6/2/08

It wasn’t exactly Lazarus returning from the dead but you can’t avoid the comparison.

John’s win on Sunday was just what the doctor ordered for the Champ. There was a time when it was easy to recall when he had won his previous national event because he won them so frequently. But after the accident in Dallas last year and all of the other turmoil the team has gone through in the past year, wins for John have been much more infrequent.

Just to save you the trouble of looking it up, before Sunday, John’s previous win was in Brainerd last year, right after he had won in Sonoma to end the Western Swing. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some serious doubts about John beating Tim Wilkerson in the Topeka final since Tim has been having the best season of his career in 2008 and despite losing to John on Sunday, he still leads the points.

But the whole team rose to the occasion and came up with their ninth win at HPT. The closest anyone has come to scoring that many wins there is Scott Kalitta, with six, but all of those came in Top Fuel between 1993 and 1997.

And how about Kim Crum of Mission, Kansas? In case you didn’t hear, she was the winner in the BrandSource “Win with Force” promotion that awards a big, 65-inch Mitsubishi TV to a lucky entrant if John wins a POWERade national event. How cool is that?

Meanwhile, the rest of the team sputtered on Sunday. Ashley probably had the best car on the JFR bunch but lost on a gigantic hole shot to Dad in the first round. Mike didn’t qualify, running a best of 5.22 that wasn’t nearly quick enough to make the field and that came after advancing to the two previous final rounds. Robert got stopped by Gary Scelzi in the first round and the troubles for him and Jimmy just won’t seem to let up.

Compare what’s happening to that AAA team right now and how they were running a year ago and it’s like day and night.

Other stories from the Summer Nationals?

Brittany Force got back into the team’s BrandSource Top Alcohol Dragster, qualified, but came up short in the first round of eliminations against veteran Mark Niver. Brittany had the better light but didn’t have enough racecar as she fell to the driver from Phoenix, 5.475/258.86 to 5.912/242.98. As you can perhaps tell, there would have been some real long faces at John Force Racing leaving Heartland Park at the end of the weekend had the Big Guy not pulled off career win No. 126.

By the way, John’s final round record is now an unearthly 126/76--which boggles the mind. That essentially means that out of 202 final round appearances in a career that extends back to the 1970’s, John has won 50 more finals than he’s lost. And there isn’t another racer in any category that’s closing in on that statistic.

Not much of a layoff for anyone as the next race is coming up this weekend in Joliet, IL and the ultra-quick Route 66 Raceway. With John’s win on Sunday, he’s moved into third in the points—right behind Ashley—and let’s not forget that at least one car from JFR has advanced to every final round this year except one—and that was Gainesville in which both finalists, Tony Pedregon and Gary Densham, are JFR alumni!

More from “In the Groove” next week and I hope you’ll be watching me and my good buddy Keith Martin on the next episode of the Russo and Steele Collector Car Auction, every weekend on ESPN2.

Until next time, don’t forget to buckle up and drive safely!