23 career wins. “It meant a lot and I kept thinking of my dad (who passed away earlier this year) all day. The sport of drag racing is my whole life and to come out and win for these guys, it’s just amazing. I’m still astonished it happened. It was about as smooth of a transition to make this happen. To come out here and get a win, this race will mean a ton to me.

“I know it was close against John. He’s pretty good still and to race him in the final and get this opportunity after not racing all season, that makes it even more special. He’s the best the class has ever had and to top him means a lot.”

In Top Fuel, Billy Torrence delivered one consistent performance after another, turning in a 3.720 at 326.08 in his 11,000-horsepower Capco Contractors dragster in the final round to knock off Justin Ashley.

Torrence made a huge jump in points, moving from eighth to third on the strength of his second win this season and eighth in his career. He beat Josh Hart, Shawn Langdon and No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force to reach the final round, running 3.71 or 3.72 on all four passes in eliminations, including his run against Ashley in the championship round.

“That’s a really good team that ran really well and I had a good car,” Torrence said. “I’m certainly the weak link in my car, but they made me look good in the end. It says a lot for the boys. It’s a shame they don’t have a better driver, but the car is really good. I have a good time and at my extended age, I’m going to take all the wins I can get.”

Ashley reached his second final round in 2021 by knocking off Doug Kalitta, Clay Millican and points leader and three-time defending world champ Steve Torrence.

"It was really a great weekend. The car was fantastic running in the low 3.70s or high 3.60s," said Ashley. "It was consistent and that is a testament to (team owner) Dustin Davis and (crew chief) Mike Green. We have worked for this all year. We spent the races prior to the Countdown getting ready for this moment. When it was time to step up, we took advantage. I feel good leaving here this weekend after taking a big swing out of the points. Now we focus on Charlotte."

S. Torrence left Maple Grove with the points lead, though it’s now shrunk to just 12 over Force. B. Torrence trails his son by 42 points and Ashley moved up to fourth.

It was a huge day for Greg Anderson in Pro Stock, as the veteran tied NHRA legend Warren Johnson for the most wins in class history, picking up his 97th career win with a victory over defending world champ Erica Enders in the final round.

Anderson went 6.578 at 208.30 in the finals to beat Enders and earn his third victory of the season. Tying W. Johnson was something Anderson has been trying to do since early May and he took care of business to open the playoffs, beating John Gaydosh, Matt Hartford and Troy Coughlin Jr. to reach the finals. There, he left first on Enders before soaking in the memorable moment.

“I was absolutely shocked that the win light came on. There’s been so many races in a row where it simply wouldn’t come on,” Anderson said. “You think you have everything going well and the light just doesn’t come on in the final round.

"It was a huge day to finally tie Warren. I learned so much from him and it’s kind of a cool story. Now I get a chance to try and beat him, and we’re going to Charlotte with a chance to break that record,” said Anderson.

Enders, who won last weekend in Indy, beat Larry Morgan, Chris McGaha and Dallas Glenn to reach the final round for the fourth time in 2021 and 59th time in her career. Anderson extended his points lead to 42 points over Enders, while Aaron Stanfield is third.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, S. Johnson finds himself in the points lead for the first time in seven years after beating Eddie Krawiec in the final round on his Mac Rak/Slick 50 Suzuki with a run of 6.775 at 196.87. It was the quickest run of eliminations in the class and Johnson earned his second win this season and eighth in his career. It’s also the first time Johnson has won two races in a season since 2008. To get there, he knocked off Jim Underdahl, Scotty Pollacheck and No. 1 qualifier Angelle Sampey, quickly turning things around this weekend after a slow start.

“Clearly you want to be leading the points and it’s great, but what it really boils down to is the process,” Johnson said. “Leading the points is just a dream. The driver that was here on Friday and Saturday, he was atrocious. I just got sideways and everybody said go back to fundamentals. I was out here for a long time before racing started just working on the fundamentals. You can always learn. I was really, really bad on Friday and Saturday, and everyone was going fast. That’s a classic example or riding a bike or driving it, and the driver was here on Sunday.”

Krawiec reached his second straight final round and 78th in his career by defeating Kelly Clontz, Angie Smith and defending world champ Matt Smith, who now trails Johnson by 12 points. Krawiec is 36 points back of Johnson.

The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship continues Sept. 17-19 with the DeWalt NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway just outside of Charlotte in Concord, N.C.

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TOP FUEL
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 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed

    3 Billy Torrence                          7 Justin Ashley                
E4   ****WINNER****  0.075  3.720 326.08                     0.033  3.784 313.22

 Prior rounds:
E3    (B Force     ) 0.050  3.725 328.46      (S Torrence  ) 0.034  4.084 298.67
E2    (S Langdon   ) 0.072  3.719 329.18      (C Millican  ) 0.055  3.697 328.70
E1    (J Hart      ) 0.095  3.721 328.78      (D Kalitta   ) 0.067  3.703 328.62
 Qualified:             #5  3.699 327.98                        #6  3.721 328.78


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FUNNY CAR
******************

  723 John Force                             33 Tommy Johnson Jr.            
E4                   0.026  3.946 328.54     ****WINNER****  0.043  3.926 330.23

 Prior rounds:
E3    (R Hight     ) 0.056  3.909 329.10      (J Todd      ) 0.050  3.902 331.53
E2    (P Lee       ) 0.101  3.861 332.67      (R Capps     ) 0.050  3.892 332.02
E1    (T Wilkerson ) 0.059  3.875 334.65      (J Campbell  ) 0.083  3.892 333.58
 Qualified:            #12  4.096 256.84                        #4  3.895 333.82


******************
PRO STOCK
******************

    4 Greg Anderson                           1 Erica Enders                 
E4   ****WINNER****  0.021  6.578 208.30                     0.049  6.604 206.73

 Prior rounds:
E3    (T Coughlin J) 0.026  6.614 208.01      (D Glenn     ) 0.028  6.602 206.51
E2    (M Hartford  ) 0.043  6.585 207.85      (C McGaha    ) 0.016  6.596 206.35
E1    (J Gaydosh   ) 0.012  6.555 208.55      (L Morgan    ) 0.054  6.587 207.08
 Qualified:             #2  6.530 209.79                        #1  6.524 209.56


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PRO STOCK MOTO
******************

    8 Steve Johnson                           2 Eddie Krawiec                
E4   ****WINNER****  0.078  6.775 196.87                     0.064  6.870 197.16

 Prior rounds:
E3    (A Sampey    ) 0.017  6.804 197.22      (M Smith     ) 0.018  6.906 196.79
E2    (S Pollacheck) 0.013  6.788 197.31      (A Smith     ) 0.049  6.886 197.57
E1    (J Underdahl ) 0.067  6.825 197.19      (K Clontz    ) 0.042  6.858 198.58
 Qualified:             #5  6.812 198.15                        #3  6.763 201.67

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