NHRA star Brittany Force retiring at end of season

Two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Brittany Force announced that she will step away from full-time competition at the end of the 2025 season to focus on starting a family.

The second oldest among four daughters of 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force, Brittany Force has 18 Top Fuel victories in 39 final-round appearance and 56 No. 1 qualifier spots.

Force, 39, married Bobby Lyson last year.

"After dedicating the last 13 years of my life to the NHRA and to John Force Racing, I have made the difficult and bittersweet decision to step out of the seat of my Top Fuel Dragster at the end of the season to try to start a family with my husband Bobby," Brittany Force said on Friday ahead of this weekends NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pa.

"I'm thankful for such an amazing career and all the opportunities that came with it. Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years including the NHRA, the fans and all my sponsors past and present."

Known as "The Queen of Speed," Force broke her own NHRA Top Fuel world record with a speed of 343.51 mph at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis last weekend. She had previously set the record of 343.16 mph in Sonoma in July, and currently owns nine of the top 10 fastest runs in Top Fuel history.

Force began her Top Fuel career in 2013, earning rookie of the year honors. She claimed her first Top Fuel victory at the 2016 Gatornationals and won her first Top Fuel title the following year -- becoming the first woman to do so since Shirley Muldowney in 1982. Force would claim another title in 2022, and also holds the NHRA Top Fuel performance record with a run of 3.623 second at Maple Grove Raceway in 2019.

Force sits fifth in the points standings, 56 points behind leader Tony Stewart entering this weekend's first of the six-race Countdown to the Championship. She has one victory to go along with four No. 1 qualifying positions this season, and has not ruled out a return to racing in the future.

"I love this sport deeply, and I'm not closing the door on driving in the future," Force said. "That's a decision for further down the road, but right now my focus remains firmly on this season. We're fifth in points entering Reading and, with six races left, this team is ready to fight for the championship all the way to the end."

--Field Level Media