Fourteen-time NHRA POWERade Funny Car champion John Force – who reached a record 500 NHRA national event races in Atlanta, Ga. on April 25 and 1,000 Funny Car round wins at the O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals in Madison, Ill. on May 4 – heads up what can easily be called the “first family” of drag racing. Force, who will be racing at Infineon Raceway in July, is a huge presence in NHRA, and by far the most popular driver in the POWERade series. He’s smart, he’s driven, and he’s one-of-a-kind. He is the definition of competitiveness, drive and success, and he will mesmerize you with his words. As Dave Densmore (Force’s long-time PR guy) said, “He’s got charisma.”

“When I met him back in the 1970s, he had no money, few parts and no clue, but he loved drag racing,” Densmore said. “He grew up in Bell Gardens, California and battled polio as a kid. He played high school football—very unsuccessfully, I might add. He was quarterback on a team that never won a game, and briefly tried to play at a junior college before giving up on that to become a truck driver.”

When Densmore was working at NHRA as publicity director (1975-82), Force asked him for tickets.

“He was a terrible racer at the time, but I watched him and every time he asked for tickets, he’d wind up bringing a potential sponsor to the races,” Densmore said. “It might just be a local sponsor, like Leo’s Stereo, but he was always trying to sell drag racing, just like he does now.”

Whatever it Takes
Force did just about anything for gas money to the next race, including dressing up as a clown for an appearance at one time sponsor Wendy’s, and as an animated tree for an auto dealership promotion. He appeared in TV ads for Wally Thor’s School of Trucking and briefly considered joining his brother, Walker, in law enforcement.

He had no license and no sponsor when he used a tax refund check and money from his mother-in-law to buy a Vega Funny Car from his uncle. He went to Australia for a winter race and ended up breaking the 200 mph barrier there. When Force returned to the States, all he wanted was to be a competitive drag racer.

He first raced in NHRA in 1979 and made his first final round appearance at Baton Rouge, La., losing to Kenny Bernstein. He made two final round appearances in 1983 (Englishtown and Pomona), then without major sponsorship, raced in only 12 events in 1984. In 1985, everything changed for Force when he enticed Austin Coil to become his crew chief. In 1987, Castrol became his primary sponsor and, like Coil, has been with him ever since.

Force won his first NHRA Funny Car championship in 1990. With Coil, Force won a record 10 championships in a row, and 12 in 13 years.

Using the Force
Force created a dynasty with John Force Racing, which presently fields four Funny Cars in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Drivers are John, daughter Ashley, son-in-law Robert Hight, and Mike Neff. Everyone got to know John and his wife Laurie, and daughters Adria, Ashley, Brittany and Courtney a little better on the popular reality TV show “Driving Force,” which ran for two seasons on A&E.

John Force has been honest about the toll his career in drag racing has put on his marriage, but things seem to be turning around in that area as he and Laurie have been seen together at the track more often, with Laurie showing that beautiful smile a lot more. John Force has credited his daughter Ashley, and John Force Racing crew chief John Medlen, along with his faith, for helping steer him in the right direction.

Tragedy Strikes
John Force Racing suffered a tragedy last year with the death of Funny Car driver Eric Medlen in Gainesville, Fla. in a testing accident. Force was devastated beyond belief, losing what he said was “the son I never had.” Vowing to make something good come from the life-changing event, Force made safety his biggest priority.

Force, along with Eric’s father John, the NHRA, SFI, Ford Motor Co. and McKinney Corporation, created “The Eric Medlen Project” to make Funny Cars as safe as possible.

For the first time in his 32-year Funny Car career, Force suffered major injuries in a crash last September in Dallas, Texas going 300-plus mph. He is still recovering from the accident, which left him with broken bones in his hands and feet, and a compound fracture to his left ankle. Force says he’s still not back, estimating his recovery at 75-80 percent.

“But I’m able to drive my race car A-to-B,” he said. “I’m not the driver that I was because I don’t have the strength, yet, but I will in time when I continue to build muscle, because I’ve got most of my motion back and that’s what’s important.”

Legacy Passed On
The John Force legacy is being carried on by three of his four daughters, but especially by his second eldest daughter Ashley, who drove Top Alcohol Dragsters before turning pro last year. She is now competing alongside her father in NHRA Funny Cars, and she recently became the first woman in history to win a Funny Car national event, beating her father in the final round at Atlanta on April 27. Ashley is also the first woman in history to lead the Funny Car point standings, a feat she accomplished even before her win at Atlanta.

“It’s been a long road,” Ashley Force said. “I started in Funny Car and had so many ups and downs and struggles with the car, and having a new team and driver and everything brand-new, but we were able to build on that.”

She said the same group of guys have joined her in the 2008 season.

“It was exciting to kind of step up, go to the next level, be going rounds, going to finals,” Ashley Force said. “We knew if we kept getting to finals, we’d eventually get a win. We had to be patient and keep doing what we were doing.”

Ashley learned and improved greatly from her experience driving a Funny Car over the last year. It’s been a ride, as she also got engaged to crew member Danny Hood over the winter.

A Force to be Reckoned With
John Force started with nothing, but worked hard and sacrificed to become the legend he is today. He’s made mistakes along the way, but hey, he’s human. Yes, believe it or not race fans, he is human.

Force is a different man since Medlen died, and since he had his own accident. He’s calmer and more introspective. His greatest desire is that Medlen will not have died in vain. To accomplish that, he will continue making Funny Car racing as safe as possible for everyone, so what happened will never happen again. But make no mistake about it; Force is as competitive as ever.

Only time will tell if Force has another championship in him. But don’t ever count a legend out.