GLENDORA, Calif. (Sept. 26, 2011) – It took John Force awhile to get that elusive first victory – 10 years and nine final rounds – but when he got it the floodgates then opened to the tune of a record 133 victories and an incredible stretch of 22 consecutive seasons with at least one win.
In the midst of that historic run, Force won double-digit races five times and, at Houston in 2002, he celebrated his 100th career victory, a milestone that has yet to be equaled in NHRA Full Throttle Series history. It was recognized as one of NHRA’s 60 Greatest Moments at the beginning of NHRA’s 60th anniversary season and fan voting has identified it as the No. 9 Greatest Moment in NHRA history.
The landmark victory, which occurred on April 14, 2002, came against Tommy Johnson and it helped propel Force to what would be his 10th consecutive NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car championship.
With Moment No. 9 having now been identified, that leaves eight Moments (see complete list below) still in contention to be the Greatest Moment in NHRA history. Voting has resumed today, via the “Vote 4 Greatest Moment” tab on the NHRA Facebook page, and it will continue through Nov. 9 at 11:59 p.m. ET, at which point the ‘polls’ will close and the final votes will be tallied ahead of the official announcement of the Greatest Moment in NHRA history, Sunday, Nov. 13, during pre-race on the final Sunday of NHRA’s 60th anniversary season.
In the meantime, moments 6-8 will be identified individually and announced during the ESPN2 race telecasts of the next three races in the 2011 NHRA Countdown to the Championship, beginning with the unveiling of NHRA Greatest Moment No. 8 on Sunday, Oct. 2 during the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals, 7-10 pm ET on ESPN2 (Moment No. 7 will be unveiled during the NHRA Arizona Nationals on Oct. 16, and Moment No. 6 at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals on Oct. 30).
At the conclusion of the NHRA Nevada Nationals, Oct. 30, the original list of 60 Greatest Moments will have been pared down to the Top 5 Greatest Moments in NHRA history and fans will have the chance to submit one final vote for their favorite moment before the final vote will be tallied at midnight ET on Nov. 9.
The quest for NHRA’s Greatest Moment has been one of a number of programs NHRA created during this historic 60th anniversary season to celebrate the sport’s rich tradition.
It began with the announcement in January 2011 of the 60 Greatest Moments in NHRA history, as selected by a panel of drag racing experts. From there, it was turned over the fans who responded in huge numbers during the first two stages of the program – more than 7.5 million impressions and more than 31,000 fan interactions – to trim the original list of 60 Greatest Moments to the Top 20 Greatest Moments (on Aug. 22) and the Top 10 Greatest Moments (Sept. 5).
As difficult as that must have been for NHRA fans – narrowing the original list of 60 Greatest Moments down to just 10 – consider the challenge that lies ahead for fans in selecting the single Moment that they believe is the greatest moment in NHRA History. How do you pick just one of these 10 remaining Greatest Moments in NHRA History?
Here are the Top 10 Greatest Moments (remaining moments in chronological order):
- Founding of NHRA (1951)
- Don Garlits makes NHRA's First 200-mph Run (1964)
- Don Garlits debuts the rear-engine dragster — and wins (Pomona, 1971)
- Shirley Muldowney is NHRA's First Female World Champ (1977)
- Kenny Bernstein makes NHRA's first 300-mph Run (1992)
- Tony Schumacher's "The Run" (2006)
- Ashley Force Hood is first Female Funny Car Winner (2008)
- John Force Completes Comeback, Wins 15th Championship (2010)
No. 9: John Force is first to win 100 career races (2002)
No. 10: Shirley Muldowney is first Women to Win in Top Fuel (1976)
To participate, fans can go to NHRA’s Facebook page, easy to find at Facebook.com/NHRA, and click on the “Vote 4 Greatest Moment” tab. Once there, fans will be instructed to select just one (1) of the 10 Moments and click ‘Submit’ (after submitting their vote, fans will have the chance to enter to win one VIP package or one of five pairs of full-event tickets to the 2012 event of their choice).
Fans can visit the 60 Greatest Moments Web page for complete program details as well as to view historical photos and videos that retrace every step in NHRA rich and storied history. The page also includes links to view a preview of / purchase NHRA’s “60 Greatest Moments” DVD.
