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BACK IN THE SADDLE
John "Bode" Smith has shed 20 pounds and the emotional
baggage from last year's accident at Brainerd. He was practicing launches
and "learning that I can drive again" at Tucson, eager, he said, to
help wife Rhonda get her Fram Dragster in the top-5 of the NHRA POWERade
points Top Fuel standings and his "B car" in the top 10.
With brand-new Murf McKinney creations, three new crew
members, a new clutch system and untested Goodyears to break in, the
Virgil Hartman-owned operation had its hands full. But Smith, though
maintaining his calm, steady approach, clearly was happy to be back
in the team's racing mix.
"I wanted to get back in the car last year," said Smith,
"The want was there. My leg just wasn't strong enough to do it.
"I felt great when I hit the throttle," he said of his
run this year. "It took my breath away, but it felt good to be back
in the seat."
John Smith's last surgery, to remove screws from his leg,
was Nov. 22. He faces more physical therapy for his wrist, and must
undergo at least one more MRI for his shoulder. "I had six doctors,
and they said it'd take a year for me to get back to 90 percent," he
said. "Everybody thinks I'm crazy."
FORCE STILL LEAVING MARKS . . .
Funny Car icon John Force sets marks, and now he's just
leaving them in an unexpected place. Fans will sees Force's oily mitt-print
in one of the four newest Fram "smudge campaign" ads aimed at the do-it-yourselfer.
The ads will debut in April.
The oil-filter company said the spots glorify the do-it-yourself
ethic. Spokesman Jeff Bye said, "We wanted to make the do-it-yourself
consumer feel that he is part of an elite group and that the FRAM brand
shares his values of self-sufficiency and the belief that a good job
is one you do yourself."
Force undoubtedly is part of an elite group. But that
doing-it-yourself part is what has him a bit uncertain these days. Not
when it comes to his own performance or those of his other two Funny
Cars. He's having to adjust to others having more control than he does
of his daughter Ashley's dragster.
Mike MacBrair will be running his own car at Pomona. But
he's helping builder Ron Williams set up in the Super Comp entry Ashley
Force will compete in this season at three Division 7 races, 12 national
events and a match race at Norwalk, Ohio.
"Ron's my new Austin Coil," Force said of the Super Comp
and Super Eliminator competitor. "Even after 25 years of racing. I'm
learning things from him and Mike."
"I've been doing this category for years, and Ron has
built all my cars. So he asked me to tag along and kind of help get
this one dialed in," MacBrair said. "I have a car identical to this
car. It was actually the prototype of this one that Ron built for me
a year ago. We did all the testing on it, then he built Ashley's." Williams
has done the fabrication work for Force for years and has mounted the
bodies for all 11 of his championship cars.
Williams said Ashley Force has "made tons of progress.
She went to Hawley's driving school, but this car has way more horsepower
(than the school's). So we had to take a couple steps back and work
through all that. She listens to everything we say. She responds to
everything we tell her. You couldn't ask for a better type driver."
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