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John Force
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Force (born May 4, 1949 in Bell Gardens, California) is an NHRA drag racer and 14-time Funny Car champion. He is one of the most dominant drag racers in the sport with 122 career victories. He graduated from Bell Gardens High School and briefly attended Cerritos Junior college to play football.
Force currently holds the records for qualifying in most consecutive events (395) and most Funny Car championships (14). His daughter Ashley Force also competes in the Funny Car class of the NHRA. John Force is the driver and public face of the team which is led by Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. Force is known for also being outspoken and a fast talker.
Since mid-1997, Force has been a Ford driver and team owner.
Since 2000, Force has been sponsored by BP, which purchased his longtime sponsor Burmah Castrol, which has sponsored him since 1986.
The Force Racing dynasty has dominated the sport of fuel funny car racing. In a fifteen-year span from 1990 until 2004, John Force Racing won 14 of the 15 championships, losing only to Cruz Pedregon driving the McDonald's sponsored car for Larry Minor Racing in 1992. The dynasty includes a championship by Tony Pedregon in 2004, driving Force's Castrol Syntec Mustang. Tony left to join his brother Cruz at Pedregon Racing in 2005.
In 2005 however, John Force was edged out by a mere 32 points by Schumacher Racing's Gary Scelzi who won the NHRA 2005 Funny Car World Championship. He also came in behind Schumacher Racing's Ron Capps by only 24 points
In 2006, John Force won his 14th NHRA World Funny Car Championship, defeating Ron Capps in the quarter-finals of the Automobile club of Southern California NHRA Finals which mathematically eliminated Ron Capps and teammate Robert Hight from the championship. Force went on to win the event, his third of the season and 121st of his career.
Current drivers racing under him are son-in-law Robert Hight and newest member, daughter Ashley Force. Eric Medlen, the teams fourth driver, died March 23, 2007 after a testing accident in Gainesville, FL.
On December 19, 2006, John was on Overhaulin'.
On the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000, John Force was ranked No. 2, behind Don Garlits.
In 2006 Force won his 14th Funny Car Championship
March 29th, 2007 Mike Clifton discovered who John Force was.
John is featured on A&E's reality show Driving Force with three of his daughters (Ashley, Courtney, and Brittany) who are drag racers. His oldest daughter, Adria Hight, has managed the finances for John Force Racing since she was 20 years old.