(click here for part 1)

(click here for part 3)

by Chris Martin

In 1995 John Force took Chris Martin on a tour of his old neighborhood in Bell Gardens, California. They made a few stops along the way and John talks about B.G. in the 1960s. Force’s car gave him the mobility to escape the crowded trailer where his family lived and go cruising at Harvey’s Broiler….

"I had this ’54 Chevy," he said. "It was a six-cylinder and wasn’t the bitchinest car there by any means, but it was mine and I was proud of it. I had a car stereo in it and everything. The cars I dreamed of having were the Chevy Malibu Super Sports or the Corvettes. I’d love to have had one of those, but this had to do until I could get one.

"I faked it a lot with this car. It was a four-door, but I took off the two rear door handles and buffed it so it would look like a two-door. I put Mickey Thompson mag wheels in the front and big old slicks in the back and uncorked the motor. I’d go rumbling through the place and a guy came up to me and wanted me to open the hood. They all wanted you to open the hood and see what was underneath, and I said, ‘Pull out your money and let’s race and see what I’ve got.’ It’s a good thing most of them never took me up on it, because the combination of that little motor and big tires would’ve got me killed. I always was faking it.

"I did a lot of the same stuff when I was a pro racer. I remember I was racing at Orange County and Tom McEwen said to me, ‘Force, I looked at your big fancy crew cab; it has a sleeper in back and a CB antenna, but I noticed you don’t have a CB.’

"I told him I couldn’t afford a CB and he said why would I put on the antenna? I said because I wanted to look like him and Prudhomme. Next year I could afford one and got it. I used to — and I guess I still do — work a con. If I don’t have something I dream of having, I use anything, short of theft, to get it. My hustles were always a means to an end.

"When I met (second wife) Lori I had just gotten divorced and had the Fuel Altered and this was like 1967, 1968, maybe 1969. I went to Lions (Dragstrip) and couldn’t get it to run and so we came back here and we started it on a back street in Bell Gardens. Well, the throttle stuck on it and it went down and hit a curb and flipped over the railroad tracks.

Lori had brought her little brother up to see me. She had just graduated from high school. And she stood there and watched it go down the street and roll end over end. That was the first time she had ever seen me in racing and she said, ‘Wow, that’s pretty exciting.’

"Well the sheriff comes by to arrest me, and I said ‘I was just going down the back street with my trailer and my race car came off it.’ Just then a hysterical neighbor lady came out of her house and said to the sheriff, ‘No, it was awful, it was fiery and making noise.- it went down to the end of the street and blew up.’ Well, my brother, Walker, was a sheriff, and they saw my name and they let me go. That’s how it all started."

"My first tour in anything was with that Fuel Altered. We went to a rodeo in Winslow, Arizona. A guy said he’d give me $100 if I just start it, so me and David Wright got there and started the motor. They didn’t want me to run, but all the horses went nuts at the rodeo so I shut it off and they gave me the $100. I sold the Fuel Altered and then I ran into Roy Maheu, who had Jack Chrisman’s "sidewinder" Mustang, and I remember [Larry] Sutton, the starter, got the chain (I guess from the cammer motor) wrapped around his neck on the starting line. The chain flew off, and they outlawed the sidewinder and told me, ‘You can’t run it.’"

The dynamic of faking it until making it describes Force well, but that approach had setbacks. When he bought his first Funny Car, Jack Chrisman’s rear-engine sidewinder 1974 Mustang from Roy Maheu, Force thought he’d sweeten the deal by doing Maheu a favor.

"This Japanese guy had stolen Roy’s wife," Force said, "and Roy hadn’t gotten over it. So Roy and I went over to his house to beat him up. I see he’s just a little tiny guy, so I figure I’ll just go over there, slap him around a little bit and get his mind right. I told him ‘You stoled Roy’s wife,’ and that I was gonna whip his ass. Well, he throws a stance on me and I said, ‘What the hell’s that?’ I punched him and then he beat the crap out of me and threw me out the garage door. Roy didn’t tell me the guy had a black belt in karate.

"I never quit hustling, though. I used to work as a truck driver at Garrett Freightlines which is further west of here when I just started out in Funny Car. I used to get drivers who worked with me to give me their paychecks so I could buy nitro, which cost $300 a drum. I knew I’d get appearance money that would cover the loans and if I didn’t blow up anything I’d make a profit. They’d tell their wives they were getting paid on Monday, and I’d go buy my nitro."

Eventually, Force’s detour took us to a neat but small trailer court at Imperial Highway and Lakewood Blvd. Near the rental office in the back of a lot sat a silver 35-foot Boeing Spartan steel trailer with an awning covering the front and rear doors. It was in this trailer that Force was raised. The trailer originally was located at Florence and El Selinda in Bell Gardens and when Force entered his teens, it was moved to a now non-existent court at Firestone and Patton. In 1970 it was moved to this permanent spot. It was later sold to another party when Force moved his mother into a condominium.

The first feeling upon looking at the sturdy old piece was incredulity. How did seven people co-exist in such tight confines?

"It wasn’t easy," recalled Force. "One of the reasons cars played a big role in my life was that trailer. I slept with my parents when I was little, and my three brothers shared a bunk bed. My sister had one of her own. We only had a few drawers and we wound up where we divided one in thirds. I’d put my stuff in one third, another brother in another third, and so on.

"We were very crowded. On hot nights, one or two of us would sleep outside under the awning. When I turned 14 1/2 my mother got me my first car. My dad was at a state hospital at the time because of a nervous breakdown. His life was not an easy one because along with being a trucker he used to do other work.

"It took its toll on him. One time, he threw me off the Newport Beach pier when he got real angry. Another time, I had taken the column shift off a ’62 Ford he had got me after the Chevy, and I installed a four-on-the-floor four speed. He had said not to do it, but I did and he got so mad he took my surfboard off the roof and sawed it in half. He worked hard for his money and was a good, decent, honest man, but life can get to you. He sacrificed and bought that car, which I hated —I thought it was ugly — and then I go out and mess it all up."

"When I had a car, though, I’d go out and sleep in it at nights just because there was more room in it. I could put my stuff in it and it was like my own little place. I’d drive it around and stay out late nights and became a street kid. Then I’d come home late at night, put on that car stereo and look out that front window and dream of the day I’d get out of B.G. and have a place of my own."

B.G. or Bell Gardens has never been a city for the well -to-do. After World War II the town, located about ten miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, was a small, working class sprawl of one-story residences just off the 710 Freeway. Tire factories like Goodyear, Firestone, B.F. Goodrich, and Uniroyal were all located a few miles outside of "Billy Goat Acres," a term used to describe a place whose citizenry were mostly Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas dust bowl refugees.

In addition, General Motors and Ford had assembly plants within a few miles of the town. There were bars and the usual petty crime, occasional drunk arrests, domestic disputes and thefts, but all in all, it was a fairly safe haven for the underclass. However, it’s safe to say that living in a 12-trailer trailer court that shared one common outdoor bathroom and showers was a low rung on a town whose rungs didn’t go so high.

Today, Bell Gardens has changed for the worst as much as Force’s life has turned for the good. Both still retain elements of their pasts, but are miles apart. Fueled by poverty-level wages and all that spins out of it, Bell Gardens has serious crime problems. The Bell Gardens working class is now an ignored and outcast Latino population that struggles daily to make the nut. As in similar situations, they are not winning the battle.

When Force rolled into town on the day of our tour, he remarked that he hardly recognized it and that was true. Bell Gardens resembled a Mexican or Central American city far more than it did an oasis for dust bowlers.

After a quick drive around, Force stopped at the corner of Clara and Scout where the forklift place was located. The sales person recognized him and they haggled over price, producing a standstill. The proprietor would consider Force’s offer, possibly let him use it on a trial basis for one day, and they’d talk turkey.

When he got back in the Camaro, Force informed Fedderly over the cellular, "It’s a Kamatsu FG-15 and he wanted $8,000. I told him no more than $7,500. It’s got some mileage on it, but right now, I’m leaning towards a brand new one; then you don’t have problems."

Finished with Fedderly, Force announced, "Now , for my high school, Bell Gardens High, home of the Lancers." He drove a mile or so to Agra street, which passed in front of the school. What was seen was depressing. Armed guards with walkie-talkies greeted us from behind iron grillwork at the main entrance. Force told them who we were, and the guards said they’d keep an eye on his car, which they said ran a good chance of getting stolen.

It’s likely that Bell Gardens High and its response to its most famous graduate is unlike any Force experienced. Despite his high profile with youth, it’s doubtful that any of the exclusively Latino student body recognized or, for that matter, cared who he was.

Force was greeted by his old coach, John McNichols, a well-preserved man in his 50s. They retired to the coach’s office and the war stories came out almost immediately.

When Force remarked how tough the school had become, McNichols countered with a statement along the lines of "You should know. You chipped one of my teeth when I tried to break up a fight between you and another kid." Force winced.

It was revealed that Force was the team quarterback for two years, and presided over a group that lost all its games.

"The only team we beat was our red squad in a practice game," he laughed. "We were in a big league game and played schools a lot bigger than ours.

"I remember we played South Pasadena High and when we got to the stadium I remember looking at their players and thinking they were the Rams. We had this one coach whose favorite expression was ‘Stick ‘em in the numbers.’ I thought ‘Stick them in the numbers? OK.’ I tried and this one guy dragged me about 300 yards."

When Force repaired to the restroom McNichols commented on his famous charge. "I see a lot of John when he was a kid. His older brothers Walker and Louis played for me, but John was memorable because he had so much energy. I have very vivid memories of him running off the field during a time-out in a game. He’d say ‘I’m calmed down and under control now, what’s the next play?’

"He’d go out there and they’d hike the ball, and he’d do something I never coached him to do. Sometimes, that was for the good, and other times it was a disaster. He created enthusiasm and always gave it his best. We didn’t win many games, but he was our leader, and he never quit trying, never quit coming at you. Later on, he played at East Los Angeles junior college and made a very good football team."

When Force returned, he and his coach visited the football field he played on, and after an hour of reminiscing, he began with the good-byes. Bob Smith, a teacher at the school, commented as Force left that he was retiring in four years provided he didn’t get shot.

Getting into the car, Force shook his head looking out at the street. "After school, I’d bring that old six cylinder Chevy of mine out on this street and bring the motor up and pop the clutch," he said. "I’ll bet I blew the rear end up four times right in front of the school, stalling in the middle of the street."

 In the next installment, John gets a job at Mehr Auto Parts, gets outs of Bell Gardens, and gets a bit philosophical. Part 3 begins December 1st in Drag Racing Online.