Words by John Force - Photos by Jon LeMoine, Ron Lewis, Joe McHue, Mark Rebilas and Marty Reger - 1/31/2008
Ed Note: The last four months have been a combination of soap opera and nightmare for the John Force racing organization and especially for the driving force behind the whole deal, John Force himself. After his crash at the Texas Motorplex Force, by his own account, mortgaged his future by spending $2,000,000 of his personal wealth to completely rebuild, restructure and redesign his team and his cars -- all aimed at making a safer Funny Car. At the same time Force has spent four agonizing months virtually rebuilding his own body so that he could return to the rigors of driving during the 2008 NHRA season.
The pressure on every member of the team to get the cars and John himself back to the track has been immense and is reflected in the faces and body language of the men and women of that team -- some of which is obvious from the photos you’ll see here.
The look of relief on the faces of those folks after Force was able to put himself into the car and warm the motor and get out under his own power last Saturday tells the story.
We asked John to give us an idea of what his return to the track was like for the first time since his horrific crash last September. After months of intensive therapy, Force went out and made the quickest Funny Car lap of the Phoenix pre-season test session. Yep, looks like he’s back.
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“I went out of the box and did a 100-footer. It shook real hard and smoked the tires. Next run, it was just smooth as glass and it motored right down there to 4.78, 327. I told Coil as long as it’s charging, I’ll drive it. If she spits and sputters one time, I’m out of it. I got over against the wall, it got out of the groove, but it was still pulling. I missed the ‘chutes because we were running Ashley’s body and the (parachute release) is different. Went to the end just like my daughter Brittany did on Friday (in the team’s A/Fuel dragster).
“It felt excellent. I can’t tell anything different (in the feel of the newly redesigned chassis). They told me that the slip tube front end would be all over the racetrack and I’d over steer it because I drove Ashley’s slip tube car one time and I hated it. But no, the steering is more positive. I’m excited. It was emotional just to mash the gas the first time when we warmed ‘er up on Saturday.
“(After the 4.782, quick time of testing), we went back out and made a couple more runs trying new blowers. We put a push brake in the car, which I really don’t like. Mike Neff loves it. Robert and Ashley are learning it. But I’m old school. We did it because I didn’t think I’d have the strength in my fingers to pull the brake handle, but I knew I could shove with my palm. I’m thinking now that my fingers might be stronger than I thought. So we may change it back because it’s got me all screwed up.
“I’ve also had a little trouble with the fuel shutoff, pulling it from certain angles. But I’m telling you, my hands are Eric’s hands. My legs are Eric’s legs. That kid still is showing us the way every day and there’s not a time I’m in that car that I don’t think about him and miss him. I think he’d be proud of this new design and what his dad’s been able to do with the help of Ford, Murf McKinney and the NHRA.
“It’s too early to tell if the chassis is going to work, but we’ve already shown it’ll run a ‘70 and we weren’t even pushing it. I said to Coil, ‘will it run a ‘60?’ And he said, ‘without a doubt.’ The motor looked good. It’s got a couple more percent in it with going back to 90 percent.