Fastest speed in an NHRA Drag Racing Top Fuel race (1,000 ft)

The fastest speed in a National Hot Rod Association race in the Top Fuel class is 343.16 mph (552.26 km/h), achieved by Brittany Force (USA) in Sonoma, California, USA, on 25 July 2025.

Brittany Force set the Top Fuel national record for the third time in 2025 at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals in California. Her elapsed time was a track-record 3.645 seconds. She beat her own previous record of 341.85 mph, which she had set just five days previous in Seattle.

Queen of Speed  

At the 2025 Sonoma Nationals, Brittany Force made the fastest run in the history of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), hitting 343.16 mph (552.26 km/h) as she drove her Monster Energy dragster along the 1,000-ft-long strip in just 3.645 sec. Brittany obliterated her own Top Fuel speed record of 341.85 mph, which she had set just five days earlier. “The Queen of Speed” now owned eight of the nine fastest runs in NHRA history – all of them set in 2025.

The basics of NHRA Drag Racing 

A drag race is an acceleration contest from a standing start between two vehicles over a measured distance – the first to reach the finish line is the winner. The elapsed time (“e.t.”) measures how long it takes the car to reach the finish line once it leaves the staging beams, while the dragster’s speed is clocked in a 66-ft-long speed trap that ends at the finish line.

Drag races were traditionally held over a distance of a quarter-mile (1,320 ft), but following the death of driver Scott Kalitta in 2008 the track was shortened to 1,000 ft for the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes. This gave drivers more time to slow down after crossing the finish line.

The fastest dragsters 

Top Fuel dragsters earn their name from the fact that they are powered by nitromethane rather than gasoline. Nitromethane contains oxygen inside its molecular structure, enabling it to consume greater amounts of fuel and produce more power from each explosion inside the engine – around 11,000 hp. Top Fuel dragsters are the fastest class in the NHRA, capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 mph in less than a second.  

NHRA speed landmarks 

One of the biggest names in the early days of Top Fuel racing was Don Garlits – aka “Big Daddy”. He is widely credited with the NHRA’s first official 200-mph run, hitting 201.34 mph at the 1964 NHRA World Championship Series event at Island Dragway in Great Meadows, New Jersey. Garlits went on to shatter the first 250-mph mark during the 1975 NHRA World Finals at Ontario Motor Speedway, recording 250.69 mph.

The first-ever 300-mph pass was achieved by Top Fuel racer Kenny Bernstein at the 1992 Gatornationals, when he clocked 301.70 mph at Gainesville Raceway. Bernstein’s feat earned him the nickname the “King of Speed”.  

Brittany: a Force to reckon with  

Driving quickly runs in Brittany Force’s blood. She is the daughter of John Force, a 16-time NHRA champion in the Funny Car class. Her sisters Ashley and Courtney were also professional drag racers – in 2008, Ashley became the first woman to win a Funny Car race. Unlike the rest of her racing family, however, Brittany entered the Top Fuel class in 2013.  

In 2017, Brittany became only the second woman after Shirley Muldowney in 1982 to win the Top Fuel Championship. She claimed the championship again in 2022, and has amassed 18 career race wins to date. In 2025, Brittany took her Monster Energy dragster to the next level, breaking the NHRA Top Fuel speed record three times. At the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Washington, she hit the fastest speed ever recorded in the sport’s history – 341.85 km/h – outstripping Funny Car racer’s Austin Prock’s 341.68 km/h in 2024. And just five days later, Brittany would go even faster… 

Top 5 fastest NHRA Top Fuel speeds