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FINEST MOMENT
It's gotta be John's winning of the Driver of the Year Award in 1999.
Until that time, the guys who raced in ascots walked off with the honors.
Over the years, talented drag racers such as Don Prudhomme, Shirley
Muldowney, Don Garlits, and Bob Glidden had managed to get "Honorable
Mention" nods, but that seemed merely some crumbs brushed off the table
from the roundy-round fraternity. Force's win was a big boost for the
sport, maybe the biggest since Winston came aboard in 1975.
WORST MOMENT
It was at the 1993 Sears Craftsman Nationals in Topeka, Kansas. The
top Funny Car drivers were trying mightily to be the first one in the
four-second zone, and Force was the odds-on favorite. So sure was he
and his backers of accomplishing this, that Force put up $25,000 of
his own money to be given to the first guy in the fours, complementing
the $25,000 put up by his Castrol backers. After all, he figured that
he'd be the guy to do it.
But on the second session of Funny Car qualifying on Friday, Force
had to be shut off behind the starting line. Wouldn't you know it, right
after Force's Castrol Olds is towed off to the side, Chuck Etchells'
Kendall Olds comes up and runs a 4.987 and takes Castrol's and Force's
money. Force took it well (at least he did publicly) but I can't believe
that in a quiet moment he didn't look in the mirror of his lounge in
the tractor/trailer and went ... "Damn!"
BEST RUN
This is not obscurity for obscurity's sake, but I think a run that
really gave Force's career a real kick in the pants. It occurred during
qualifying at the 1976 Orange County Manufacturers Funny Car meet. Going
into this race, most viewers figured that if he didn't break the motor
or fireball the car that he'd qualify for the 32-car gala near the bottom
of the field with a 7.20. No. 1 was Don Prudhomme's Army Monza with
a 6.15, with the hot cars running in the 6.2s or 6.3s. Late Friday night,
Force's Leo's Stereo/"Brute Force" Monza ripped an incredible for him
6.38/217.39, his best elapsed time by at least three or four tenths
of a second. Steve Plueger, I think, was wrenching the car, and it gave
Force enough confidence to go three rounds in the five-round show. At
the time, I was really following the cars and I thought, "By god, if
that guy got a few bucks, he might turn out okay."
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