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Courtney Force looking for consistency after Vegas first round

Mike Cope Apr 3, 2017 1:19:33 PM
Courtney Force looking for consistency after Vegas first round
racing indy Hurco NHRA

LAS VEGAS (April 2) – After an upset loss in the first round of the NHRA Nationals on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Courtney Force huddled with her Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS team to figure out a plan of attack moving forward.

Force, the No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car, stumbled in the first round against veteran Gary Densham, losing after a slowing pass of 5.118 seconds at 153.39 mph.

“It’s a bummer,” Force said. “Our Advance Auto Parts team has had some great runs, and we know the car is capable of running some stellar numbers. We’re having a hard time finding some consistency with it, especially being able to run it in the heat.

“So we’ll be back out here tomorrow testing all day in the heat to see if we can get the right tuneup going into the next race.”

Immediately after her run, Force and her team began working on a plan to make the Advance Auto Parts Camaro more consistent.

“When I got back to the pit, it was straight to the computer to figure out the problem with the car, what’s going on, how we can fix it and how we can move forward going into the next few races and what we’re going to try out for testing tomorrow,” Force said. “Then I headed out to the ropes to sign for the fans. They definitely help lift your spirits up after a rough day. I’ll be out there cheering on the rest of my teammates.”

Force and her team, led by crew chief Daniel Hood and Ronnie Thompson, will test here Monday. Force, who has qualified in the top four in all four NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series races in 2017, knows her team can dig itself out of the current rut.

“These guys do an amazing job, and I’m sticking by them,” Force said. “I know we can get this thing figured out. I’d rather get the bad luck out of the way now than when we’re in the Countdown.”

The Countdown to the Championship includes the final six races of the season and settles title battles in each of the four NHRA pro classes. Points are reset before the Countdown, meaning each of the top 10 drivers who reach NHRA’s playoffs have a shot at the championship. Force will maintain her spot inside the top 10 of the Funny Car points standings after Vegas.

The next race is the NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas, just outside Houston.LAS VEGAS (April 2) – After an upset loss in the first round of the NHRA Nationals on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Courtney Force huddled with her Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS team to figure out a plan of attack moving forward.

Force, the No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car, stumbled in the first round against veteran Gary Densham, losing after a slowing pass of 5.118 seconds at 153.39 mph.

“It’s a bummer,” Force said. “Our Advance Auto Parts team has had some great runs, and we know the car is capable of running some stellar numbers. We’re having a hard time finding some consistency with it, especially being able to run it in the heat.

“So we’ll be back out here tomorrow testing all day in the heat to see if we can get the right tuneup going into the next race.”

Immediately after her run, Force and her team began working on a plan to make the Advance Auto Parts Camaro more consistent.

“When I got back to the pit, it was straight to the computer to figure out the problem with the car, what’s going on, how we can fix it and how we can move forward going into the next few races and what we’re going to try out for testing tomorrow,” Force said. “Then I headed out to the ropes to sign for the fans. They definitely help lift your spirits up after a rough day. I’ll be out there cheering on the rest of my teammates.”

Force and her team, led by crew chief Daniel Hood and Ronnie Thompson, will test here Monday. Force, who has qualified in the top four in all four NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series races in 2017, knows her team can dig itself out of the current rut.

“These guys do an amazing job, and I’m sticking by them,” Force said. “I know we can get this thing figured out. I’d rather get the bad luck out of the way now than when we’re in the Countdown.”

The Countdown to the Championship includes the final six races of the season and settles title battles in each of the four NHRA pro classes. Points are reset before the Countdown, meaning each of the top 10 drivers who reach NHRA’s playoffs have a shot at the championship. Force will maintain her spot inside the top 10 of the Funny Car points standings after Vegas.

The next race is the NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas, just outside Houston.

 

Photo credit: Gary Nastase and Auto Imagery

 

About John Force Racing

 

John Force Racing, Inc., based in Yorba Linda, Calif., and Brownsburg, Ind., is a professional sports dynasty, one that has earned 18 NHRA championships and claimed 250 professional victories in Funny Car (247) and Top Fuel (3). Led by team owner and driver John Force, a 16-time Funny Car Champion, 1996 Driver of the Year for all of American motor racing, 2011 International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee, and driver of the PEAK Coolant and Motor Oil Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, JFR is additionally comprised of Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS driver Robert Hight, 2009 Funny Car champion and 2005 NHRA Rookie of the Year; Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS driver Courtney Force, 2012 NHRA Rookie of the Year; and Monster Energy Top Fuel Dragster driver Brittany Force, 2013 NHRA Rookie of the Year. For more information, please visit johnforceracing.com.

John Force Racing's 2,500th Funny Car round win

Mike Cope Mar 22, 2017 12:41:07 PM
John Force Racing's 2,500th Funny Car round win
racing indy Hurco NHRA
BROWNSBURG, Ind. (March 21) – John Force’s Funny Car victory Sunday in the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., was memorable for many reasons, including yet another milestone over the team’s 40-year existence in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

After winning all four rounds, and coupled with Robert Hight’s first-round victory, the team achieved the 2,500-round victory threshold for Funny Cars. Force’s final-round win over rookie Jonnie Lindberg sealed the deal.

JFR’s first round victory was June 1, 1979, when Force defeated Tom McEwen at the Cajun Nationals in Baton Rouge, La. Force himself has accounted for just over half of those 2,500 Funny Car round victories, as he now stands at 1,269, with six round wins this season. He defeated Del Worsham, Jack Beckman, and Tommy Johnson Jr. before beating Lindberg on Sunday.

Even more impressive is that JFR’s 2,500 NHRA Funny Car round wins account for more than 20 percent of wins all-time in the class.

“It was the reign of terror that started it all, with Austin Coil, Bernie Fedderly and John Medlen,” Force said. “It was really about a group of guys – it wasn’t about me. I just wrote the checks, but I got to drive one of the baddest hot rods on the planet. We won just about everything.

“But those days are gone now. John Force wants to stay in the game, and now we’ve got Robert Hight, my daughter Courtney, young Austin Prock is coming,” he continued. “I’m really excited about this. We put the band back together. Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones said life’s a drag, but today, life’s not a drag – it’s a drag race, and we won.”

Winning races and elimination rounds is one of the things John Force has done best. Overall, nine drivers have won Funny Car rounds with JFR. The total includes:
  • John Force 1,269
  • Robert Hight 375
  • Tony Pedregon 292
  • Courtney Force 134
  • Mike Neff 118
  • Gary Densham 108
  • Ashley Force Hood 105
  • Eric Medlen 95
  • Phil Burkart Jr. 4

Hight added to his total Sunday, besting Bob Tasca III in the first round with career-bests in time and speed, and has two round wins this season. Courtney Force won her first three rounds of the season at Pomona, making it to the final round.

“It’s amazing, but what’s really amazing is when you look at who has most of those wins,” Hight said. “John Force’s records – he’s so far out in front of everybody else – it’s not even achievable. With the competition level and everything else there is today, these records we keep getting will never, ever be broken. I was lucky enough to get the 200th victory for John Force Racing at Topeka (2011), and that was pretty exciting."

To do it at Gainesville, Hight said, was special. In the 1990s, for example, Force participated in 37 rounds out of a possible 40, and won 33 of those 40 rounds. He just kept winning ... and winning ... and winning.

“He’s had good luck at Gainesville,” Hight said. “But I take away from this that all three of our Funny Cars are running good, and we’re not searching for faster cars but right where we want to be. We just need to get a little consistency. I’m just happy to be a little part of those 2,500 round wins. We have three good cars now, and we’re going to get a lot more wins.”

The milestone is more than just a number. It represents tireless efforts by drivers, crew chiefs, team members, fabricators, shop workers, and office staff who have worked with Force since the 1970s.

“If you look at the Tony Pedregons that drove for me, the Eric Medlens, the Gary Denshams, Robert Hight, my girls – if you go down that list, they were all part of that. It wasn’t just about me," Force said. "I’ve done well in the sport, because I’ve lived it and loved it. I give 110 percent to my sponsors, never 100 percent. We overdeliver, you have to.

“With the cast of characters we have, we’re going to keep hitting them with all we’ve got."

The team earned its 2,500th round victory across all NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series classes last year. Including the team’s Top Fuel dragster – piloted by Brittany Force and sponsored by Monster Energy – the team’s round victory total stands at 2,593. Brittany Force added another Top Fuel round victory Sunday, and stands at 93 in her career.

The fourth round of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, the NHRA Nationals, is March 31-April 2 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Nevada. John Force Racing has won five races at the spring race in Las Vegas, most recently with John Force running the table in 2015.

John Force takes Gatornationals, 2,500th Funny Car round win

Mike Cope Mar 20, 2017 1:49:16 PM
John Force takes Gatornationals, 2,500th Funny Car round win
racing indy Hurco NHRA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 19) – He may have been serenading the tune “Singin’ in the Rain,” but John Force was winning under the Florida sunshine Sunday in a perfectly-tuned PEAK Motor Oil and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car.

The 16-time NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series champion earned his record-extending 148th career victory and eighth in the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. Force defeated rookie Jonnie Lindberg – competing in his first Funny Car race – in a solid final-round matchup, giving John Force Racing its first victory of 2017 and first since last year’s fall race at Las Vegas.

Force exited his PEAK Chevrolet after winning and broke into the popular tune “Singin’ in the Rain.” “I found the music,” he said.

“I’ve lived on music in my old Chevy,” Force said. “I can remember when I was 15 years old driving around without a driver’s license and the music carried me. Every day, the Beach Boys, Merle Haggard. I lived that life and you find yourself.

“I don’t go to a race without believing I can win,” continued Force, the day after recording his 155th No. 1 qualifying spot. “The day I don’t believe I can win, then it’s time for me to quit. It’s like a rollercoaster ride and I’m still a kid driving that ’54 Chevy listening to the Beach Boys, and I found the music. They are going to be sorry I found the music, trust me.”

The 67-year-old hadn’t won at the Gatornationals since 2001, breaking a 16-year drought, which set yet another NHRA record. But there are better ones he set as well:
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