Drag Illustrated Issue 129, January / February 2018 | Page 42

John
Q
Force
& A
J
By Sara Slaughter
ohn Force, the 148-time Funny Car winner, wrapped up
the 2017 season in seventh place in the NHRA Mello Yello point
standings with a No. 1 qualifier and a win at the Gatornationals.
The winningest driver in NHRA history’s season was highlight-
ed with two more NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series world
championships as a team owner. Daughter Brittany Force earned her first
Top Fuel world championship and son-in-law Robert Hight took home
his second Funny Car world championship crown. After the madness of
the season finale calmed down, the proud father and team owner took
some time to reflect on the 2017 season and talk about what’s coming in
2018.
Could you be any happier as a team owner?
No, because we told Chevrolet, Jim Campbell (Chevrolet’s U.S. vice
president, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports), that John Force Rac-
ing had won all those championships for all those years and that we could
turn it around again. We need to get back financially and get our people
back and we made that happen. No, I’m tickled pink to be a champion, as
part of this championship team with Robert winning and with my daugh-
ter Brittany. It’s amazing what took place.
Brittany is the first Force daughter to win a world championship. What
did it take for her to reach that championship performance level?
Brittany with that great sponsor in Monster Energy, well, she struggled
all year with that gut ache. She worried that, you know, it’s the great Alan
Johnson and it’s Brian Husen and it’s one of the greatest teams. I told her,
“Yeah, but you gotta learn. Champions are not born, champions are made.
And that gut ache is either gonna put you out of business or turn you into
a winner. And that’s where you gotta go. You gotta make it turn you into
a winner.”
I used to joke with her when she was younger and she was nervous,
she’d say ‘I have a belly ache going into this cheerleading thing’ and I
would always take the sickness out of her and put it into me and it was
kind of a little joke we had. Her mom always said, ‘You feel sick, go to your
dad, he’ll take it.’ I told her that on race day, you’ve gotta find yourself and
only you can find yourself.
We did hire a trainer, Scott Garwood. He and his team worked with
her for five races starting in Denver, Sonoma, Seattle, Brainerd and Indy.
Then he said he was going into the Countdown. If you’re a driver or a crew
chief or corporate America, you need to look at this guy. I don’t know all
what he did, but it sure helped turn her around. Alan Johnson worked
with her too. Alan Johnson is probably one of the best teachers I’ve ever
met and I don’t even know him. Just the way he took care of her when she
red-lit it was like, ‘Our team has got your back. It wasn’t all your fault.’ I
stayed out of it because I never drove a dragster.
I’m proud of her. I folded up on the starting line. I was telling her mom,
‘It’s going to be OK. I don’t want to be negative, but they’re up against
killers out here that know the drill.’ I’m proud of her to tears. And she’s
done something that no woman has done since Shirley Muldowney 35
years ago.
You are two away from 150 career wins. Did you ever think you would
approach that kind of record?
First off, I’ll get there. People wanted me to go after 250 like Richard
Petty. You know I won championships in AHRA, ADRA. I’ve won tons of
races, if you counted them up, not match races but actual national events,
I’ve probably already made 250. People say, ‘Why don’t you print it?’ Be-
cause I never raced Petty and I don’t want to catch him. He is a hero to me.
Just like Prudhomme, I’m still chasing Prudhomme. I remember stand-
ing at the fence watching Don Prudhomme, watching him do a burnout
in the Hot Wheels car. I’m five to seven years younger than him. I started
late too. I didn’t go professional until I was 24, even though I was racing
before that in high school. In ‘67 I was in a Fuel Altered; people don’t even
know I drove Fuel Altered.
How did you celebrate after John Force Racing won the two nitro world
championships? You were still in competition after they secured the titles.
It was very emotional. Robert had just won a championship, Brittany
had just won a championship. I was on straight nitro, I was on straight
adrenaline. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to do a burnout to the lights. I
had always dreamed of doing those big ol’ smoky burnouts. I know that’s
what the fans love and it helps sell t-shirts over at MainGate. I gave it a
pretty good one and got after it pretty good. I got kind of a wake-up call
out there – hell, I thought it was almost going to die on me, but that baby
stayed lit. Then I realized it’s time to get my focus, I had a race to win
for Peak. I wasn’t able to get the job done. But at the end of the day John
Force Racing ended up with 20 championships. Pretty dang good day.
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You’re still winning races, still contending for championships, how do you
stay motivated?
I can’t get off this train. I love it. I’m here with Robert. I consider him
my best friend. We work together every day because he’s like me. My wife
wrote an article the other day about what is the best thing she could tell
her daughters. She said, “You gotta have religion, hobbies, give time to you
and your family and don’t be the way your dad was.”
I lived for racing, I’m still living it. It’s all I know. Everyone, our crew
guys and all, went on vacation after the Finals. Robert and I went back to
work. I love it. I love racing and now I get to be with my kids and do it, and
my granddaughter, well, she’s driving Jr. Dragsters.