John Force’s bright blue PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS will be back in action well before its legendary driver is able to climb into the office he’s used to gain 16 championships and 157 Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series Funny Car national event wins, his John Force Racing team announced.
While Force recovers from the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) sustained in a June 23 crash at Virginia Motorsports Park outside Richmond, VA, his car is being prepped to return to competition before the start of NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship that follows the 70th annual U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Force had intended to compete in the 47th annual Cornwell ToolsNight Under Fire on Summit Motorsports Park’s dragstrip the first weekend of August, where he was scheduled to race against seminal Funny Car rivals Ron Capps, a three time champion, two-time titleholder Cruz Pedregon and journeyman Dale Creasy Jr. That contest in Norwalk, Ohio is the tentative target for the car’s return. The Night Under Fire show includes Top Fuel dragsters, Funny Car floppers, jet-powered cars and the Norwalk track’s world-class fireworks shows.
“After conversations with John’s team and with our partners, especially Brian Bohlander at PEAK and Jim Campbell at Chevrolet,” said Robert Hight, John Force Racing president, “and with John’s input and approval, we have begun taking the steps necessary to get the PEAK Chevy back on the racetrack.”
A three-time NHRA Funny Car champion and two-time Seattle winner, Hight has been sidelined this year by health issues. His seat in the Cornwell Tools Chevy Camaro SS has been capably filled by third-generation racer Austin Prock, who currently leads the category standings and is attempting, this weekend in Seattle, to become the third driver to win the Northwest NHRA Nationals titles in both Top Fuel, where he recorded his first professional victory, and in Funny Car.
Hight noted, “We hope to tie up all the loose ends and introduce a driver sometime right after Sonoma,” next week’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals July 26-28. “There is a good pool of driving talent out there but, obviously we need to find the right fit for both the team and for our sponsors.” While the team initially said Force was being transferred from Virginia to California, today’s announcement said the nine-time Pacific Raceways Funny Car victor is being treated at an Arizona facility specializing in TBI recoveries.
This weekend’s 35th Northwest NHRA Nationals features four qualifying sessions – including the first ever Friday night qualifying session at Pacific Raceways, the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge for all four Mission Foods classes – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle – and full television coverage on both FOX Sports 1 (FS!) delivering Friday and Saturday qualifying, as well as FOX’s free-to-air broadcast channel, which airs final eliminations, starting at 4PM ET. Those Sunday eliminations are scheduled to start at 10:30AM PDT.
That would be great to have John’s car back to help secure his points.
Time for Kohn to retire while he can! He doe have anything more to prove and we want him to keep the company going! Thanks John!
Time to get Tj or Jack back out there
We’re keeping John in our thoughts and Prayers for a full recovery. The road to recovery from this type of traumatic Injury simply can’t be rushed, in this case a full recovery over time is much better than a quick recovery that may not be complete…