The RACE Season Gets Off to a Fast Start

The fifty-fourth Circle K NHRA Winternationals was held at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, California, Feb. 6-9, 2014. The premier NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series begins with the Winternationals, and this year, some of the racers competing were defending Top Fuel world champion Shawn Langdon, Antron Brown, Tony Schumacher and Doug Kalitta. Funny Car fan favorites “Fast Jack” Beckman, Ron Capps, Courtney Force, John Force and defending Pro Stock world champ Jeg Coughlin, Allen Johnson, Jason Line and Erica Enders-Stevens were also in attendance.

The weekend weather was cool with temperatures in the mid to high 60s, so the track was ready for some good times. The wheelstanding Stock Eliminators and Super Stocks were showing off, and in the pits, a classic car show, celebrity autographs, Nitro Alley and food vendors were packed with families enjoying themselves.

Several pro cars found their way into the sand at the end of the track. Pro class engine failures were disastrous and caused an unusual number of oildowns and delays. Luckily nobody was seriously injured. The awesome Winged Express Fuel Altered made an exciting single run. There are 23 more races to go in the 2014 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, so we’re in for a full year of exciting drag racing!

A Force to be Reckoned With

John Force has at least a dozen reasons to hang up his fire suit and start enjoying a well-deserved retirement as the winningest driver in NHRA history and arguably the biggest personality in motorsports. The only problem with this plan is Force loves what he’s doing too much. Even at 64 years old Force is racing figurative circles around his competition, and the new partnership with crew chiefs Jimmy Prock and Danny DeGennaro has the driver of the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang Funny Car excited to chase down more championships.

“I am OK. I am excited. I love this sport. I came [to Phoenix] in nineteen eighty-five at the first national event here. I was learning how to drive and our NHRA announcer Alan Reinhardt was learning how to announce. I match raced here almost ten years before that,” said Force after he grabbed the provisional No. 1 at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in February. “I got a little cocky in Pomona [at the Winternationals]. This is not the WWF. We are not going into a cage to fight. I will let Prock’s tune-up do the talking for me. I got a little crazy about talking about putting on my fire suit and feeling like I am twenty-four not sixty-four. I can do the job and I will get the job done. I will give these fans a great show.”

Force has been a showman from the first time he pulled on a helmet. Even after all of the fires, runs off the end of the track and crashes, Force still wants to give the fans a show and share the moment with his teammates. Some of Force’s crewmen weren’t even alive when he started winning championships; not races, championships. He also feeds off the youth of his co-racers.

“I build my energy off of my teammates. When it is just me I get guilty of thinking I have been here before and somebody might beat me, for some reason that just gets your energy. We all know [2011 Funny Car champ Matt] Hagan is turning into a body builder and he is beautiful. I work out hard but I am not close to him. He is really good on that tree. He is like Robert Hight. I think Hagan and Robert are the best out there. I am not there with them so I have to cheat on the light and roll it in there,” said Force after he clinched his unprecedented 139th win at the season-opening Winternationals.

In the pressroom after the win that clinched the 16th championship, Force issued a line to the media that has carried over into this season.

“I went and took off my fire suit and it scared me in the trailer. When you are sixty-four and they put you in a fire suit you are twenty-four. That is a fact. Something just happens. I always believed in Santa Claus and I still do. I believe in Superman and all that stuff,” said Force with a Cheshire Cat grin and youthful glimmer in his eye. “Bottom line, I am not flexing my muscles but Jimmy Prock just flexed his muscles. I may be an old wore out piece of [expletive]—but why am I telling you all this? I am looking for a sponsor. My old hot rod is fast. I am proud of it and I love it.”

While Force might be pulled in different directions as he chases corporate America, he continues to teach the ropes to daughters Courtney and Brittany Force and chases win lights with the abandon and hunger of a rookie driver. The drive that motivates the greats of the sport is still burning strong in Force. He’s won some of the biggest races in history and he’s known for being the biggest big race competitor due to his unbelievable ability to focus as soon as the body of his Funny Car is lowered. His mouth can be going a mile a minute, but when the pre-stage bulb is lit, a switch is flipped and nothing will interfere with his laser-like attention to the Christmas Tree.

“My focus has never been better. I am guilty of running around like a wild man, but I am turning more stuff over to Robert. I have enough on my plate. I need to focus on this car. This is a critical year, probably the most critical since my accident. That was about me not being able to drive. This is about somebody putting a value on me. It doesn’t matter how much someone loves you, it is about where he is going. This old race car will do the running and all I have to do is stay in the gym,” said Force.

“A lot of work goes into what we do and we couldn’t be here without Castrol, Ford, Auto Club, Mac Tools, Traxxas and BrandSource. I am just strapped into that rocketship. Jimmy Prock and Danny DeGennaro and all these kids putting this car together and we won. Robert Hight worked with me and we won together as a team. We are learning how to race again. Don Schumacher Racing and Cruz Pedregon have been pounding us for years, so we needed to get back in the game,” said Force after barely outrunning his youngest daughter in the Las Vegas final to clinch the championship. “I want to thank all of my people, from the people in the shops to the marketing people to every employee. Winning is a team effort. I remember Dale Earnhardt used to say, ‘I’ll do the winning and you marketing guys sell me.’ Today we got it done.”

When Force is asked about his future, as he was leading into the second race of the season after reaching six consecutive finals, he brought up his passion for moving forward.

“I was told I didn’t have a future when I was losing sponsors. Castrol and Ford have been nothing but good to me. Without sponsors you are done and it put the fight back in me. I don’t like seeing those sweet sixteen signs the fans are showing me now [after his record 16th title]. I have to go for seventeen,” said Force. “My wife Laurie has been the best thing for me. She told me, ‘If you would quit sitting on the end of the bed whining about what is going on [and] get out there and just win, then winning fixes everything.’ That just got my head right. Go win. That is what you are paid to do. I am good enough. I am tough enough. I am young enough to race and nobody loves it more than me.

“I didn’t feel like I had to prove anything. I will just say it like it is. Because of my age, I am kind of a tough sell. I have heard all the jokes. I am going to stay out here until I drop. That will get a lot of exposure. If I ever had to win this was the time to do it. I was winning with Mike Neff and then we switched it up. Sometimes luck just gets on your side. I will be the champ while we are making deals this year. There ain’t nothing wrong with me. This ain’t like NASCAR where they have to have rest stops. I am going to keep doing this because it is what I love to do.”

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The Winners

Top Fuel–Khalid al Balooshi, 3.974 at 324.36 mph to beat Doug Kalitta, 5.366 at 143.40 mph.
Funny Car–John Force, 3.965 at 323.58 mph to beat Matt Hagan, 6.613 at 117.88 mph.
Pro Stock–Jason Line, 6.526 at 212.06 mph to beat V. Gains, 6.533 at 2l2.56 mph
Top Alcohol Dragster–Chris Demke, 5.251 at 275.00 mph to beat. Don St. Amaud, 5.328 at 278.46 mph.
Top Alcohol Funny Car–Brian Hough, 5.571 at 257.83 mph to beat Sean Bellemeur, 5.646 at 257.78 mph.
Competition Eliminator–Mike LePalma 8.062 at 166.09 mph to beat Alan Ellis, 6.572 at 205.54 mph.
Super Stock–Don Keen 10.355 at 127.47 to beat Dave Bridgewater, 9.506 at 139.29 mph.
Stock Eliminator–Paul Cannan 10.099 at 129.27 mph to beat Michael Iacono, 10.972 at 119.23 mph.
Super Comp–Don Meziere, 8.921 at 158.37 mph to beat Steve Casner, 8.922 at 185.36 mph.
Super Gas–Val Torres, 163.06 at 9.905 mph to beat Thomas Bayer, 9.899 at 151.82 mph.

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