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Roger Gorringe: That leads very nicely to a question I have, which is are there any plans for biographies or for a film?

John Force: We are right now, and this'll interest you...a movie was made a year ago by a young actor - in fact he's in London today and I tried to reach him - his name is Stephen Hopkins. He's not an actor, he's a producer, and we signed Ashley with the William Morris Agency, and we have our own TV reality show. You'll see it this year. We started filming over a year ago and I met Stephen Hopkins. I think he's from Australia but he lives here in London and he just did the life and times of Peter Sellers and he won the Emmys and all the big stuff in the States...what are they called, the Golden Globes...he won all of that, and the actress Charlize Theron, I think she's from Africa, she won a Golden Globe. Whatever, they won everything in '05 and his production company is called Svengali. It's a group of three of them and I had his numbers, I called yesterday and his girlfriend is in America so he might be in the States. But I was supposed to meet him here. We have to go tomorrow and get together on money. But he is producing, it's his production capital, everybody knows who Peter Sellers is and his movie was a big hit in the States and I'm sure over here.

But he is doing our reality show and it's called The Driving Forces. And the first race that he ever came to was a year ago in 04, when Ashley and I won Pomona. And he'd never seen a drag race, didn't have a clue. And he was in total shock! He was there in the final when I won and she won, and he was in the media room and he said "There is a movie in the making here". And that's when we signed the reality show. But we had to sell the show, and it took about a year. We went to New York, we went to LA, MTV, we did every channel: Disney Channel, ABC, NBC, we hit 'em all. And the channel that took it was the A + E Network. We had offers for one show, three shows, A + E said "We'll take six right now." And we signed for ten, with an option of fifteen and twenty. They say it's gonna be a two-year run. They put a huge budget, 2.7 million, advertising budget behind us. There are five of us. It's about this family of young girls, that wanna be like Dale Earnhardt, the dad, except they're girls...

Roger Gorringe: Is it going to be something a little bit like a racing version of The Osbournes...

John Force: Exactly. We really struggled because MTV, they wanted to dig for the dirt: "Have these girls ever done drugs?". My kids are good, they were raised by their mother. These girls are the closest to Princess Di you're gonna get, OK? I married the Princess Di from the States. I say that in all respect because Princess Di, in our country she's a hero. In our country, when she died the States hurt. You know what I mean? And you can understand these young girls that followed her. You know, everybody hates the paparazzi, we loved them because what they gave us. We can open our magazines - and sorry for what took place - but in the States if they're not following you then you ain't shit. And I'm sorry but that's the way it is.

And I've told Ashley about the media - the media can be very stressful. She don't have a problem. You interview her, she'll be politically correct what she says, but get her loose that kid can out-talk me. I said to her mother once "Why does she never talk?" and her mother goes "You never let her." Get a few minutes, get her off to the side and talk to her.

And Eric is another talker. Eric will...he out-talks me. But they're all so respectful to me, you know what I mean? And Robert my son-in-law, he's another believe it or not off-the-wall gabber, but they never speak around me. I never knew it about 'em. I knew it about Eric, I've seen Eric on stage with the guitar, playing and singing "Johnny B Goode"...he's sucked up from day one, he knew how to get a job!

But what I'm saying is, our reality...sorry, I got sidetracked...but our reality show, we have our press day January 12th in LA. They're gonna unveil it but it's gonna hit the market of TV in June - I think it's late May, early June - on A + E, ten shows. A + E's a good channel, a great channel, but it's got huge exposure. They're already bringing us to England and Japan, our show will come here.

We've had a number of book offers to do a book. I gave the rights to Densmore to produce the book. I didn't give him the money rights, I gave him the rights. But he knows me, for thirty years.

If you wanna see racing turn on ESPN. This is about what the girl does in the morning, and like in the opening show it's me screaming "Get out of bed!".

But let me say this. My wife and I are married happily. My attorney advised me "Never get a divorce, or you'll be one team and she'll own three," and we had our problems over the years because I went racing, and I lived in that world., and I sent all the money home. I never needed money, racing gave me everything. You know what I mean? I never had to buy a meal. In thirty years I could tell the story...probably in the first four years of my career I could eat anywhere free because they wanted to hear the bullshit. You know what I'm saying? I can go in any bar in the States and they'll buy me a drink just to hear the stories. Because I tell stories about Earnhardt, Don Garlits, stories about Shirley Muldowney and they love it, right? Never about myself, just about what I've seen.

So in the process of this, this show is about these girls...I got sidetracked, I'm trying to come back...about these girls wanting to drag race in a world of John Force and what it was like. My wife just got the Super Comp licence because the TV show thought it would be good if their mother was licenced and the girls could relate to the mother. She's a beautiful woman, you'll see her tonight. Trains, runs every day, looks like a movie star. Don't look like me, trust me! And she's very Catholic, very much into the Queen, When we stood at the gates I'm making jokes and my wife slapped me! "Could you be respectful for once?". I said "But look at them guys walking back and forth", you know I'm yelling "Hey, over here!" and my wife's saying "No! Be respectful". She loves the charm of London, totally. But when NHRA took me away from my family - this is the show - NHRA is putting them back together. 'Cos now with the girls racing, my wife's at every race, she has her own eighteen-wheeler, you know what I'm saying? And she won't hardly come in the bus. And she says "I love you, I just don't like you! I've always loved you, but you're just nuts!". And if you interview her, she'll say "It's just John". Santa's coming down the staircase, and he's talking about how he's gonna beat Bernstein and Prudhomme - on Christmas morning! Because that's the way I am. But she loves me, I love her, and we have our life but now it's getting us close.

When the girls were cheerleaders I was watching the football game not the cheerleaders. I wanted a son, I never got a son - I don't know how in the hell that happened! I may have a few pop up on the Tour, any day now! But the truth is, now her and I are closer than we've ever been. And she told me standing right out in front of the Palace "Would you show a little bit of respect to the Queen?". I said "They told me at ten after five she's leaving. I wanna see what kind of car she drives". Ford Focus! My wife says "Everything's a joke to you isn't it?", I said "No, I don't know how to get through a day without..." - it's what I do. And same thing on the plane, you know what I mean? I've never been treated the way that Castrol and Ford Motor Company treat me. Let me tell you something: I own one suit, and one red tie. The same grey tie and red stripes I've worn since the first Banquet. And my Crew Chief will say "Every time we go out, you wear that same suit and tie". It's kinda like, it's what I wore from day one.

And when I go to be afraid to go on stage, because I have a big fear of the stage, that's why I talk so much. I've studied the books on Jay Leno, I learned more from Jackie Gleason on The Honeymooners. The first time he ever went on stage he bombed, and he was backstage, and he went to the bar, and he said "That's the end of my career" if you read his book, and a guy came down in the bar to get a drink, the producer, and they were all stressed. And Jackie Gleason is entertaining them and the bar guy said "Go back out and do what you're doing now, they'll love you". He goes "They hated me!". And the bar guy said "Whatever you're doing, go do". And he went back on stage with a couple of drinks in him and they loved him, and that was the start of his career in New York, in the Bronx. Because he had to get loose, and I have to get loose. And that's why sometimes you'll hear me on the stage just scream - because I'm terrified. And then once I get going you can't shut me up. Like now!