Nitro Dogs Racing

Force still on the comeback trail after missing out on 2008 championship

“When I got hurt, I told my girls, ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, feel sorry for those other guys out there because when I get well, I’m gonna spank them,’ and I still plan to,” says John Force.

Last year, John Force staged a pretty significant comeback, recovering from the devastating March loss of his young protégé, Eric Medlen, and a slow on-track start to make the Countdown to 1, but his playoff run was over with a near-career-ending crash in

Dallas. This season’s comeback was no less amazing when the 14-time NHRA Funny Car world champ defied medical odds and clambered back behind the wheel of his Castrol GTX Mustang for another shot at redemption.

Although Force again made the Countdown to 1 playoffs, the car was not all he had hoped it would be, and he even criticized his own driving. Team driver Robert Hight came within a few rounds of winning the championship, and Force finished seventh for the second straight year, which does nothing but inspire them for 2009.

“Our expectations are always to win a championship, but at the end of the day, we didn’t, but it wasn’t for lack of trying,” said Force, who was on his way Monday to Indianapolis to check out the team’s ever-expanding new base of operations before heading to Charlotte to accept  the Society of Automotive Engineers’ 2008 MSEC Motorsports Achievement Award Wednesday. “Robert didn’t get the title, so all he wants to do is work harder. He didn’t even want to take a vacation. He’s just working every day to figure out how to make himself better. Me, I don’t have any life but working. I’m still in the gym every day to keep myself where I want to be. I got my body weight and my strength back where I want them, and I just need to polish the edges.”

In addition to running his car and watching over champ contender Robert Hight’s Mustang, Force also concentrated on teaching daughter Ashley (above) and rookie Mike Neff (below) the Funny Car ropes.

Despite again being among the class’ elite finishers, the season wasn’t a good one by Force’s standards. Although he finished with a plus-.500 record on race day (23-19), he failed to qualify at four events, including the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals for the second straight season.“I really expected more out of me and my race car,” he admitted. “I’m not happy with the way it ran or the way I drove. Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly need to keep working on the car because it’s not the car we used to have years ago, but we’ve addressed it.”

There were highlights, though. Force, who suffered a compound fracture of his left ankle, tendon and ligament damage in his right knee, badly mangled fingers on his right hand and toes on his right foot, and a badly dislocated left wrist in the Dallas crash in September 2007, not only made it to preseason testing in January in Phoenix as promised but also reached the semifinals at his first event back, the NHRA Winternationals, in front of a partial and very vocal hometown Pomona crowd.

Force reached the final round in just his sixth race, in

Atlanta, where he lost to his daughter, Ashley, who earned her first Professional win and denied him his milestone 1,000th round-win in what was his 500th start. Three races later, Force went the distance in

Topeka to earn his 126th win.

Force got all four of his Mustangs – his, Hight’s, Ashley’s, and rookie Mike Neff’s – into the Countdown to 1, hogging four of the 10 spots, and was proud of the strides that all of his drivers made … except by himself, of course.

“Getting Ashley and Mike Neff in the running put us all on a bit of overload, but I’m not making excuses,” he said. “Personally, I wasn’t what I wanted to be. I feel like I got back on my game by the time the Countdown came around, but I just couldn’t deliver. But, considering what we’ve all been through with losing Eric and my crash, I’m excited to put it behind me.”

His family and, of course, his fans were his biggest motivators.

(Above) As always, the fan support was there for Force when he needed it most, but the former champ also showed much love for future son-in-law Danny Hood (below), who will wed Ashley Dec. 13 in Nevada.

“In my whole career, from the day I started and nobody knew me, I always found a few fans who cared because I took the time to talk with them as I was coming up through the ranks,” he said. “Even as we evolved and the team grew, it’s still all about taking care of the fans. The support I got from the fans during my ordeal was incredible. We’re still answering fan mail. “The fans have been supportive of Ashley with her ups and downs. It’s not just driving these cars. Hell, in the big picture, driving is the easy part. I think in four months, she didn’t spend but two nights in her house.”

Force also is trying his best not to think about Ashley’s upcoming wedding to Force Racing crewmember Danny Hood Dec. 13 in

Incline Village, Nev.

“After we lost Eric, we all realized how short life can be, and I think it was important to Ashley to get married,” he acknowledged. “I understand that, and I know there’s probably going to be a baby coming in her future somewhere down the line. Men, all we want to do is just race.”

To that end, Force revealed that Old Spice, which sponsored Neff’s car last year, will not return for 2009 but that the car and 2008’s rookie of the year will be back on the track no matter what as JFR tries to reclaim the championship owned this year by Cruz Pedregon.

“The number four car will be back,” he guaranteed. “I have some sponsorship on it from Ford and BrandSource and Auto Club, and I’ll put in my personal money to keep that car out there while we look for a major.

“I want to congratulate Cruz and Rahn Tolber,” he added. “They got on a roll and won the last three races, kind of like what he did to me in ‘92. Ol’ ‘Cruzer’ is back, but don’t count me out. When I got hurt, I told my girls, ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, feel sorry for those other guys out there because when I get well, I’m gonna spank them,’ and I still plan to.

“I’ve got no complaints about life. I’ve won a lot of championships, but at the end of the day, I want to win more.”