Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

The National Hot Rod Association marked history at the Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway as four women — Brittany Force, Jasmine Salinas, Ida Zetterstrom, and Julie Nataas — all qualified for the raceday field in Top Fuel, a new benchmark for the sport’s ultimate category. That number, a source of envy for every other major motorsport in the world, is one that could, however, balloon to nearly half the Top Fuel field as soon as 2025 or 2026.

Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

Nataas, the reigning Top Alcohol Dragster world champion, made her Top Fuel debut at the Midwest Nationals as part of the Scrappers Racing team, and while she does not have additional events on her schedule for this season, will no doubt be a part of the Top Fuel conversation next year and beyond. Salinas is putting bow on her first season in Scrappers’ primary dragster after taking over her father, Mike, this season. Jasmine has been a focused student of the craft all season, and has a bright future ahead of her.

Leah Pruett, just weeks from giving birth to she and husband Tony Stewart’s first child, has been vocal about her desire to return to the seat of the car she nearly drove to the Top Fuel championship in 2023.

Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

Zetterstrom, the reigning FIA Top Fuel champion, made her debut at Brainerd for Joe Maynard’s JCM Racing team and is campaigning the balance of the 2024 season with an eye on a full campaign in 2025.

Angelle Sampey, the three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion and one-time winningest pro female driver in the sport, joined cousin Antron Brown’s AB Motorsports Accelerate driver development program last fall to campaign a Top Alcohol Dragster entry, with a clear focus on navigating her way to the Top Fuel category. With backing from NHRA’s primary title rights sponsor, Mission Foods, that strategy is arguably more a matter of when, not if.

Photo courtesy AB Motorsports

While indeed a number of what-if’s exist in this scenario, those five ladies could potentially join two-time world champion Brittany Force and Krista Baldwin to comprise nearly one full side of the competition ladder in the coming years.

The NHRA’s history-making Sunday at the Midwest Nationals followed a groundbreaking announcement by the sanctioning body on September 17, when a revolutionary, first-of-its-kind driver replacement policy was announced to support female racers who are starting a family. That policy, championed by Pruett, is likely to pave the way for new and continued female participation in Top Fuel and other pro categories in the future.

It’s with noting the strength in numbers that lady drivers have in the NHRA (there were nine in pro classes at the Midwest Nationals alone, 11 at the U.S. Nationals):

• Just two women have started a NASCAR Cup Series race in the last 35 years
• IndyCar, with the strongest female participation outside of the NHRA, has seen eight women start the fabled Indianapolis 500 in the last quarter century
• In Formula One, just five women have ever started or attempted to qualify for a Grand Prix, the last coming in 1992