FORCE FIXED, BUT WHAT'S UP WITH HIS CAR?

The driver has had a tune-up, but the health of John Force's national record-holding Castrol GTX® High Mileage Ford Mustang still is uncertain as the NHRA tour moves to the Mac Tools Gatornationals.

Just two weeks removed from a procedure that relieved him of a troublesome gall bladder, John Force is back up to speed in his bid for an 11th consecutive NHRA Funny Car title (13th overall). The question is whether his hybrid Mustang, erratic in its first two appearances of the new season, is as resilient. In races at Pomona and Phoenix Force won exactly one round, a result that has left him languishing in 10th place in POWERade

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Funny Car points. It's his worst start since the 1989 season in which he won only one time and was no better than ninth in points through the first eight races.

"We got beat in the first round at Pomona and they already had me buried," Force said. "We had some mechanical problems at Pomona and again at Phoenix. We've been fighting dropped cylinders and we haven't been as consistent as we've been in the past. But we'll figure it out and we'll be in the hunt (for the championship)." He added, "Everybody asks me about retiring. I'm NOT retiring. I'm under contract to drive through 2007 and if I'm going to drive, I'm going to try to win. There's no fun in driving to lose." (Tim Marshall photo) (3-13-2003)

CAPPS GETS 2004 IROC RIDE

Ron Capps will get a chance to prove that he can turn left in a racecar when he test drives an International Race of Champions stock car at Talladega Int'l Raceway next month. Capps is the only drag racer ever asked to drive an IROC car. The International Race of Champions is contested at four different oval tracks during the year.

After Capps' appearance in February at the Chili Bowl Nationals midget race, he was contacted by IROC's George and Jay Signore to see if would be interested in running with some of the other IROC drivers to get some experience for next year's series.

"This is a great honor," the Funny Car driver said. "I had lunch with Snake (team owner Don Prudhomme) after I was invited. With us leading in points and at a time when there are a lot of things going on, I didn't want to take any of the attention away from what Ace and Snake are doing. It was a relief to see he was as excited as I was.

"Just getting the opportunity to go to a super speedway like Talladega and go out and draft with other drivers to see what I can do is fantastic," Capps added. (Jeff Burk photo) (3-13-2003)

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