Sixteen-time Funny Car champion John Force and daughter Brittany, herself a former NHRA series champion, made history and fulfilled a longtime family dream Sunday at Heartland Motorsports Park during the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals, as they be became the first father-child tandem to win professional categories at the same NHRA national event. John, for his part, earned his 154th career victory — a record, no doubt — while Brittany returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since the fall of 2019.

It was the fourth time that John Force Racing has had a Top Fuel/Funny Car double-up; Brittany first did it with Robert Hight in Dallas in 2017, and again at Houston in 2019. John and Austin Prock won together for John’s milestone 150th series victory at Seattle in 2019. John and daughter Ashley Force-Hood had doubled up at the Auto Club Finals in Pomona when she raced the Top Alcohol Dragster category in 2004, but Sunday’s double triumph marked the first such result in two pro categories.

“This is something I’ll never forget,” said Brittany after he final round rout of Clay Millican. “This has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember and there have been so many close calls where we thought, ‘Hey, this could be our day that we could double up,’ and just to get a race win is hard enough. Then you want to do it with your teammate, it’s almost impossible. So, you almost put it on the back burner; it’s too much to double up with your dad. You both run well all weekend long and you double up, it almost seems impossible. Today, we pulled off the impossible. It’s pretty cool that we’ll always share this. It’s a special racetrack for us and it’s pretty cool to have that with him.”

Brittany entered raceday at Topeka from the number one qualifying position for the fourth straight race and sixth time this season overall, looking for her first victory of the season and first since the 2019 season. She opened her day by defeating Scott Palmer in the opening round, earning a competition single in round two. Force then muscled her way past rival Steve Torrence in the semifinals, setting up the final round match — her third final round of the season and 26th of her career — with Millican. In the finale, she led wire-to-wire — her 3.78 powering away from Millican’s 3.83-second effort. The win was the 11th of her career and first at Topeka.

“It feels great. We came out strong, we’ve had a good season. We’ve had a bunch of No. 1 qualifiers, we just keep getting stuck on race day,” said Force who is now second in the points standings. “That’s hard for a driver, a crew chief, our entire team. That’s where you really want to excel, when you really want to do well. We have a closet full of No. 1 hats, but we don’t have those race day hats. I know it was right around the corner for us. Over the last few races, it’s been driver error, it’s been team error. Little things kept getting us. We knew eventually our luck was going to turn around.”

John, already with two wins on the season and looking to solidify his points lead in the class, defeated Paul Lee, Hight, and Cruz Pedregon in the preliminary rounds, earning a shot at top qualifier J.R. Todd in the money round. Unlike his daughter’s decisive win, Force had to come from behind against Todd, who slowed after taking an .058 to .081 starting line advantage.

“I had a good day. Robert was probably my toughest race because it’s hard to beat Robert. I just had a car that was pretty fast. Got the win. What was special was I finally got that double up with Brittany. It means a lot for a family of racers. It was a great day with all the people I raced.”

The win was Force’s 10th all-time at Topeka, with his last occurring there in 2008 (which was his first since returning from a nearly career-ending crash the season prior). Force’se win on Sunday gave him the points lead for the first time since October, 5, 2014. Force has now led the points in 22 different seasons.

“I’m going after wins. I don’t talk about it because when you do you get lost why you came and you start focusing on that,” Force continued. “No, what you do is you drive your car. You love life and I fight. My race car keeps me alive and the cheer of the crowd. So, if it’s in the cards, we’ll win a championship. And if we don’t, I’ll be the first over there to congratulate who does. Because that is what it really is all about. The competition makes you better. Every time they beat me, they make me better.”