John Force Racing News

FORCE HAS ONE LAST CHANCE
TO EXTEND CAREER RECORDS
14-Time Champion Trying to Recapture Past Form

Did You Know?
Last year, John was inducted into the Motorsports Hall
of Fame of America.
This is the furthest John ever has gone into a season
without at least reaching one final round.
John hasn't qualified No. 1 since Sept. 1, 2006. That's
a span of 72 races, the longest such streak of his pro
career. Auto Club Raceway is the only track in the Full
Throttle Series on which John has won three different
events. In addition to the Auto Club Finals and the
season-opening Winternationals, John won the special
50th Anniversary NHRA Nationals, contested one year
only, in 2001.
POMONA, Calif. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move
forward. That's the situation in which drag racing icon John Force finds himself this
week when he sends his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang into the season-
ending 45th annual Auto Club Finals
at Auto Club Raceway with no
chance of moving up in the Full
Throttle driver standings.

Already certain to finish
worse than he has in his last 25
years on the NHRA pro tour, Force
opted last week to begin testing for
a 2010 season in which he will
celebrate a quarter century with
Castrol as his primary sponsor.

Since the most recent test
session was his fifth of the year, exceeding the NHRA-imposed limit of four, the sport's
most high profile driver is ineligible to earn any additional points this weekend.

That means he will finish the season no better than ninth. That's his worst
showing since 1984, when he was 12th, and it's only the fourth time in 25 years that he
has finished outside the Top 5.

That said, the 126-time tour winner still hasn't given up on extending his streaks
for most consecutive seasons with a final round appearance (currently 24 and holding),
most consecutive seasons with a victory (stalled at 22) and most consecutive seasons
with a winning record (also on pause, at 24).

For the Record:
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 and to 25 the number of successive years in which
he's appeared in a final.
John has won 12 races and an amazing 103 racing rounds
at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. In the Auto Club Finals,
he has gone to the final round 11 times with seven wins.
If he is to secure a winning record for the 25th straight
season, John must reach the final round of this week's race.
He comes in with a 22-23 record.
John is the only driver in the Funny Car Top 10 who hasn't
gone to a final round this season. He's reached the
semifinals on six separate occasions but has yet to advance.
All of John's wins in the Auto Club Finals have come in
even numbered years, the most recent in 2006, the last time
he won the championship. Of his other five wins at Pomona,
four came in odd-numbered years.
"Robert and Jimmy Prock turned things around with the Auto Club Ford and
they were struggling worse than me," Force said, referring to teammate, son-in-law,
points leader and title favorite
Robert Hight. "We're trying to
get better. We've just had some
issues."

Primary among those
issues has been the
inconsistency of a car that once
was the most dominating hybrid
in the sport.

Force hasn't started a
race from the No. 1 qualifying
position in more than three years
and hasn't been in a final since
winning at Topeka in 2008.

Nevertheless, it's been
anything but a throwaway
season for the 14-time Auto Racing All-America selection.

For one thing, he is the owner of the Fords that enter the finale 1-2 in Full
Throttle points (daughter Ashley Force Hood trails Hight by 105 points). That virtually
assures John Force Racing, Inc., an unprecedented 16th championship in 20 seasons.

For another, 2009 this has been a year of validation for the Hall of Fame driver's
safety initiatives. The challenge undertaken by the Eric Medlen Project has begun to
pay dividends in the form of a much safer race car, one from which rookie driver Daniel
Wilkerson emerged with not so much as an scratch after slamming into the guardwall
last month at Memphis, Tenn.

"Winning is still a priority, but now it goes hand-in-hand with safety," Force said.
"Vince Lombardi said winning is everything, but I don't think he ever lost a man on the
playing field (and) we owe Eric Medlen to make the sport safer for the next generation."

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 (1037)
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 (24)*
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 (25)
Highest winning percentage, one season (91.5%, 65-6)

*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 (525)

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

3 screws securing ankle bones from compound fracture suffered in the 2007
accident.
5 seasons with 10 or more tour victories (1993-94, 1996, 1999-2000).
6 semifinal appearances this year without advancing to a single final round.
7 victories in the Auto Club Finals (1988, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006)
9 runner-up finishes before winning for the first time.
10 straight Funny Car titles (1993-2002).
14 times named to AARWBA Auto Racing All-America Team.
22 consecutive seasons with at least one NHRA tour victory.
25 consecutive Top 10 finishes.
103 rounds won at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
126 tour events won
1037 competitive rounds won.

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