Nitro burnin' funny man: the winningest driver in NHRA history is also one of the most personable, entertaining men in motor sports - Interview: John Force

Auto Racing Digest, Feb-March, 2003 by Chris Dolack

BY THE TIME HE DECIDES TO retire from racing Funny Cars in the NHRA PowerAde Series, John Force will have amassed virtually unattainable career marks. This season, the 53-year-old Force, together with crew chief Austin Coil, held off their toughest challenge in years to wrap up a 12th championship and an astonishing 10th in a row, something Force equates to Richard Petty's record of 200 victories in NASCAR. Even more satisfying for Force, the driver who mounted the challenge in his rifle run was his charge, Tony Pedregon. Gary Densham, the third driver in Force's stable, finished fourth in points.

Having already established the NHRA record for career victories, Force--a native of Yorba Linda, Calif.--recorded win No. 100 at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston and finished the season with eight victories to give him 106 for his career.

But there's more to Force than a bunch of numbers: He is the most outgoing driver in any form of racing. AUTO RACING DIGESt caught up with him near the end of the season and got an earful:

AUTO RACING DIGEST: What did you enjoy most about the title challenge Tony Pedregon mounted against you?

JOHN FORCE: I enjoy racing first and foremost. I enjoy driving the cars, and I've always been very competitive. We've had a lot of competition over the years against Whit Bazemore, Ron Capps, Del Worsham, and those guys. But it's kind of sweet when it's your own guy because you can't lose. If he gets the title or I get the title, the team wins. We never want to forget that concept. When you get in your hot rod, you're still doing your own thing. You're out there, you're fired up, you're trying to win, and you forget that's your teammate. But sometimes when you get whupped, you go home with a gut ache because you know the team could lose the title.

ARD: Is there such a thing as a "team order" in drag racing?

JF: That's become a big phrase. I've never lied to anyone. I always said during the season that if one team needed to help the other, we would do that, and we have from time to time. The thing is that you don't run into your own guy very often. We've always said that before we would give the cup to General Motors, it would be corporate suicide for my own guy to knock me out of the championship. The bottom line is: There is no team order--it's just a race.

ARD: Why did you get into this sport in the first place, and what keeps you going?

JF: Maybe we all want to pretend we're Superman or something. I never thought of it as dangerous when I started. It was just people racing Funny Cars. It was like, we were California kids and street racing was big. Even though I never did any street racing as a kid, I was around race cars. I had polio as a kid and I played football in high school, but when I got to college I didn't have the talent to continue doing that. The race car sort of did the running for me. It was like, "Wow, I can do this, wear a helmet, and still hear the cheer of the crowd."

ARD: How important was getting win No. 100?

JF: One hundred wins is important because it gives you a ready-made introduction when you stand on the stage. At every banquet, at every convention, it's, "Here's your driver, the winniugest guy in NHRA history, John Force." In corporate America, it's a sign that you've accomplished things. That's a good thing for a company, and it keeps your income going. Like Cale Yarborough, Mario Andretti, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt, I've increased my value in corporate America, and that's a reward to the sponsor that stuck by me. That's why it's so important for me to stay with Castrol. When Petty left STP, it shocked me. How could they set all those records together and then split up?

We joke about going after Richard Petty's 200 wins, but I won't live that long. I really race these cars because (1) I want to send my children to college and (2) I don't have a lot of personal wealth. I've done very well financially, but when the race car income goes away, that's my retirement. In drag racing, you don't get a retirement. The money that we take in from sponsors we spend on our race cars. When I go to a racetrack and I see the rigs all lined up, that's what John Force has accomplished. Next to my children, those 18-wheelers are all that I really ever accomplished in my life. The men that work on them and their drivers, Gary Densham and Tony Pedregon, are what I'm all about. That's probably my biggest fear: How will I keep this machine going? It has grown so big it takes a lot of money to feed it. That's a fear of mine, and I think that's what made me a success.

ARD: You must have followed Kenny Bernstein's farewell tour this season. How will you know when it's time to retire?

JF: Considering the work they put him through, I'm going to walk off into the sunset or jump into the Pacific Ocean. I'm very proud of Kenny. I'm proud to say that he is my friend. He really is a terrific guy. I've heard people say Kenny is not outgoing like I am, but if you get to know him he really is. He's really a funny guy, and I've had people say, "Funny? I've never heard him be funny." That's because the guy is all business. He's the guy who paved the way for us to reach corporate America. He doesn't know--I don't tell him--but he was the guy who went with Budweiser from bottler to bottler and taught me how to deal with corporations.