“To get this win meant a lot to me. They all mean a lot. I have a good hot rod. What we have right now is consistency. Jimmy Prock likes to swing for the fence and that scares me sometimes. When he is hot, he is hot,” said Force.

Chad Head becomes the 46th different driver to race Force in a final but ironically Head’s father, veteran driver and tuner Jim Head, never raced Force in a final during his career. Chad Head became the 39th different driver to lose to Force. Force had nothing but praise for the second generation driver.

“Chad Head is just a good kid with a lot of heart. When he worked for us he wanted to get experience. He is just a heck of a guy. He worked for Al-Anabi for years. He is doing a heck of a job. I was reading all day and seeing that he was hole-shotting everybody out there. I kept hearing that and hearing that. I had to fudge on that tree just so I could look like I was in the game with him,” said Force, a seven-time winner at Maple Grove Raceway.  

“In the final up against Chad Head his dad (Jim Head) will throw a hard ball and he is a heck of a racer. He ain’t afraid of John Force. He ain’t afraid of nobody. None of these guys are afraid of me anymore. We played strategy all day and we stayed with what we knew would run down the race track,” said Force. “That is Jimmy Prock. He is the final call. I am really proud of him. He struggled since him and Robert won the championship in 2009, then they get hot at the beginning of the year last year and win four in a row. Now he is hot at the end of the season.”

Chad Head (near lane) took out JFR racer Robert Hight in the first round.

Throughout the day Force and his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang Funny Car had to race consistently tough drivers and he kept his focus by reviewing timing sheets and huddling up with his team.

“There was good competition today. (Ron) Capps is hungry. I was fudging on the lights against Cruz (Pedregon). I was going in deep on some and not so deep on others. You had to be ready for anything today. You had to think it out in case you had to pedal it. You have to watch the car you might have to run the next session.  If they run a big number then you have to go after lane choice,” said Force. “I have struggled with the lights. I have to jump in deep just to match Robert who is dead shallow. I rolled in a little bit against Capps and he rolled in a little too. You don’t want to give too much away but you don’t care about the next round against a guy like Capps because you just want that win.”