John Force Announces Retirement

There will never be another John Force. The legendary NHRA Funny Car driver, who owns 16 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series championships, 157 race wins, 166 No. 1 qualifiers and 1,460 round victories in eliminations more than 50 years has made it official: 17 months after his devastating crash on the Virginia Motorsports Park dragstrip outside Richmond, Virginia, he’s hanging up his helmet for good.

Force had been talking about his impending retirement even before last year’s horrific accident during eliminations in Virginia. When he tied Ed “Ace” McCulloch for five wins in the most prestigious race of each season, the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals in 2019, Force first publicly discussed the fact that his career wasn’t going to last forever. At that time, he said he’d know, and yesterday, November 13th, he made it official.

Force made his first appearance after the crash, from which he’s still recovering physically, at the Las Vegas race last fall; he’s come to most of the events since that time to render support for his John Force Racing team that includes retiring Brittany Force, a two-time Top Fuel champion, reigning Funny Car champion Austin Prock, attempting a second consecutive title this weekend during the 60th annual In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals on the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, and 2012 Funny Car champion Jack Beckman, who assumed Force’s seat in the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet SS at Brainerd last August. 

“I really love NHRA,” Force said in making his announcement, “but I am officially done with driving. I’ve said, so many times, ‘Until this race car kills me, they’re gonna have to drag me out of the seat.’ but the truth is,” he recognized, “I was dragged out of the seat at Richmond and they thought it killed me then. So I’m lucky that I’m back walking. They always say, ‘never say never,’ but I have grandchildren with Courtney and Graham, with Ashley and Danny, and now Brittany’s retired because she wants to have children.

“It’s time for me to retire. I had medical stuff that I had to address, and ‘do I want to get back in the car and get hit on the head’, and I don’t. So I guess it’s official,” Force conceded, “I’m done. I won’t say I won’t ever get in a car to warm it up or maybe even make a burnout. Don’t know. I guess it’ll be the response from the fans. If they cheer loud enough, I’ll hear ya.”

John Force Racing, the 23-time championship-winning organization he founded in Yorba Linda, site of his retirement announcement, and which currently operates in Brownsburg, IN will continue to enjoy Force’s expertise. Still, 2026 marks – not only NHRA’s 75th anniversary season – but the first time since the early 1970s that there won’t be a driver with the surname Force in NHRA nitro competition. It won’t be the same.