A Dominant Force As Tour Moves to Gateway
06/26/03
Madison, IL
ohn Force may not win the 2003 NHRA POWERade Funny Car championship, but for all those who had expected to him to wind up in a rocking chair on the front porch of the Ol' Truck Drivers Home, guess what?
Ain't happening.
After a rough transition for both himself and his Castrol GTX® High Mileage Ford Funny Car, the former truck driver and 12-time NHRA series champ once again is the talk of the tour.
"Everybody had me dead and buried," Force said of his untypical performance at the start the 2003 season. "But, bottom line, we made a lot of changes to our 'ol race car and then I made a lot of changes to how I'm driving it."
Nevertheless, after languishing in 12th place early in the season, Force has
fought his way back up to sixth, has qualified second or better in six straight races, has lowered the NHRA national record to 4.721 seconds and, just two weeks ago, appeared in his first final round since last November.
The upshot is that the 11-time Auto Racing All-America selection returns this
week to Gateway International Raceway seriously thinking about a repeat in the Sears Craftsman Nationals, an event that signals the midpoint in the 2003 NHRA POWERade Series.
That Force again is a legitimate contender does not surprise the competition.
Apparently, it surprised others, though.
"I got tired of people coming up and asking me 'what's wrong?' 'Are you
retiring?' 'Are you stepping aside for Tony?' We weren't doing any of that," Force said. "For one thing, there are a lot of good teams out there. (Whit) Bazemore and (Gary) Scelzi with the Schumacher team, the Worsham family (with cars for Del Worsham and Johnny Gray) and Prudhomme's guys (Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr.). Plus (Tim) Wilkerson and a lot of others.
"Heck, I've got enough trouble just beating my own guys (points leader Tony
Pedregon and veteran Gary Densham). But, bottom line, we made big changes this year, everything from the chassis to the engine to the sponsor (Castrol's high mileage brand for cars with more than 75,000 road miles) and it's just taken some time to get it right."
Indeed, Force's co-Crew Chiefs, Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly, opted to make the transition from a Steve Plueger to a McKinney Corporation chassis and from the engine combination with which they won 10 straight championships to the one perfected last season by Pedregon's braintrust of John Medlen and Dickie Venables.
"We're trying to get ready to race five years down the road," Force said. "You can't just stand still. You have to improve."
However, with all the changes have come some surprises.
For one thing, while Force's Mustang was supposed to be identical to Pedregon's Castrol SYNTEC™ Ford, the performance of the two was anything but identical.
"We couldn't make our car live past 1,100 feet," Force said. "Finally, I talked to Tony and Densham finding out if there was anything different I was doing as a driver. Turns out, my burnouts were a couple seconds longer and with this combination, the engine actually was dying when I came to the line because of the long burnouts."
As a result, Force changed his burnout routine. Then, in response to changes to the Christmas Tree starting system, he changed his starting line routine, as well.
"I told Coil and Bernie, 'you guys fix the car and I'll fix the driver,'" Force said.
That done, Force can focus this week on defending his championship and extending to 17 the number of consecutive seasons in which he has won at least one tour event.
BY THE NUMBERS....
1 Points position occupied 215 times over the last 14 seasons although not once this season.
10 Consecutive NHRA POWERade titles.
106 Career victories, a drag racing record, second all-time behind only Winston Cup legend Richard Petty.
311 Consecutive starts, another drag racing record.
PREVIOUSLY AT NATIONAL TRAIL....
Best time.............4.866 seconds, June 22, 2001.
Best speed..........315.27 mph, June 24,1999.
Victories..............2 (1999, 2002)
Notable................Has gone to the semifinals or beyond in five of seven starts.
Last year.............After qualifying sixth, beat Tony Pedregon, Del Worsham, Ron Capps and Scotty Cannon to reclaim the points lead from teammate Gary Densham.
DID YOU KNOW?
John is trying to extend to 312 the record number of consecutive NHRA
national events for which he has qualified a Castrol GTX Funny Car.
The last time he failed to make a starting lineup was Oct. 31, 1987....John is a finalist this year for the fourth time for Driver of the Year at ESPN's Espy Awards to be distributed July 16 in ceremonies at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood....when he crossed the centerline, disqualifying himself, in the final round of the Pontiac Excitement Nationals two weeks ago at Columbus, Ohio, it wasn't the first such bizarre incident in which he has been involved. In 1992, with his championship hopes sliding away, John hit the guardwall not once, not twice, but three times in a vain attempt to chase down points leader Cruz Pedregon (Tony's brother) in the final round of what today is the O'Reilly Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex. Proving that he has learned from past experience, John limited his foul at Columbus to a single incidence.
Castrol GTX Top Techs Winner Honered at Gateway
MADISON, IL – As part of the prize package he earned as one of the eight national winners in the Castrol GTX® Top Techs program, Carl Jones of Ellery, Ill., will serve Saturday as an honorary crewman on the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang Funny Car driven at Gateway International Raceway by John Force.
Jones, a junior at Edwards County High School, was one of more than 250 students nominated for a Top Techs award in a contest to recognize and encourage aspiring young automotive technicians. Automotive students and teachers submitted 150-word essays to support each individual nomination.
"Choosing just eight winners from hundreds of talented nominees was quite a challenge for the judges," said Tim Miranda, Engineering/OEM manager for Castrol North America, who served as one of the contest judges. "It's encouraging to know that there is a talented pool of tech-savvy students out there who will one day service our vehicles."
All eight finalists, each recognized at a different NHRA POWERade national event, are eligible for one grand prize that includes a $7,500 scholarship and a trip to the world's biggest drag race, the Labor Day Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Ind.
Jones, who plays varsity football and is active in 4-H, hopes one day to earn degree in automotive technology. His love for automobiles began at age eight when he placed fourth in a local go-kart race. He rebuilt a mini-kart engine at age 12 and at 14 purchased a 1969 Pontiac Tempest with money earned raising and showing cattle.
In addition to tickets to this week's races for himself and a guest, Jones will receive a souvenir Castrol GTX hat and T-shirt, a Mac Tools toolbox stocked with $1,000 in tools and the donation of both Castrol GTX and Castrol GTX High Mileage motor oil for use in his school's vocational automotive program.
In addition to Miranda, the judging panel for the Top Techs program included Matt King, editor-in-chief of Car Craft magazine; John Lypen, editor and publisher of Motor magazine; Darren Morris, national business development manager for Mac Tools; and Bob Weber, ASE-certified Master Automotive Technician and "Motormouth" columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
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