Just getting to the track a wild, bloody adventure for John Force
It’s been a rough couple of days for John Force. He got hurt twice, and neither incident occurred on a drag racing track.
On Thursday, he cut up the back of his leg and injured his ankle while battling a hostile dog and falling over a log on a Lake Tahoe trail. He was hiking with his wife, Laurie, and their grandchildren.
On Friday morning, the drag racing legend arrived at Sonoma Raceway for the 32nd annual NHRA Sonoma Nationals. Running late for a drivers’ meeting, he encountered an uncooperative ticket taker who wore sunglasses and a large black mustache. “I’m John Force!” Force protested.
Unmoved, the man told him his credential was no good and that he needed to come into the office. “You’re not John Force,” he said.
Force exploded with a flurry of profanities. The man then revealed himself to be Ron Capps, Force’s longtime friend and Funny Car foe. The prank was being videotaped.
“They were doing this to a lot of drivers at the gate,” Force said. “I’m the only one who made a fool out of myself.”
Said Capps, “We had a blast. I can’t wait to see the footage.”
Once everything got straightened out and Force apologized to bystanders for his language, he still was miffed. An employee of his racing team gave him a motorbike to ride to the team’s tent. He swung a Uturn, nearly was hit by a car and flew off the bike, wrenching the right knee he had injured in a 2007 wreck in Texas.
Force, 70, hopes he has a more enjoyable time on the track. The 16time Funny Car champion has been stuck at 149 career wins — an NHRA record — for just over a calendar year. He’s third in the standings behind one of his own drivers (and his soninlaw), Robert Hight, and Tommy Johnson Jr.
Force has won at Sonoma a prorecord eight times. He thinks he could collect No. 150 there on Sunday. He had only the eighth best elapsed time (3.952 seconds) on Friday. Hight was the leader at 3.858 with a speed of 334.65 in the evening session.
“Like Elton John says, I’m still standing,” Force said. “I just love it. I’ll keeping fighting” for his 150th.
Hight has eliminated Force four times this season. “It’s starting to get at him a little bit,” Hight said. “He’s not used to not winning.”
Force concedes he’s not as quick on the draw as he used to be. He said Hight, J.R. Todd, Capps and Matt Hagan all can beat him in reaction time.
“I’ve got to do all I can to stay in the game,” Force said. “I’ll get that win.”
Hight is shooting for his own milestone this week, his 50th career win. He set the current national Funny Car record of 339.87 mph at the track in 2017. Briefly: San Jose native Mike Salinas had the best Top Fuel elapsed time of the first qualifying session (3.769), but Clay Millican (3.698 at 330.96 mph), along with several others, beat that in the evening to take the top slot. Points leader Steve Torrence was second and his father, Billy, third . ... Other top qualifiers were Alex Laughlin (6.520, 210.8 mph) in Pro Stock and Matt Smith (6.779, 200.83) in Pro Stock Motorcycle . ... The Sonoma race is the 15th of 24 events in the Mello Yellow Yello Drag Racing Series.