By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Drag racing legend John Force sat down with TopSports.news for an extended interview Saturday before going on to win the Funny Car title Sunday in the Menards NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park. Force notched the 154th national event win of his career en route to taking over the Funny Car points lead.
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Even though he knows it was the right decision, drag racing's GOAT, John Force, said that sitting out all but two races of the 2020 NHRA season due to COVID-19 was one of the toughest things he's ever done.
But the 16-time Funny Car world champion and 21-time championship owner, is back in his happy place, racing and winning in the Camping World Drag Racing Series.
"I had to park it for a number of reasons and it hurt me more or as much as anybody not being able to race, because that's what makes me go,'' Force told TopSports.news. "I'm so happy just to come in to Topeka and people go, "Wow, your personality changes.' ''
At 72 years old, 16-time world champion Funny Car driver John Force is still one of racing's best. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Force's return to Topeka for the first time since 2019 was delayed by inclement weather that forced him to spend a nearly-sleepless Thursday night in Tulsa, Okla., but compared to what the world has gone through while fighting through the COVID-19 pandemic, Force said that was just a minor inconvenience.
"I spent the night in Tulsa, we all got stuck there, but that's where my mom was born so I got to see a little bit of the town,'' said Force, who arrived at HMP Friday in plenty of time for the first round of qualifying. "As tired as I was Friday night, two hours sleep, when I got in that car I was young again. I came alive.''
The 72-year-old Force admits that part of his life was missing when he was out of racing a year ago.
"I do it because I love it and it was gut-wrenching,'' Force said. "There were nights I stayed up and I sat in front of the TV and I cried. I just sat there and said, "They're out there and doing it. How can they do it and I can't?' Now they only ran 10 races, but if I would have kept all my people on I would have went under.
"At the end of the day it was hard on me and I don't want to get in to being corny, but I had to sit down and have mental talks. I had to go to the church. I had to go sit down and say, 'This ain't working here, somebody talk to me.' It's just a matter of you've got to find yourself in any kind of a crisis and that's what I had to do.''
Normally Force is wrapped up in racing 24/7, but took advantage of the time off to spend more time with his family, including his four grandchildren.
"You look at our children and what they go through, not being able to go to school and be with their friends,'' Force said. "I spent a lot of time with my grandchildren, not that I can do much, but just them know we love them and be around them.''
Force began to see a light at the end of the tunnel over the offseason as most of his employees and sponsors stuck with him, and John Force Racing's three teams have bounced back with a vengeance, with Force and Robert Hight both in contention in Funny Car and daughter Britanny Force a championship contender in Top Fuel.
"With some of the stuff that went on, when it first went down and this is your life, it becomes like, "If this keeps going like it's going I'm never going to be able to come back,' '' Force said. "But my sponsors all worked with me real good and in the middle of it my luck just turned around.
"We're running as quick as we ever did. We're out here running good. Robert's been fast, Brittany's car's real fast and life's good for me. I'm really excited racing with my new crew chief, Daniel Hood (Force's son in law). He's keeping me in the hunt.''
Drag racing legend John Force signs an autograph for a fan at Heartland Motorsports Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Force, who contracted polio as a child, continues to be very respectful and wary of the dangers of COVID-19.
"We've got to get through this COVID,'' Force said. "I tell the fans out there, 'We love you and the racetrack wants to entertain you, that's why they let you in here, and the NHRA wants you here, but we've got to social distance.' We can get pictures and all that stuff, but we've all got to be careful and protect each other.
"I saw the documentary on polio and I didn't realize the lines of people and the children that were put in to be vaccinated for polio. It's just like COVID. I thought (polio) started in '49, '50 when I got it and Salt came out with the vaccine, but it was around in '42. So it's like, this ain't nothing new in the world, and this ain't our world anyway, it belongs to God. We're just hanging out. The way I look at is we better learn to live with it wherever it goes.''
But Force is thrilled to see life, and racing, inching back to normalcy.
"There's more strains coming, but we've got to move on,'' Force said. "We just can't quit living. We've got to learn to live with it and racing has to learn to live with it. In time we'll be able to handle it, we'll get through it, but right now we've got to race, we've got to social distance and we've got to entertain these people that need to be entertained.''
For his part, Force has no intention of stepping away from the sport he loves any time soon.
"I tell people, 'If you're old like me get off the couch, get up and go to work and enjoy life,'' Force said. "Austin Coil (former crew chief) said to me once, 'Don't let the old man in,' and I ain't letting the old man in. I thought Coil said it, but it was really Clint Eastword that said it and he's 91 and he still hasn't let him in.
"People have said to me, "I've never seen you so happy.' I get to drive my racecar. I get to go racing. When I'm not competitive is when I'll quit, but I can still drive the heck out of them racecars. I always said I could drive blindfolded and if my vision gets any worse I will be driving blind-folded, but I still love what I do. Getting in that car is what makes me tick.'
