As he steers the boat around the man-made lake, carefully avoiding the ducks who seem drawn to his voice, Force punches in the telephone number. His frustration grows as he's not able to acquire a signal.

"Hey, I'm calling, I'm trying," Force says, as though he's speaking directly to the radio host.

Few in drag racing know how hard Force works with the media. In an era where full access is unheard of and some drivers go through the motions and vent at the results, Force remains extremely cooperative with those who cover his sport.

He understands not everyone assigned to write a Force piece knows a Christmas tree from a Christmas tree. He's patient and informative, knowing full well his role as ambassador. When Rolling Stone profiled him, it was such a key moment that the NHRA publicity department made sure all the media either received a copy or had access to it. It was a first for drag racing, and naturally Force was the focus.

His willingness to work with the media was evident in the summer of 1999 when he was a guest for a mid-day Bristol, Va., television show promoting the inaugural Winston Showdown. While waiting for his scheduled 10-minute segment, he made a call to a radio station in Cincinnati. Imagine Bristol Dragway PR man Wayne Estes' surprise when Force, closing the five-minute call with a bang, said that by mentioning the station's call letters fans would get two-for-one tickets. Totally unexpected, totally unscripted, totally Force.

Five minutes later, he was on camera and making his host appear much more knowledgeable than he really was. Force was able to stretch the spot into 15 minutes, with only 120 seconds of B roll available, and leave the set with everyone-including the director whose time script was destroyed beyond repair-applauding his appearance.

Smooth and seemingly without much effort, once again, Force had created new drag race fans. A year later, these same folks would be begging for the same treatment.

But once in the van, out of sight and with the ever-present cup of coffee, Force broke into a slight sweat at a mistake only he caught. Life in the fast lane can be a blur.

"You know, this ESPN package is real important to us," Force says after a few moments of silence on the lake. "We need it. We need to be where our fans can find us, something constant.

"It's going to help the sport, the owners, the drivers and the sponsors. If we can keep the fans happy, then everyone is happy. That's important, really important. We can't lose sight of that."

To that end, Force voiced his concerns to Glendora about keeping some type of continuity. With the sudden passing of Steve Evans, the only voice with any NHRA history is Dave McClelland and Force didn't want to lose that as the new contract took shape.

"We need to have somebody who can talk about the old days, somebody who knows what's he talking about, somebody that our fans can trust," said Force, who took Evans' death as hard as anyone outside the family. "Look at NASCAR, they've got a new TV deal but they're going to have some great folks working the telecasts, people that stock car can relate to.

"We need to take that approach."

Whatever one might think of Force, know this. He is fiercely loyal to his friends and crew. Where other drivers might think of themselves above all, Force still worries about what his fans think. In many aspects of his life, that's the driving Force.

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