Drag Racing Legends: John Force
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Drag Racing Legends: John Force
In the sport of drag racing, there is no better ambassador than John Force. Charismatic and outspoken, Force is a 15-time champion in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car division as of 2010, the series’ oldest-ever title winner (61 years, six months and 10 days when he won on November 14th, 2010).
Force started drag racing in the 1980s, and won the first of his 15 titles in 1990. After winning a second title in 1991, Force went on a tear, winning ten Funny Car championships in a row from 1993 to 2002; he also won in 2004, 2006, and 2010. Along the way, Force has earned over 125 victories and over 1,000 round wins. He also won two additional Funny Car titles as a team owner, in 2003 with driver Tony Pedregon and in 2009 with driver and son-in-law Robert Hight, and is the winningest car owner in NHRA history.
John Force Racing is a family affair. In addition to his own car and Hight’s, the team also fields a Funny Car for Force’s daughter, Ashley Force Hood, and a Top Alcohol dragster for his youngest daughter, Courtney; oldest daughter Adria (Hight’s wife) is the CFO of the team. Force and Force Hood were the first father-daughter pair to compete against each other in round action in NHRA history at Atlanta in 2007; one year later at the same race, Force Hood beat her father to become the first woman to ever win a Funny Car race.
The Force family – John, Ashley, Courtney, daughter Brittany, and wife Laurie – were the subjects of the A&E Channel reality series Driving Force for two seasons (2006 and 2007).