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It was at the August-based NHRA NorthStar Nationals when
things began to turn around for the McDonald’s team.
Pedregon won his second career title when he beat Mark Oswald
in the In-N-Out/Petosa Bros. Olds in the final, and this proved
to be one of five straight wins for the California driver.
In that skein, two happenings stand out. While winning the
Keystone Nationals, Pedregon logged a 5.07 for the distinction
of being the first Funny Car driver in the 5.0s, and then
took part in the most exciting final of the year when he beat
Force at the Chief Nationals in Ennis, Texas.
By the time of the Chiefs, Force had lost his points lead
to Pedregon, and was in genuine danger of being dethroned
as the Funny Car champ. He failed to do this, but the losing
final to Pedregon was probably the single greatest display
of tenaciousness in any Funny Car driver’s career. Force
was in trouble, but absolutely refused to cave in; as Coil
said, he seemed to get stronger. At least, in terms of will.
Force’s elapsed times were better than Pedregon’s
in the first two frames, and it did indeed appear that Coil
was up on Larry Meyer under the hood. However that edge blipped
out when Pedregon’s semi-final 5.09 drubbing of Al Hofmann,
nosed past Force’s 5.10 handling of Gary Bolger in Dale
Creasy’s Mustang. This set up an ultra-dramatic final.
If Force won, he had a chance at tackling Pedregon at season’s
end, but if he failed, his chances would be between slim and
none … and as a famous Southern California sportscaster
would conclude … “and Slim just left town.”
The two cars came to the line at all the concrete Texas Motorplex
with a capacity crowd rising to its feet, whipped up by the
reality of this confrontation. At the green, it was obvious
that both crew chiefs had subjected their mounts to massive
O.D. tune-ups because both cars broke traction. Pedregon’s
rear tires lit hard, but ahead of Force, who boiled his hides
and slapped the retaining wall a few hundred feet off the
line. Both drivers frantically back-pedaled their errant rigs
with Force’s Castrol Olds sashaying and again smacking
the wall … this time at half track and much harder.
So hard in fact, that Force was knocked out, leaving his car
sliding down the retaining wall.
Pedregon was unaware of Force’s plight and at half-track
just hammered down the throttle doing a fabulous eighth-mile
smokey burnout to the lights and a 7.76, 202.97 win.
Force was helped out of the car and was diagnosed with a
slight concussion, but even that wallop couldn’t hide
the fact that he had lost … both this race and likely
the world title.
He didn’t quit. Many remember he still had a mathematical
chance to catch Pedregon at the the next and final NHRA event
of the year, the Winston Finals at Pomona, Calif.
Wouldn’t you know it, he flipped the car on a Friday
qualifying run, necessitating an all-night thrash to ready
a new car, which got in the show on the last pass. He lost
in round one to Gary Bolger.
So for the record books, Cruz Pedregon became a deserving
world champion, but that season, and in particular, the Chief
Nationals final, showed an eye-opening flipside to those heroics.
A great champion showing the heart, drive, and will to become
the greatest Funny Car driver this sport has yet seen. And
he did this while losing. 
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