I'm not sure this is contest worthy but its the reason I am still a John Force fan today.  It was 1987/88 (don't remember which) at the Le Grandnational Molsen, my family was thereracing our alcohol car, I don't remember how we did, but John Force won his first event.  I loved John Force and I wanted a T-shirt, so it was getting late in the day we were getting ready to go home and we walked over to John's trailer.  I would say we were one of the last few people there and I asked the lady for a shirt and she went to get it. 

In the mean time John comes out of the trailer bouncing off the walls having just won the event.  He talked to my Dad and I and signed my shirt and then disappeared.  I thought wow that was cool, we paid for the shirt and started to leave but here comes John again.  In his hands he has a connecting rod and a drinking mug, both for me.  He gave them to me, he was thanking me for being his fan, I still have that connecting rod hanging on my wall almost 20 years later.  I was 7 years old that day and I will never forget how John treated his fan, a seven year old boy that just wanted a t-shirt. -- Nick Bell

Character is what you do when nobody is watching. A few years back, John, Robert Hight, and I were in his pits after qualifying was done on Saturday evening at Memphis. Everything was locked down and teams and fans were gone. While we were talking, a little kid of 7 or 8 walked up to us. John said hello and asked if the boy would like an autograph. The boy shyly said no sir,  that he liked John and just wanted to shake his hand.

I figured John would scribble his name on something, send the kid on his way, and we would go back to shooting the breeze. Not John. Not being able to find a piece of paper, he had Robert unlock the trailer and get him a Castrol cap. He autographed the cap and spent maybe 10 minutes or more talking to the little boy. When the kid left, he was hitting ground about every 3rd step.

My thought was that nobody was around to watch and you really didn't have to do what you did. But being the  person he is, John never gave it a second thought to treat that little boy like he was special and the only person in the world for those few minutes. I doubt that he remembers the incident, but I do and that is just one of the many reasons that I value his friendship. I guess Dave Despain thinks it is important. I related the story to Dave and he asked John about it on Wind Tunnel one night. One of the few times I have ever seen John speechless; almost. But when people do things out of the kindness of their hearts, they don't think of it being that important. Which makes the saying that I started this note with even more true. -- Ted Smith