FUNNY CAR

John Force with Henry Ford III celebrate a good days for the Mustangs. (Gary Nastase photo)

On a day that could not have been scripted any better, John Force became a 15-time NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car champion by racing to the semi-finals with wins over Gary Densham and Bob Bode. For Force it was more than a team effort because he had to have fellow Ford racer Bob Tasca III eliminate points leader Matt Hagan in a first round upset to open the door for Force’s comeback win.

“We got it (the 15th championship) and we got it because of the shot heard round the world; Bobby Tasca III winning that first round in that Ford Mustang. We couldn’t count on this kid (Matt) Hagan to stumble. We knew if we got him in the final it was too late. Somebody had to get him and Bobby got him. That opened the door for us. We just ran our cars and stayed with our game plan. I just have a great bunch of kids. I see the tears in their eyes, the emotion supporting me when I run out of steam, and taking the Full Throttle can out of my hand when I go over center,” said the 132-time winner Force.

Force credited the championship to the addition of former crew chief turned driver turned crew chief Mike Neff. The trio of Neff, Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly made all the right calls at the beginning of the season and then down the stretch.

“I give credit to a great bunch of guys led by Mike Neff who teamed up with Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. There was so much experience there and so many championships. Neff just brought a new energy into this team. We went all year with the lead and then we stumbled in Reading when the clutch pedal fell off and we couldn’t get it in reverse. We had meetings two or three times a week reinforcing the fact that we can’t make any more mistakes. We opened the door for Hagan and he took advantage of it,” said Force.

When Force was asked to comment on battling the young Virginian cattle rancher Force gushed about the future of one of the NHRA’s brightest rising stars.

“He came over and congratulated me. Hagan is a class act. He has so many championships ahead of him it is going to happen. The kid is pretty calm and cool. He was like staring down a bull. I can read people pretty good. A lot of drivers over the years have had shaky knees but not that kid. He was like let’s go dance and luckily we walked away with the championship. I needed that to come back to show I could still do this job,” said a proud Force.

In a race career that is littered with records stacked upon records Force as added one more bullet point that he is reticent to promote. With his 15th Full Throttle world championship he becomes the oldest champion in all of motorsports at the age of 61 years and six months out-distancing NHRA Pro Stock driver Warren “The Professor” Johnson who was 58 years old when he won his last championship.

The championship also gives John Force Racing 17 Funny Car championships in 21 years. Force ended the season with a 42-point lead over Hagan after he defeated Jeff Arend in the final. Force’s smallest margin of victory previously was 43 points over Ed McCulloch in 1990 for his first championship.