During the 2014 Circle K NHRA Winternationals, Force Racing was taking care of business as usual. I was scheduled to meet with NHRA legend and 16-time Funny Car champion, John Force. His daughters Courtney and Brittany, also, pro drivers, would be joining us later.
While waiting in the pit area where his crew toiled away on Force’s Castrol GTX Funny Car, one could not help but notice the crowd of loyal fans. They stood mesmerized while awaiting Force’s arrival with hopes of talking to the legend and maybe getting an autograph. No other driver had this size of fan base waiting and lurking outside. That is to be expected when the 64 year old has dominated the sport for so long and is the NHRA’s version of Michael Jordan.
A few minutes later, Force rides into the pit area on his motorcycle. Simultaneously fans held their phones in the air to capture the moment. Force had just set a track record twenty minutes earlier. From the sight of Force’s smile after seeing the fans, you can instantly tell this guy has a big personality. After talking to the head of his public relations, Elon Werner, Force sat down with myself for a one-on-one.
Crave Online: John, you have absolutely dominated the sport. You have 16 championships. Out of those 16, was there a specific one that meant more to you than any of the others or do they just run together after awhile?
John Force: The first is always the biggest cause you watched your heroes out here and guys you chased, Prudhomme (Don), Bernstein (Kenny), and McEwen (Tom), and you never thought you would ever get there. And to get that first one, it took me a long time. I was in nine final rounds. They called me the perennial bridesmaid.; get to the altar but wouldn’t get married. Um, but we won 10 straight and that is something the Yankees never did. I don’t know, they all had a meaning. Probably when I crashed.
We lost Eric Medlen back in 07’ crash in Gainesville’; young boy that was driving for me. Great kid! His dad is still with me today. We build safety now with racecars. But I crashed four months later and the doctor told me it was over. Broke my arms, legs, and car. The same identical thing happened to him. Car broke in half, vibrations, he had head injuries, and we had fixed the roll cage before we had come back. We had missed a race. We came back and I didn’t have any head damage. My wife debates that (laughs). But the car broke in half and if it would have rolled and tumbled at 300, it would have killed me. But by the parachutes it just stayed up and then right when it came to a stop, it just fell over and that’s what broke my arms and legs and knee. They told me I wouldn’t race and when I come back, it wasn’t pretty.
It was about two years but I came back in an all-new car and told them it would work. Pretty amazing that out of the box with it in Phoenix, brand new car tested and I was top speed of winter testing; ran 4.68 or something, 4.78, or 3.28. They all said it was too heavy and be too expensive and we came back a couple of years after that and I won the championship. I would probably call that a top one.
Crave Online: With your daughters racing, does the dad in you ever kick in?
John Force: All the time.
Discussing being a dad with his daughters in the business
John Force: They spent three years in A/Fuel when they were going to college. They all got their degrees. My oldest is married to Robert Hight from Auto Club. Adria, my grand daughter…she’s the CFO of the company. She runs the money cause I don’t count so good. My other daughter, Ashley, now runs John Force Production. She drove for three years. All my kids have been rookie of the year. They did that good out of the deal, winning races. But she has two kids now so she got out of the seat. And it was when I came back and won the championship, walking from winner’s circle right here in Pomona, at the end of the year, she said, “Dad, I gotta tell you. Now that you can do the job and carry the name”, you know, she had become a bigger star than me [sic]. Fans loved her. I wasn’t cute like her. But they loved her and she was outselling me in sales and she said, “I’m going to have a baby.” I’ve got two grandsons; Jacob; he’s two years, runnin’ around here, thinks he’s a race car mechanic and Noah, he’s six or seven months. Best thing in my life.
Crave Online: What do you think makes the NHRA culture and the sport so interesting — so much different?
John Force: Well, different from Nascar, Indy car, F1, or outlaws; we go in a straight line. It’s a very quick race. I mean, we make 10,000 horsepower here. You put two of those on the starting line. I think one car is more horsepower than the whole field at a Nascar race. [laughs]. And I love it, don’t get me wrong, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, those are my friends down there but it’s a different world. We have access here at drag racing. Every ticket is a pit pass. You probably heard that from other drivers. But when you’re in here, you can get autographs, get pictures, meet the drivers, meet the teams, watch em’ tear a car down, start it up, smell nitro methane. You know we’re a sport that at my age, Nascar drivers are all done. I’m 64 and that’s the new 40, by the way.
But I’m very lucky. Auto club signed with us with Robert (Hight) for 5 years. Traxxas, we got four years left with them with Courtney [sic]. I’m looking for some new sponsors. I got a lot of others. I’ve been real lucky, real fortunate, but we work hard chasing it…chasing money all the time. I hired three agencies like Octagon agency to bring back our TV show ‘Driving Force.’ It was prime time TV Tuesday night. You know, more TV, better exposure for them. Here comes my brat.
Courtney Force sits down to join us.
John Force: I’ll shut up so you can talk to her. But the sport, we have access here. It is 330 mph, four second side-by-side — it’s the greatest show on Earth, I believe.
Crave Online: Courtney, can you tell us the first time you told your dad that you were serious about being a driver? How did that go?
Courtney Force: Honestly, I’ve been telling him since I was about seven years old. So he knew it was coming. I mean, I told my family and teachers… ask you in class, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” It was like I couldn’t wait to raise my hand and be like, “I’m gonna be a racecar driver just like my dad.” There was never a doubt in my mind… I think at first they kind of thought it maybe was just like a phase and thought it was going to go away. I mean, I talked about it so much as a kid. I was out here covered in grease. I loved just being out here. I was a little bit of a tomboy. But you know, in high school, I took auto shop class, I took welding, and I was a cheerleader, so I got the best of both worlds.
They knew that I was pretty aggressive. I would ask all the time. They would tell me “Well you gotta, you know, do well in school and you’re going to have to get your drivers license first when you’re 16 and then we will talk about getting you into drag racing school.” That was when I was like, I already booked my appointment to come to the drag racing school and get licensed and everything. I think they kind of tested the waters in a sportsman class like Super Comp. And when they realized we stuck through it, you know, as a kid sometimes you sign up for a dance class, you get over it, and you’re like “Ah, I don’t want to be a dancer anymore.” But we all, especially me, I really stuck through it. It was like “This is what I want to do. I want to move up to the next class.” Then when Ashley (older sister) stepped out of the car, it was kind of my opportunity to slide in there.
Crave Online: When you first got on the track, how do you think other drivers viewed you? Due to your last name, was the respect automatically there or did you have to earn it?
Courtney Force: Definitely had to earn it. I mean, they know who my dad is and I think that added a little bit extra pressure and a lot more eyes are on you. They’re either going to pick on you and say “she is doing a horrible job” and pinpoint every little thing you do, where as if you were a no-namer that kind of slid in and started in the category, they’d be like “Oh, it’s a rookie. They’re still learning” but when you’re John Force’s daughter they’re watching your every move. There are a lot of things where it’s good and bad. We had a big name to live up to especially because my sister, Ashley, raced the funny car before me professionally.
Crave Online: What is the ultimate goal?
Courtney Force: It would definitely be to be the first female to win a world championship. That’s definitely my goal. That’s the reason we are out here.
In my rookie season, we picked up a win, we went to multiple final rounds, and we finished out the season in fifth in my first year, which was higher than my dad finished that year, which I was very proud of [laughs]. And it was cool to stand up on stage with him and I was the only female that had ever made the top 10. To come out and do well again last year, I picked up two wins, and we finished in the top 10 again. Now this year, my focus is just like “you want to keep getting the wins, you want to do well.” It’s only my third year. I’m still a new driver. I’m still learning out here. I’m still getting advice from him (John) all the time. But honestly, our team is just going after the championship. That is our ultimate goal. We think that it’s a possibility and we’re definitely going to go for it.
Brittany Force joins the interview as John walks off to sign autographs for fans
Sisters, Courtney and Brittany discuss their sibling rivalry.
Joshua Caudill is a writer for CraveOnline Sports, a surfing enthusiast, an unhealthy sports fanatic, and an expert on all things Patrick Swayze. You can follow him on Twitter @JoshuaCaudill85 or “like”CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
