FUNNY CAR

John Force won an unprecedented 16th NHRA Funny Car championship. The winningest driver in NHRA history has won championships with every major sponsor from Winston to POWERade to Full Throttle and now Mello Yello, capping his championship day with another NHRA national event win, No. 138. Force defeated his daughter Courtney for the first time in a final round to clinch the Mello Yello Funny Car championship.

It was Force’s third win in a row and fourth final in a row. The last time Force won three in row was 2005 and it was the 15th time Force has achieved this feat. As the No. 1 qualifier Force had to outrun Gary Densham, Del Worsham, Alexis DeJoria and then Courtney Force in the final.

The semi-final race had the most drama for Force as DeJoria’s Patron Tequila Toyota Funny Car smoked the tires and then Force’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang lost traction. Force pedaled his 10,000 hp Funny Car numerous times, sashaying down the right lane but getting the win light with a time of 5.865 seconds.  (Ron Lewis photo)

“I didn’t see her run. She must have gone up in smoke early. As much trouble as I was in only running five seconds. I almost hit the wall twice. It was like me and Cruz (Pedregon) in 1992 except then I hit the wall three times. There I was going sideways. I was hitting it (the throttle) again and then I was off it and then I would hit it again. I am thinking she is out there. You don’t want to think about it. If you look over you might drive over and she will run over you. She must have gone up on smoke bad and it took too much time to recover it. The biggest thing is she is just a great kid. What is cool is she is the future with my daughter and these young drivers,” said Force, who lost lane choice to Courtney Force in the final round.

In the final Force and his Jimmy Prock-tuned Mustang blasted straight down their lane with a winning elapsed time of 4.062 seconds to Courtney’s equally impressive 4.085 seconds in a losing effort.  (Ron Lewis photo)