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Love him or hate him, John Force is making his way toward drag racing history yet again. This weekend at Brainerd, he has a chance to score the 1,100th round win of his career. That alone is a record. With a victory, he will clinch a spot in the NHRA’s Countdown to 1 playoffs, assuring him a record 27 career Top 10 finishes.
If history really does repeat itself, odds are John Force will be breaking records this weekend. In the last 25 years at Brainerd, Force has had nothing but good luck. He’s achieved a win rate in excess of 80%, and never failed to qualify at the Minnesota track.
This year, Force began driving the Ford Mustang Funny Car that his daughter Ashley Force-Hood has driven for the past four years, and this would be only the second win for this team with John Force behind the wheel.
“I’ve got a good hot rod,” said Force. “And we can make up some ground these next two races. That’s what we want to do. [Force Racing teammates] Mike Neff and Robert are already in the Countdown and we’re close. The higher you are (in the regular season points), the better your chances.”
“I’m just one point out of sixth, I think, behind [Ron] Capps,” said the 133-time tour winner. “I can still move up. I want to try and get into the middle of the pack. I’d like to get up to fifth. That would give us three in the top five with two other Fords in the Countdown with Tasca [Bob Tasca III, currently 10th] and [Tim] Wilkerson.”
Despite the outstanding numbers from BIR, it’s been a while since Force won the Lucas Oil Nationals—2007 to be exact. A month later, Force was involved in the well-documented crash at Dallas that left him with crippling injuries. Lesser drivers would have never returned to the sport, but Force returned in less than a year, and won again in May 2008.
In a release from Force Racing, 62-year-old Force said “I love this sport and I love my job,” said the 2008 inductee into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Detroit. “I’m under contract (to drive) through 2014 but as long as I can still compete against all these young guys, there’s nothing else I want to do.”
