NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series

John Force

“My car talks to me.”

Force Words

“The heat of battle is serenity. That racecar is serenity. It’s just another day at the office. That’s my dream in life, but as soon as they give you that trophy the gut-ache starts again.”

Story and photos © 2004 by Dwight Drum
Web work by Gary Larsen

Force Ethic

Nobody knows better than John Force that the harder you work the luckier you get. Force went from working class to classy worker, from truck driver to racecar driver, from unknown struggler to star, from loses to frequent championships. All the while he worked sponsors, the media, the car, the track, but he never forgot his roots or his fans. Lately, he remembered Zoomster.com too.

Privilege is defined in many ways, from a license to drive to a legacy to thrive. In racing as in many businesses privilege is access. Interviewing Force is a privilege and an entertaining pleasure. This interview is No.7 for Zoomster.com and ironically that number happened at the Strip at Las Vegas Speedway. It’s a lucky charm for us, but know too that moments with Force are no chance event.

This moment I began with an open thankful statement to Force. I told him that our first interview with him several years back launched credibility for Zoomster.com that quickly enhanced our respectability in NHRA and NASCAR.

Press agents always think or ask about previous interviews. When we were able to point to Force moments, doors that were closed started to open. When I thanked him for his contribution and stature, he had humble words.

“I guess I’m doing something right.”

Something right by Force is usually something huge, as in wins and championships. Roll these Vegas dice with Dwight as I ask him numerous questions. A few interviews ago Force tagged my introduction with…”OK, here comes a thousand questions.” This time he described our session with a reference about a million questions.

Force’s answers follow, but don’t worry about having to read a million questions, just yet. Please enjoy the next 18 questions with the master of the straight track and the master of straight talk.

And oh, does Force’s car talk to him? Read on and it’s possible to listen with him.

Dwight asked John Force…

“The love of the sport basically and to lead these kids. We all have our positions. Coach. Just motivating. I love it. I was beat up so much as a kid, I’m used to striving to fight back.”

“I don’t think about age. I always joke that this is a four or five second sport. Age doesn’t affect you here. Am I aging? ---Yeah, but I’m enjoying what I’m doing. In this sport I’m only starting to get polished. It takes that long.”

“Do you mean when the throttle sticks and you go off the end of the racetrack? That quarter mile is really the toughest, because you usually have tires. I do this because I love it. People say when you’re not winning, you’ll want to quit, because you so used to winning. That isn’t why I came. I lost for the first 10 years of my career. I love driving the cars. It’s so exciting to step on the gas, see Austin Coil and these kids smiling back. This is home.”

“It makes me proud to be a friend and a teammate with Gary Densham. Gary said to me. ‘All the people I had over for Christmas around the dinner table, a lot of friends from Australia and people from our neighborhood next to my wife and son, but when I come here this is where my friends are.’ I told Gary invite them over for Christmas. Jerry Toliver would be a real handful at Christmas.

“I’d just thank’ em. I’d want to plug Castrol, Ford and MacTools. I’d just thank them for being fans. A fan is a strange breed. They can love you and hate you all at the same time. It’s a kind of a neat deal, but they really are supportive. Whether it’s NASCAR, Formula One or drag racing, they don’t just buy our products because they love them, they buy because they love us. It’s a two way street. Yeah, the products are great, but they want to be fan loyal. I don’t even think they realize it. “

“They walk into a store after coming coming from a race. I was in a Circle K on the way to the track and I noticed a rack of Castrol. True story. A guy was standing there and I said, hey is that good oil? Joking. The guy looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know but John Force uses it.’ And he turned away and stood there and I saw his head turn, and he looked at me. I said are you going to say something? And then he just went crazy when he knew who I was. I’ve had that happen to me a quite a few times.

“If you’re their driver, they want to wear your gear. They want the T-shirt with your name on it.

“I’m calling this year the redemption tour, but it’s really born again. ‘Born again,’ a guy said. ‘ Does this mean you’ve got religion?’ No, this is just born again. I have to be born again to fight these kids. A little bit of religion too.

“They’ll all cheer your victory, and many will be there, but to see one cry when you lose, you talk about putting the gut-ache in you that makes you want to fight back for that person that you don’t even know. I’ve seen them at the ropes crying. When I lost the championship I kept explaining. Tony won the championship and so did we, but Tony is leaving and they were emotional about him leaving. It all tolls. I just want Tony to wish Tony luck. He’ll do well.”

“Heart. The heart is what it’s all about. It’s not just on race day. It’s what you need seven days a week. Heart and Austin Coil.”

“No, but you know I’ve thought about it. I was talking to a fan the other day and he had figured out how many times I’ve been down the racetrack. I said how did you figure that? He said you’ve been down the track more than any other racer ever. I said where did you figure that? That’s impossible. Guys like Prudhomme and Bernstein actually started ahead of me. But the way he calculated it, is because I had more championships and I went more rounds and I was on the match race circuit. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ve made a lot of laps.”

“I grew up in a logging camp. My dad was a truck driver and my mom was a cook at Denny’s. We had to fight to put food on the table. I can remember fishing for salmon when a game warden was going to arrest my dad. My dad said, ‘I’m trying to feed my kids in the snow. If I had money to buy a fishing license I wouldn’t be out here fishing in this freezing cold.’ The guy said ‘Go ahead and do it.’ and walked away crying. I was there with him when the warden turned his back. True story.”

“I have my moments. Not to the point I want to shoot myself or someone else. I wonder what is wrong with me and I know what it is. It’s called the time between races. When you’ve worked for 28 years like I have that’s all you know. It’s full throttle and still fun.”

“I went to anger-management last year after the Lee Beard thing. I’ve apologized to Lee since then. He’s a little different. He has his reasons for doing what he did and I had mine. Bottom line is as long as we’re fair to each other. Hell, I was thinking it was Bazemore for two years!

“It’s all behind us. Now we’re just striving to win. And we just don’t want to see anybody get hurt on the starting line with a car running out of gas or something. We all have an opinion and I made that clear to NHRA and to Lee. I don’t know how you think and you don’t know how I think, so let’s end it. And we let it go at that. When I thought he was OK was when he went by me and shook my hand when Tony locked up the championship and said congratulations. I thought he came over to try to slug me. He just said congratulations. Then I realized he is a competitor and he really respects what you accomplished and he showed that.

“I look at things that upset me and as long as I’m racing, I’m OK. When I have down time and I’m sitting like waiting in a lobby for a doctor or waiting for a sponsor to tell me if I have a deal. That’s when I’m really bad and down.

“There’s so much interest inside racing, the personality of Ron Capps, to talk about his love for Don Prudhomme for giving him a chance like I’m giving this Eric kid now, Eric Medlen. There’s so much right here to do. I’m building a big shop in Indy. It’s almost done. Apparel shop. Machine shop. Two story building. The whole deal. Right by Prudhomme. I redid my shop in L.A. I’m building for the future. My museum. We have a hotel across the street, an Extended Stay. I’m going to build a restaurant next and a studio for my daughter Ashley to make videos. That’s what she studied. She just graduated from Cal State in theater and communication. She made an hour and a half movie about out team that we watched at Christmas that was excellent. She just did my video for my banquet with Caliber that I’m doing in Vegas. I’m building for the future. So that’s what I do. I get a little time on my motorcycle or maybe I get to throw in a fishing pole. That’s about the end of it.