NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

John Force has won the first two races of the Western Swing, in Denver and Sonoma, and now heads to Seattle and the Protect the Harvest NHRA Northwest Nationals presented by Lucas Oil looking for a rare sweep of the three-race series.

 

Force has one Western Swing sweep in his career, in 1994, and would be the first driver in NHRA history to have swept all three races twice. No driver has performed the sweep since Antron Brown (Top Fuel) in 2009. Other drivers to sweep all three events are Joe Amato (Top Fuel) 1991, Cory McClenathan (Top Fuel) 1997, Larry Dixon (Top Fuel) 2003, Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) 2004, and Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) 2008.

 

“Do I want to get the Swing? Without a doubt,” he said. “I can’t make a call on the Swing. I’m going in with three Funny Cars, and if any of us get a win, the win is what is crucial. I talked with [former crew chief] Austin Coil this morning, and he was congratulating me. Said I drove like I drove 20 years ago when we started beating them and when we were first winning.”

 

Force’s recent hot streak comes after a brief but intense training session focused on getting him better acclimated with the different view from inside his new Chevy Camaro SS body. Force had trouble adjusting to the new design and couldn't find familiar reference points while driving.

 

“I’m so bullheaded when I drive,” he admitted. “I was hurting myself there for a while. I wasn’t believing it was me not lining up straight. I said I don’t care if it’s crooked, I will drive out of it. When the car washes out, I will fix it. Nobody tells me. Lanny [Miglizzi, track specialist] he came to me and said [crew chiefs Mike] Neff and [Jon] Schaffer were right and asked if I could look at the track marks on the ground and said you used to be a machine and now you are a little screwed up here. Boy, it opened my eyes.

 

“I said we are going straight to Indy, get the racetrack, and we are going to get a sight. Kelly Antonelli and Guido Antonelli know I always wear a St. Christopher medal, and I used to have them on my car, painted on the side. They put a big St. Christopher medal, they had the machine shop at Indy build a thing to hold it and put it right out there. Now I have a sight to line ‘em up.”

 

Pacific Raceways in Seattle has been a good facility for Force; he has scored eight wins there in his career, most recently in 2014.

 

It's been a long time since John Force swept the Western Swing in 1994, but the faces are familiar, including wife Laurie and daughters Brittany and Ashley.

“I like Seattle, good air, good racetrack,” he said. “The fans are great; let’s see if we can go give them a show. That is what we are trying to do. I want to win championships.”

 

But even as good as he is running now, Force knows it won’t be easy to complete the sweep, especially in the tightly-grouped Funny Car class, where he is the only driver to accomplish the feat.

 

“It doesn’t matter how good you are, how much you are out running the pack,” he assessed. “I am not outrunning the pack, I am running with it. The Worshams are right there, all of the Schumacher team. My daughter Courtney is outrunning me every week just like Robert Hight. It is the toughest Funny Car pack I have ever seen. To win the Swing a lot comes into play. The pressure comes in from the media and the fans. Then you can’t let your mindset change. You have to be able to run with the pack. Keep your mindset right, and you need destiny.”