Posted on by

John Force Finally Lifts Off the Loud Pedal

For a man who built an entire career on outrunning the Grim Reaper in a 330-mph fiberglass grenade, John Force never seemed like the retiring type. He’s been the NHRA’s cowboy, court jester, and conquering general for over four decades—barreling down dragstrips in a blaze of nitro, noise, and elbows-out bravado. Sixteen Funny Car titles, more wins than the statisticians can fit into a single spreadsheet, and enough concussions and bruises to qualify as a one-man medical study.

And now, at 75, he’s finally stepping out of the fire suit for good.

“The winningest driver in NHRA Funny Car history” is how the press releases always begin. But for fans—especially those of us who grew up watching him defy physics and common sense—he was simply Force. A name that fit so perfectly it might as well have been trademarked.

Force announced Thursday that he was officially done. Not a pause. Not a hiatus. Done. And while he was steady at the microphone, the truth behind it was blunt, human, and far more fragile than the indestructible persona we’d all memorized.

“It’s been over a year but I’ve been under doctors’ care and I still am so if I say anything wrong, please excuse me,” he said. “But it’s time for me to retire. It all made sense to me even though I knew I had medical stuff that I had to address, that, ‘do I want to get back in the car and get hit in the head?’ And I don’t.”

That’s the sentence that hits hardest, especially for someone like me—63 and suddenly feeling like I’m not far behind him in life’s rearview mirror. The older you get, the more you understand that the body has a vote, and it’s usually the deciding one.

Force hasn’t raced since June 2024, when a fiery, violent crash at the Virginia Nationals left him with a traumatic brain injury. It began with an engine explosion after a first-round win and ended with his Funny Car pirouetting into the outside wall multiple times. The aftermath was grim. His own team later revealed that Force didn’t respond to commands for four days and didn’t open his eyes until the fifth.

“The biggest challenge has been managing his extreme agitation and confusion, which causes him significant distress,” the team said at the time. “He has repeatedly tried to get out of bed and has been restrained; his doctors have humorously described him as a raging bull.”

If you’ve followed Force for even five minutes, “raging bull” checks out. This is the same man who once said he’d stay in the car until it killed him—and, in true Force fashion, he still meant it even as he walked that statement back. But in the end the car nearly did kill him.

“It was time for me with Brittany stepping out of the seat and I don’t want to get hurt,” he said. “I’ve said it many times, I’m going to stay in the car until my race car gets me and I always meant that.”

That mention of Brittany carries weight. All three of his daughters raced in the NHRA, with Ashley and Courtney in Funny Cars and Brittany in Top Fuel. Their triumphs and heartbreaks have been inseparable from their father’s mythology. Now Brittany is in her final year too, stepping out as she and her husband start a family. It’s the end of an era with a capital E.

Force’s legacy doesn’t end with his retirement—far from it. John Force Racing will continue on, fielding cars in both Funny Car and Top Fuel. Jack Beckman has been filling in for Force, and Austin Prock, the 2024 champion, is carrying the torch up front.

But it’s impossible to ignore what’s leaving with him. The sport is packed with talent, yet nobody—not one person—can fill a microphone, a pit lane, or a grandstand the way Force could. He was a carnival barker with a supercharger, a philosopher in flames, and a man who turned near-death experiences into punchlines.

His first title came in 1990. Then he won 12 more over the next 14 years. His last was in 2013, though he was second in points when the crash happened last year. And let’s not forget—this is a man who once returned from a broken wrist, a dislocated ankle, and the emotional devastation of losing teammate Eric Medlen. He didn’t just survive the sport. He dragged the sport, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the spotlight.

Now he steps away. Not with a bang, but with the honesty of a man who’s finally listened to what his body has been trying to tell him for years.

The nitro will still burn. The Funny Cars will still thunder. But a voice, a presence, a force—the Force—won’t be climbing back in.

And for those of us feeling our own age more than we’d like, it’s a reminder that even legends eventually lift off the loud pedal.

Greg Engle
Latest posts by Greg Engle (see all)

Comments

comments

,