Fuel Coupe Action:

Gary Scelzi, Tony Pedregon and Whit Bazemore were busy trumping each other with milestones and records while John Force swiped the $40,000 Funny Car prize. He said their eye-popping numbers “gave us something to chase so we could get our Ford back into the winner’s circle.”

The dethroned 12-time champion, who has struggled from eighth place in the standings to second, said, “I’ll never take a win for granted again.” Just the same, he earned his second victory in three races and his 111th overall.

Force almost didn’t make it to, let alone past, the second round. A mechanical problem in the pits nearly caused him to miss the match-up with his former protégé, their second pairing since Pedregon chose to form his own team. Force took his Mustang to the starting line on life support, with a bent intake valve and a flawed ignition system.

He left the starting line, then, at crew chief Austin Coil’s direction, shut off the motor. “You can’t have it go up there and blow up and kill everybody,” Force said. Co-crew chief Bernie

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Fedderly focused on a magneto switch, and, Force said, “It fired up. Amazing. I said, ‘Lord, now you just want to kill me!’” Pedregon, unaware of the extent of Force’s problems, briefly lost control at mid-track, crossed the center line and was disqualified. Force said that he thought the crosswind probably caught Pedregon but called the result divine intervention.

He defended his run against Medlen. “No, Eric did not lay down,” Force said emphatically. “If people don’t like it, I don’t care. My hunk of junk just came alive.”

And it was just in time to yank the rug from under Bazemore, whom he also beat in the Bristol final. Force said that he and his brain trust decided not to pursue a record with the ideal combination of a slick track and cool temperatures. He said instead, they targeted the victory and its $40,000 payoff.