John Force Racing News

Funny Car Icon Seeking First Victory of 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – John Force knows that his black-and-gold Castrol Edge® Ford Mustang is a better race car than its 0-2 season record might indicate. Unfortunately, drag racing's biggest winner is running out of opportunities to prove it.

In fact, this week's 40th annual ACDelco Gatornationals represents the last chance for the special edition Funny Car to enhance its resume before it is retired to the John Force Racing museum in Yorba Linda, Calif.

Beginning with the O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston, Texas (March 27-29), Force will return in more familiar green-and-white Castrol GTX® High Mileage™ livery.

There was a time when Force's success at Gainesville Raceway was virtually automatic. In one 10-year stretch, from 1992 through 2001, the veteran went to the Gatornationals' final eight times with seven wins, five of them in succession.

Unfortunately, that was then. In the now, the 126-time tour winner has been a spectator after just one round four times in the last seven years. It's a trend he hopes to reverse this week with a car he thinks can win it all.

"We've got a good hot rod," Force said. "Last year, we didn't have a car that could run with these guys. Don't know why but we seemed like we were always behind. The end of last year things started getting better and Coil and Bernie (crew chiefs Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly) changed a lot of stuff in the winter: new injector, new clutch, new blower (supercharger). It's a different animal.

"We just got outrun at Pomona. We were good in qualifying and we ran good first round, but Cappsie (points leader Ron Capps) just ran better. At Phoenix, we had that fuel leak at the starting line and smoked the tires. It's early (in the season), but you don't want to lose too many chances."

Force is motivated this week by more than just a desire to apply an exclamation point to the Castrol Edge promotion that began last January at the Super Bowl.

He also is locked in an internal competition with teammate Mike Neff to become the first to win an NHRA tour event in a Mustang powered by the BOSS 500 engine. The new nitro motor, designed in collaboration with Ford engineers, has taken Neff to four final rounds but the second year pro has yet to win with it.

"Coil says it makes more horsepower," Force said of the new motor, "but the big thing (to me) is durability. You can knock a rod out the side and it doesn't destroy the block. We built strength into it. I don't know of any of the Ford blocks we've lost so far. We just put em right back into action."

Although the engine eventually will power all four of the JFR Mustangs, right now there is not enough inventory to support such an ambitious effort.

"After we got a second machine (a MAG Giddings and Lewis CNC), we were finally able to get blocks for me," Force said. "Now we can run blocks on one machine and (cylinder) heads on the other. That's really pumped up the production."

* * * *
At Gainesville Raceway:
– Although he won the race five straight years in the 1990s, John hasn't tasted victory at Gainesville Raceway since 2001 and hasn't escaped the first round the last two years.
– In his first trip to the Gatornationals in 1979 John suffered the double indignity of failing to qualify AND losing in the first round. That anomaly resulted from his insertion into the starting field as an alternate for qualifier Larry Fullerton, a quirk in a competition format that no longer is in place. He then lost to Tom "the Mongoose" McEwen
Last Year:
– John was beaten in the first round by friend and former teammate Gary Densham.
Did You Know?
– John hasn't qualified No. 1 since Sept. 1, 2006. That's a span of 54 races, the longest he's gone without starting No. 1 since beginning his career with a 59-race drought.
– John is trying to extend to a record-setting 23 the number of consecutive seasons in which he has won at least one NHRA tour event. He currently shares the record with Warren Johnson.
Force and Coil:
– Over the 25 years they have been together, John Force and Austin Coil have gone to the final round in 42.4 per cent of ALL the races they've run (198 of 467).
– Force and Coil were winless in their first 31 races together, finally earning a breakthrough win on June 28, 1987 at Montreal, Canada.
– The 1992 Gatornationals was the last race won by Coil and Force before Bernie Fedderly came on board as co-crew chief.

-www.johnforceracing.com-

FORCE's Edge

Overall NHRA records (and Funny Car division records)

Most career victories (126)
Most series championships (14)
Most career final rounds (202)
Most career rounds won (1014)
Most consecutive series championships (10, 1993-2002)
Most consecutive seasons with one or more victories (22)*
Most consecutive seasons with at least one final round appearance (26)*
Most consecutive seasons with multiple tour victories (18, 1990-2007)
Most consecutive national events without a DNQ (395, 1988-2007)
Most consecutive Top 10 seasons (24)
Highest winning percentage, one season (91.5%, 65-6)
Biggest cash payday, one event ($210,000, Winston Showdown, Bristol, Tenn., July
10, 1999)
Most rounds won, one racetrack (101 at Auto Club Raceway, Pomona, Calif.)
*tied with Warren Johnson, Pro Stock

Other NHRA Funny Car division records

Most final rounds, one season (16, 1996)
Most victories, one season (13, 1996)
Most rounds won, one season (65, 1996)
Most career No. 1 starts (131)
Most No. 1 starts, one season (11, 1996)
Most consecutive final round appearances, one event (nine, 1992-2000, Atlanta, Ga.)
Career starts (504)

Awards

Driver of the Year (1996)
Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2008 inductee)
AARWBA Auto Racing All-America Team (14 times, 1990, 1993-2002, 2004-2006)
Jerry Titus Memorial Award (most AARWBA votes, 4 times, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002)
AARWBA Comeback Award (2008)
Speed TV Comeback Award (2008)
SAE Motorsports Achievement Award (2008)
AutoSport Magazine's John Bolster Award for lifetime achievement (2005)

Milestones

First round win, over Tom McEwen, June 1, 1979, Cajun Nationals, Baton Rouge, La.
First No. 1 qualifier, May 25, 1986, Cajun Nationals, Baton Rouge, La.
First tour victory, June 28, 1987, Le Grandnational Molson, Montreal, Canada
First Funny Car driver to break 4.90 second barrier, July 6, 1996, Topeka, Kan.
First drag racer to win Driver of the Year award for all of American motor sports (1996)
First Funny Car driver to break 4.80 second barrier, Oct. 24, 1998, Dallas, Texas
First (and only) drag racer to win 100 events, April 14, 2002, Houston, Texas
First Funny Car driver to break 4.70 second barrier, Oct. 2, 2004, Joliet, Ill.
No. 2 (behind Don Garlits) in balloting to determine Top 50 drivers in NHRA's first 50
years (2001)
First (and only) drag racer to win 1,000 racing rounds, May 4, 2008, Madison, Ill.

* * * *

JOHN FORCE By the Numbers

1 position from which he has won 55 of his 126 career races
2 straight first round losses in Gatornationals
3 or more wins in 18 straight seasons (1990-2007)
4 career losses to the late Eric Medlen, his prot‚g‚ and teammate, the last in the first round of the 2007 Gatornationals.
5 straight wins at ACDelco Gatornationals (1992-1996)
6 different race winners in John Force Racing Mustangs (John Force, Ashley Force Hood, Robert Hight, Tony Pedregon, Gary Densham, Eric Medlen)
7 career victories at Gainesville Raceway
8 years since last Gatornationals win (April 21, 2001)
9 runner-up finishes before winning first tour event in June, 1987, at Montreal
10 straight Funny Car titles (1993-2002)

-www.johnforceracing.com-