| John Force | |
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| Date of Birth | May 4, 1949 |
| Place of Birth | Bell Gardens, California, USA |
John Force (born May 4, 1949 in Bell Gardens, California) is an NHRA drag racer and 14-time Funny Car champion. Events 1256 - The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Bell Gardens is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. "NHRA" redirects here For other uses see NHRA (disambiguation. Drag racing is a competition in which objects compete to be the first to cross a set finish mark usually from a dead stop and in a straight line Funny Car is a Drag racing car class In the USA other "professional" classes are Top Fuel, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. He is one of the most dominant drag racers in the sport with 126 career victories. He graduated from Bell Gardens High School and briefly attended Cerritos Junior College to play football. Bell Gardens High School is a High School in Bell Gardens California. American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with
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Early career
Since mid-1997, Force has been a Ford driver and team owner. Ford Motor Company is an American Multinational corporation and the world's fourth largest automaker based on Worldwide vehicle sales, following
Since 2000, Force has been sponsored by BP, which purchased his longtime sponsor Burmah Castrol, which had sponsored him since 1986. BP plc, previously known as British Petroleum, is the third largest global Energy company, a multinational oil company (" Oil major Castrol is a Brand of industrial and Automotive Lubricants which is applied to a large range of Oils Greases and similar
The Force Racing dynasty has dominated the sport of top fuel funny car racing. In a fifteen-year span from 1990 until 2004, John Force Racing won 14 of 15 championships, losing only to Cruz Pedregon driving the McDonald's sponsored car for Larry Minor Racing in 1992. The dynasty includes a championship by Tony Pedregon in 2003, driving Force's Castrol Syntec Mustang. The Ford Mustang sports coupe, manufactured by the Ford Motor Company, was initially based on the Ford Falcon Tony left to join his brother Cruz at Pedregon Racing in 2004. Also, in 2004 Force has a cameo in a 2004 episode of "King of the Hill" ("Dale Be Not Proud")
2005
In 2005 however, John Force was edged out by a mere 32 points by Don Schumacher Racing's Gary Scelzi who won the NHRA 2005 Funny Car World Championship. King of the Hill is an American animated series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company Gary Scelzi, (born August 11, 1960, Fresno California) is an American Dragster racer and midget car owner who has won the NHRA He also came in behind Schumacher Racing's Ron Capps by only 24 points
2006
In 2006, John Force won his 14th NHRA World Funny Car Championship, defeating Ron Capps in the quarter-finals of the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals which mathematically eliminated Ron Capps and teammate Robert Hight from the championship. Force went on to win the event, his third of the season and 122nd of his career.
2007
2007 was a very tough, tragic season for the Force team, beginning with the death of team driver Eric Medlen, and Force's own crash in Ennis, Texas at the 2007 O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals. Eric Medlen ( August 13 1973, Oakdale CA &ndash March 23 2007, Gainesville Florida) son of John and Mary (Mimi Medlen Ennis is a city in Ellis County, Texas, United States. The population was 16045 at the 2000 census. Force started the year poorly, suffering a DNQ ending a 20+ year consecutive qualifying streak (no Funny Car team qualified for every race in 2007, as every driver suffered at least one DNQ; Force was also the benefactor of the NHRA's top-10 rule when he failed to qualify for a second race, at Pacific Raceways, when only one round of qualifying was held because of rain, as he was moved into the field because of his point standing. ). He rebounded, winning the O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tennessee, then proceeded on to 3 more final rounds, winning another race in Sonoma, California, putting him fourth in points and allowing him to make the first cut in NHRA's new point system, the Countdown to the Championship aka the "Countdown to Eight. Bristol is a city in Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. Sonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County California, USA. " He stumbled again in the first two races but, again, rebounded until his crash, involving yet beating, Kenny Bernstein in the quarter-finals. Injuries he sustained in the crash side-lined Force for the rest of the year. Ironically, his win put him in fourth place, which would have allowed him to make the next cut under the new points format, if he'd been able to maintain it. He spent the remaining three races of the season recovering from his injuries and watching his team mates.
Current drivers racing under him are son-in-law Robert Hight, daughter Ashley Force, and new member Mike Neff. Neff, who was the crew chief for rival driver Gary Scelzi for the 2005 season, earned his NHRA Funny Car licence in October 2007 and began racing for the team on October 26, 2007 at the AC Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals. Gary Scelzi, (born August 11, 1960, Fresno California) is an American Dragster racer and midget car owner who has won the NHRA Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive Electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors based in Kokomo Indiana. Las Vegas ( Spanish: "The Meadows" is the most populous City in the state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally
On September 23, 2007 Force was injured in a crash, and Phil Burkart Jr. was added as Force's replacement for the remainder of the 2007 season, starting too at Las Vegas. at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Fall Nationals in Ennis, Texas as he crossed the finish line against Kenny Bernstein. Kenny Bernstein (born September 6 1944 in Clovis New Mexico) is an American Drag racing driver Bernstein's Funny Car drifted into Force's lane, clipping the final timing cone and a foam block which shot into Force's lane. Initially, it was thought that the block ruptured Force's left rear tire, causing it to come apart, violently shaking the chassis until it broke apart. However, it was determined by NHRA after thorough review, that the block went behind Force's tire and was not the cause of the wreck. [1]
It is suspected that the violent tire-shake coupled with the controversial use of partially heat-treated chrome moly chassis tubing caused the funny car's frame rails to break. Simultaneous deployment of the car's twin parachutes inflicted further structural stress on the already failing chassis, resulting in the chassis being jerked neatly in half, at the front edge of the driver's cockpit. The front-half of Force's car veered into Bernstein's path, impacted Bernstein's car and briefly rode on top it, before slamming into the right lane's retaining wall and sliding several yards into the sand trap. The rear portion of Force's car, with Force still strapped inside, eventually came to rest against the left lane's retaining wall. News footage would show that Force's feet & legs were slightly extended beyond the breaking point of the chassis. Force was awake and alert as he was airlifted to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC is located at 3500 Gaston Avenue in east Dallas, Texas ( USA) The 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion suffered a compound fracture to his left ankle, a bone-deep laceration to his right knee, broken fingers and lacerations on his right hand and dislocation of his left wrist, originally diagnosed as a break. His injuries were not considered to be life-threatening.
Hight was in the Countdown to One final two-race segment, but fell in the first round of Las Vegas, and when Tony Pedregon won that race when the other three Countdown to One drivers fell in the first round, including Ron Capps, who fell to Force's replacement Burkart in the first round. Pedregon needed only to win one round to win the championship. Pedregon fell in the first round, and Hight had a chance to win the championship with a win and a National Record in elapsed time. Hight did not score the necessary time, and Pedregon won the championship.
Force holds the record for most Funny Car championships (14), and for qualifying in the most consecutive events (395), a streak that ended when he withdrew from a Houston Raceway Park event after a test run crash killed a teammate and the entire Force organization withdrew from the ensuing race. His daughter Ashley Force also competes in the Funny Car class of the NHRA. Ashley Force (born November 29, 1982) is a Funny car drag racer. John Force is the driver and public face of the team, which is led by Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. Force is known for also being an outspoken, fast talker.
Career awards
Won As Driver
Won As Driver And Owner
Owner
1990 NHRA Champion
1991 NHRA Champion
1993 NHRA Champion
1994 NHRA Champion
1995 NHRA Champion
1996 NHRA Champion
1997 NHRA Champion
1998 NHRA Champion
1999 NHRA Champion
2000 NHRA Champion
2001 NHRA Champion
2002 NHRA Champion
2003 NHRA Champion Car (Tony Pedregon Was The Driver)
2004 NHRA Champion
2006 NHRA Champion
On the NHRA Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000, John Force was ranked No. 2, behind Don Garlits. Donald Glenn Garlits (born January 14, 1932, Tampa Florida) is considered the father of Drag racing.
Force has 126 Wallys in 202 Final Rounds
John Force is a 14-time NHRA Champion. "NHRA" redirects here For other uses see NHRA (disambiguation.
John Force's Round wins reaches 1,000 in his career and best in NHRA history at in first round of eliminations 2008 NHRA Midwest Natiionals at Gateway Int'l Raceway in St. Louis, MO. A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of Tournament where the loser of each Gateway International Raceway is a race track in Madison Illinois, USA just minutes from Downtown St
Driving Force
John is featured on A&E's reality show "Driving Force" with three of his daughters (Ashley, Courtney, and Brittany)
Trivia
- Force is the only driver to have won more than ten championships in his division. A&E is a cable and Satellite television network with headquarters in Manhattan and offices in Stamford, Atlanta, Driving Force is an American Reality television program which premiered July 17, 2006, on A&E.
- Of the 21 current NHRA Powerade series venues, the only venue Force has not won is Summit Motorsports Park, which began holding events in 2007. POWERade is a Sports drink manufactured by The Coca-Cola Company.
- John Force became the first Funny Car drag racer to win 1,000 qualifying races.
References
- Interview with John Force
- The Truth about Force's crash and heat-treated funny car chassis
- Thinking Back To An Eye-Opening Day With John Force
Notes
External links
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