The 24th annual Ford Performance NHRA Nationals were always going to be special. After all, the race is held right around Halloween just north of Las Vegas, always a good excuse to dress up and have fun – as many Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle teams have a tendency to do – and the SEMA show is scheduled directly after the race, the penultimate, of 20 contests on NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series 2024 tour.
This race normally attracts added competitors, being so close to the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association) annual celebration of all things vehicular. At this writing, more than 40 nitro-powered cars in Top Fuel and Funny Car have paid entry fees with the intent to race on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the weekend of October 31 through November 3rd.
Yet as much as everyone is looking forward to seeing who’s going to win on the track and which cars will be primed to earn championships once the tour alights to Pomona for the series’ 2024 finale on the In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip, all eyes will be on John Force Racing and the namesake owner of the team, who returns to the track after suffering a debilitating Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) this June while racing in Richmond, VA.
At the time Force was injured, he held second place in Funny Car competition with two victories that brought his cumulative total to 157, trailing only teammate and now-seven-time 2024 winner Austin Prock, who has been substituting for medically-excused team president Robert Hight since competition began in earnest at the Gatornationals last March. NHRA allows a substitute to earn points for an injured driver in eight races only, so the team hired 2012 NHRA Funny Car champ Jack Beckman to complete the season and, perhaps, gain that elusive 17th title for Force.
Jack Beckman currently holds second-place points in Funny Car for Force, with a single win as the battle for a title exists primarily between Prock and Force/Beckman, with four-time and reigning champ Matt Hagan trying to ruin John Force Racing’s party. He might do that on the track, but he won’t be able to quell the joy the entire community experiences just by seeing Force again. This occasion will remind many of 2007, when Force returned to the series as a visitor Las Vegas after suffering injuries at Texas Motoplex racing against another NHRA legend, Kenny Bernstein.
Las Vegas is close enough to Force’s Yorba Linda, CA home that he and wife Laurie are able to drive over. “I want to show my support for our race teams the fans and all our sponsors,” he said in making the announcement of his return to the community. “They stuck with me during a hard time, and I want them to know that I haven’t forgotten them and I haven’t gone anywhere. I’ve just been doing my rehab, trying to stay strong.”
Force acknowledged his physicians have been treating both his physical injuries, the TBI and the successive effects of many incidents and violent crashes that have been part of his 50-year career. The 75-year-old, a member of every major auto racing Hall of Fame recognizes, “I’m still a work in progress. I have good days and bad days, but I”m motivated. Beckman’s been doing a good job working with [crew chiefs] Dan Hood, (Chris) Cunningham and (Tim) Fabrisi,” Force explained. “He tells me it’s still my car, but he’s driving it like it’s his! It’s been exciting to watch him and (Austin) Prock on FOX, but watching on TV is not the same as being there.
“I want to be there for [daughter] Brittany and that team with (David) Grubnic and John Collins. They’re gonna win a race with Monster and HendickCars.com and Chevrolet, and I want to be there when they do. I really can’t wait to see all my guys,” Force continued. “I love them and I’ve missed them and can’t wait to be with them again!”
Force is not the only racer making a return to the track next weekend in Sin City. Second-generation driver and team owning Top Fuel racer Travis Shumake, who holds competition licenses in four NHRA categories, is making his fourth competitive appearance this season in Las Vegas. The son of legend Tripp Shumake was recently selected as an honoree on the 30th annual Out100 list, the world’s leading LGBTQ+ publication that celebrates those individuals influencing LGBTQ+ activities across entertainment, politics, sports and activism.
Shumake joins trailblazers actor Cynthia Erivo, the Out100 cover star and Icon of the Year, SNL’s Bowen Yang, fellow actors Jodi Foster and Alan Cummings, together with Olympians Tom Daley and Laurie Hernandez. He’ll be recognized at the Out100 event on December 11, 2024, being held at NeueHouse Hollywood in Los Angeles.
Once action is complete on the racetrack, the focus of most racers goes to the SEMA show in the heart of Las Vegas. Three-time Top Fuel champion and current second-place racer Antron Brown has agreed to host the 2024 SEMA Prayer Breakfast, scheduled for Wednesday, November 6th at the Convention Center venue. Now in its third year, the SEMA Show Prayer Breakfast takes place at 7-8:30am in Ballroom A at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, adjacent to the Convention Center.
Brown, a 79-time NHRA winner in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle, always credits his faith and gives glory to God when winning a race, intends to share his journey of conviction when he joins Barry Meguiar as co-hosts of the breakfast. “The glory truly does always go to God,” Brown acknowledged. “I was humbled when SEMA and PRI leadership asked if I would be willing to speak at the Prayer Breakfast and immediately said ‘yes.’
“While people think,” when they see Brown with the RFC (Racers for Chest) team before a pass, “it’s a prayer for success and to win or go low E.T. (elapsed time). It’s not. It’s a prayer for safety. For myself, all the competitors and fans at the tack. Safety is truly what’s most important at the race track, and my faith and belief in God keeps me grounded in that fact.”
Sending my continued prayers for John Force, and so happy to hear of his progress.
And God Bless Antron Brown and his team for spreading the word, and keeping God in the sport.
It will be great to see John Force back at the track doing what he loves. When I saw the video he made, I really didn’t expect him to be talking this well, because NHRA doesn’t keep the fans informed of incidents like this at all. I know he won’t be driving but just for him to be there means a lot.
Praying for John Force’s recovery and a Trump win for the good of the world.