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6/24/03
Why is everybody so quick
to turn on John Force?
ero worship is fraught with danger.
Heroes often get saddled with the expectations and fantasies
of the worshipers and very often it is impossible for the
hero to live up to those expectations. Just ask John Force
and his crew. All these guys have done over the past years
is to put together a string of World Records and World Championships
unmatched in the history of professional sports.
The team lead by John Force has won 12 world championships in the last 13 years, which is something that no other professional race car driver or team has ever come close to matching or duplicating. Not Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme, Bob Glidden, A.J. Foyt, Dale Earhhardt, nor Roger Penske. Yet last year and this, when John Force stumbled just a little and Tony started winning, his fellow racers, fans, and some of the media (I sadly have to admit, myself included) began speculating that Force was perhaps dogging it.
Maybe it was that he was just too successful, had too many sponsors, and was too ambitious. Who knows. When he decided to field a three-car Funny Car team you could hear the howls all the way from Pomona to E-town. Never mind that John put one of the guys that yelped the loudest into the seat of one of his Funny Cars. Now, two- and three-car teams are the norm and I haven't heard anyone demanding that Don Schumacher's four-car team or the CSK three-car team or Prudhomme's three-car team be broken up for the good of the sport.
Now, the ludicrous idea that John Force would take a "dive" and purposely lose a race so that team driver Tony Pedregon could win a championship just won't go away. But anyone who watched the last race of the season at Pomona between those two with the Championship on the line or the pass this year where Force crossed the center line at Columbus has to know that there is no quarter given or asked in that camp; John Force wants to win every time he gets between the tubes and cinches up the belts.
Yet DRO magazine still gets letters from readers asking why John Force is throwing races. Part of the blame for that has to rest on the shoulders of the media, and I include myself here. Over the last two years several magazines and television shows in our business (not DRO) have printed or aired speculative stories about "diving." They may not have named Force specifically, but it was obvious whom they were talking about.
Even this year, when Force is having a poor season by his standards -- he is only sixth in the points -- and is desperate for a win, if he has a close race with a team car and wins, someone starts talking about him or someone on his team tanking! Baloney!
I've known John Force since I was covering the AHRA circuit back in 1976. I've known Bernie Fedderly, John Medlen, and Austin Coil since before they went to work for Force. I met and got to know Coil when my friend Frank Hawley drove for the Chi-town Hustler team. I can't say that I'm what you would call a close friend to any of them, but over 25 years we have developed more than just a racer-journalist relationship.
There are some past and present members of Force's team, such as Bob Fisher and Kevin McCarthy, that I do call friends. Here is the one thing I believe I know about all of these guys: They'd sooner take a bullet than a dive. This isn't F-1 or GTP racing where "team orders" are accepted practice and the number 2 driver is expected to let the number 1 driver pass him.
I'm not saying that diving hasn't occurred in drag racing. I've witnessed it happen several times in my career and I'll bet the team drivers that did the act and those that benefited from it wished to God they hadn't never done it. Their wins or championships are tainted forever.
Where was the outrage and questions when Kurt Johnson blatantly took a dive for dad at the U.S. Nationals a few years back? When that happened it was wink, wink, nudge, nudge and all was forgotten.
I guess what really has me bugged the most is that unthinking fans, members of the media, and even fellow racers who call themselves friends of John Force seem to have forgotten where this guy came from and what he has accomplished for them and the sport. They are constantly either asking what's wrong with Force or suggesting that he is taking a dive. Television interviewers can't seem to give him any slack. If Warren Johnson red-lights twice in three races, all is forgotten by the next race. Let John Force red-light once in 20 years and they chase him into the pits and camp on his doorstep until he comes out and bares his soul.
I think that the only fault John Force has is that he really wants everyone to like him. So when his peers, the media, the fans, or even the management start making decisions, asking questions, or making insinuations that would get them a call from the lawyer of any other racer of John Force's stature, John sucks it up, answers the same stupid questions, and then more often than not retreats to the bus. He tries to be the same Force we all have grown to love. He signs autographs until everyone gets one. He does every dog and pony show that the NHRA and his sponsors ask of him, and he tries to be the larger than life John Force that was drag racing's equivalent of John Wayne, but you can tell just looking at him he is hurting. It shows in his face, body language, and demeanor. He's a guy whose word is his bond and if he tells you something you should believe it. Evidently a lot of people didn't or can't.
I believe John Force and his team will return to dominate the Fuel Funny Car division. He has the talent, money and, now more than ever, the motivation, but, sadly, I don't think Force will ever be the same guy he was before. I don't know if we'll ever get the wide-open, transparent, off the cuff John Force again. He'll remember the relentless accusations about his and his crew's integrity and the willingness of people he thought respected him to believe the worst of him, and I believe his future actions will reflect that. He'll still be a hero and star to many of his peers and fans, but he won't be the same kind he once was -- and the world or drag racing will be worse off for it. 
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