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Before this year’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals we hosted our John Force Racing Summer Car Show at our Brownsburg, Indiana, shop. It was a great event, and once again, fans got to see hundreds of cool muscle cars and hot rods. It was hot on Thursday, but we had fans at the shop starting at noon even though we officially got started at 3 p.m. The crowds that walked through our shop were amazing. (more…)
From left to right: Robert Hight, John Force, Courtney Force and NHRA President Tom Compton on pit road.
My inaugural trip to the Indy 500 was a whirlwind of fans, Indy drivers, media and a lot of walking. For three days I was all over the place with my drivers Robert Hight, Mike Neff and my youngest daughter Courtney. We signed autographs and mingled with fans three different times at my John Force Road Show on the corner of 16th Avenue and Georgetown, just outside the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. At first I wasn’t sure that was the best place. As soon as I got into Indy I drove down to The Speedway at 1 a.m. to check it out. Every day more and more people came by. (more…)
Here is one of Force's young gun drivers, Robert Hight, signing autographs in Houston.
Our team has started the 2011 Full Throttle Drag Racing season strong with Auto Club driver Robert Hight and Castrol GTX driver Mike Neff. They’ve won three of the first five races, and Neff just barely missed getting his second win of the season in Houston. Seeing those guys in the winner’s circle got me thinking. (more…)
I got to spend the day in Charlotte at the end of March, and I had a great time in NASCAR country. I was out there helping Bruton Smith’s people promote the 2nd annual Visitmyrtlebeach.com Four Wide NHRA Nationals happening at zMax Dragway April 14-17. I was also talking up my sponsors, Castrol, Auto Club, Mac Tools, BrandSource and Ford Racing. (more…)
At the beginning on March, Robert Hight and I introduced my daughter Courtney to a whole new world of horsepower. She got her first experience with NASCAR at the Nationwide and Sprint Cup events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (more…)
The 13th annual John Force Racing Holiday Car Show was estimated to be one of the biggest in recent memory by the fans and JFR personnel. A crowd of between 15,000 and 20,000 people enjoyed the sights and sounds on Sunday, December 5 at our Yorba Linda facility throughout the day. More than 1,000 hot rods and custom cars were on display, including talk show host Jay Leno’s completely restored Ford Galaxie. The event would not have been possible without the help and support of the event’s sponsors: SYSTEM 51, Auto Club of Southern California, Villa Ford and ROUSH. (more…)
We ended the 2009 Full Throttle drag racing season on a high note. Two of my Next Generation drivers, Robert Hight and Ashley Force Hood, finished 1-2 in the Funny Car points, and Mike Neff got his first win as a driver in the Ford Drive One Mustang at the Auto Club NHRA Finals. It was great to see Neff and John Medlen in the winner’s circle at the last event of the season. They both have put so much of themselves into that Mustang from the BOSS 500 motor, to the JFR chassis we just started running to keeping the memory alive of a kid, Eric Medlen, who used to drive that Mustang. It was just emotional. That Mustang was all Ford, and it was great to see us get a win for Ford so we can enjoy that over the off season.
We struggled with the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford this year – Austin Coil, Bernie Fedderly and myself. In fact, going into the last two races, we hadn’t made it to a single final round. I couldn’t remember how long it had been, but they said it’s been 23 years since we hadn’t won a race and 25 years since we hadn’t been in at least one final. It’s been painful but, at the end of the day, whether we did anything in the last two races or not, it ain’t over for John Force. I’ve been offered jobs in TV I’ve been told that being just a team owner ain’t all that bad, but, no, I’m staying in the seat as long as I can.
Recently I had the chance to do something I never dreamed I’d do when I started racing over 30 years ago: Bruton Smith built the four-lane highway at his racetrack in Charlotte, and ever since I laid eyes on it, I wanted to drive my ol’ hot rod down it, along with my three other Mustangs. I didn’t get the chance to race all four of my Mustangs, but I got the next best thing when the Countdown to 1 started in September. The first race was at Bruton’s zMax Dragway, and they decided to have an exhibition run on Sunday before the finals of four Funny Cars and four Top Fuel Dragsters. NHRA made the call that the four quickest losers in the first round would get first shot at running down the four-lane highway.
I’m a race car driver so you’d think my job would mostly be about driving a race car. The truth is, I’m only in my hot rod, the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang, for a few minutes every race weekend. Even counting the pit warm-ups we do before every run, the burnouts, backing up after the burnouts and all the time just sitting in the car, waiting, I’m probably not in there more than 15-to-20 minutes a day. It’s not like NASCAR where you’re driving around for three hours.
