{"id":8705,"date":"2014-10-29T18:07:14","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T01:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=8705"},"modified":"2014-10-29T18:08:02","modified_gmt":"2014-10-30T01:08:02","slug":"force-family-funny-car-championship-clash-continues-in-las-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/force-family-funny-car-championship-clash-continues-in-las-vegas\/","title":{"rendered":"Force Family Funny Car Championship Clash Continues in Las Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JForce<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos:<\/strong> Courtesy of NHRA<\/p>\n

Just when you think the NHRA Countdown to the Championship couldn\u2019t get any more complicated, the next few weeks are poised to offer another NHRA first.<\/p>\n

John Force\u2019s split with longtime crew chief, Jimmy Prock, is sure to shake things up and he’ll need to approach this week\u2019s Toyota Nationals with a rejuvenated attitude for his Castrol team. \u00a0He\u2019s battling Funny Car points leader, Matt Hagan for first, but \u00a0right in his rear view mirror is daughter, Courtney, 36 points in arrears of \u00a0her dad and 72 away from Hagan.\u00a0 It marks the first time a father-daughter rivalry is coloring the championship.<\/p>\n

The roller-coaster of emotion is evident for both Funny Car Forces, a conflict of sentiments that must be held in check to focus on the fight for the championship.\u00a0 For John, doing his job and representing his sponsors has always been key and his focus is legendary. The goal is always simple – beat the person in the next lane. \u00a0But it’s a little harder when you’re also a proud Papa.<\/p>\n

\"14NorwalkJohnForceCelebrates<\/a><\/p>\n

“Hagan is going for another championship, but so am I,\u201d said the 16-time champion. \u201cI am trying to get some sponsors and they want to go with a winner. \u00a0The Funny Car championship is so important. \u00a0I am also battling my daughter Courtney and I can’t count out Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford. \u00a0We struggled in Reading but we have two races to catch up. \u00a0We came back in 2010 and got the championship on the last day. \u00a0I\u2019ve been there.<\/p>\n

“Battling your own child for a championship is hard for a couple reasons. \u00a0You want your kids to succeed, but I also have to win. \u00a0That is why we have all the sponsors on all our race cars. You still have the fire in your belly and I know Courtney has that fire. \u00a0She has a great attitude and I know she has a good race car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved sitting here and listening to her talk. \u00a0She’s just like her dad. \u00a0Brittany, my daughters Ashley, Adria, they’re all different. \u00a0But I see the fire in her. \u00a0She loves this sport… the way I do. \u00a0It’s what my life’s all about. \u00a0I never realized how much I wanted it and the fear of losing it. \u00a0I had the same fear when I laid in the hospital bed in Texas (in 2007 following a crash at the Texas Motorplex). \u00a0I laid there for five weeks. \u00a0They were telling me it was over.<\/p>\n

\"14StLouisCourtneyForceCelebrationPHOTO<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNobody tells me anything. \u00a0I’m really thick-headed like my dad. \u00a0I always believed that if you stand up and you fight and you’re honest, you do the best you can, with a little help from the good Lord, the people around you, you’ll be okay. \u00a0If you win, that’s great. \u00a0That’s the icing on the cake. \u00a0But if you lose, and you gave it everything you got, you still won. \u00a0That’s the way my daughter fights me. \u00a0Oh, she aggravates me sometimes when she tries to get in my head because I did all that smack talk back when I was her age. \u00a0I’ve grown out of it. \u00a0I just race. But to hear her, I see so much of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise for Courtney Force, \u00a0racing – and winning – is in her blood, literally.\u00a0 She\u2019s mathematically competitive in the Funny Car championship after having two wins.\u00a0 She also knows that the 72 point gap between her and Matt Hagan may seem insurmountable, but if she turns on four win lights in Las Vegas this Sunday, there’s a chance.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just her dad she has to beat. To win, she has to trailer Hagan, or rely on a teammate to beat him as soon as possible if she is going have any chance of getting her first championship.\u00a0 Going against her dad for such a monumental round of racing is worth 20 points in the championship. \u00a0It\u2019s her job, but although she adores her dad, it\u2019s not easy to forget that she\u2019s could be racing him on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cA little bit,\u201d Courtney said reflecting over the past weeks. \u00a0\u201cBut to me it just those two people that are my competition and I\u2019m just fighting to get around.\u00a0 Obviously, dad is on my team, but we\u2019re both going after that championship and only one person can get it.\u00a0 We both have to get around Matt Hagan first.\u00a0 He was able to get around us at the last race in Reading, Pennsylvania, and we\u2019re going to have to fight for it in Vegas and Pomona with two left.\u00a0 You know, I think there\u2019s a lot of people who have a shot at it right now.\u00a0 We\u2019re all very close in the points.\u00a0 Although if I\u2019m going against my dad, I want the championship for myself, for my team, and for my sponsors.\u00a0 It\u2019s just something I really gotta work hard to get to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JForce<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s just eight rounds to go and the Funny Car driver has her team pumped up for the challenge with Ron Douglas and Danny Hood calling the shots.\u00a0 Although, Hagan is her main concern, it\u2019s really her teammates that are the toughest to beat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I definitely think so,\u201d stated Force referring to her JFR team.\u00a0 \u201cThey have been some of the most consistent cars out here.\u00a0 So, it\u2019s tough trying to keep up with them most of the season.\u00a0 We got our car turned around in the Countdown and won two events and started to pass people.\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly what we needed, to get that momentum going. We lost some it in Reading, but we\u2019ve had good luck at both Vegas and Pomona before.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been to the finals in Vegas before and I\u2019ve done the same at Pomona, although it was the Winternationals, I\u2019ve done well at that track as well.\u00a0 We\u2019re keeping a positive thought process going into these last two events.\u00a0 Knowing we have good cars here before and just hoping that we can get around Matt Hagan in time and stay ahead of the guys that are right behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how would a win change things for the Traxxis Ford team?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would definitely be a high,\u201d said the smiling Force.\u00a0 \u201cIf we can get the win in Vegas, I mean that gives you that extra boost you need in the points to get the edge in the points over the other guy.\u00a0 It would make you feel that you have a car that can win the championship and it would just take you that much closer going into the Pomona race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad has experience on his side, though. Years of championships and rivalries have honed his strategies, and love for his kids isn’t going to encourage him to temper his talents or give in to pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you’re ahead in the points or you’re behind requires you to race with two different styles,\u201d said John. \u00a0\u201cWhen you’re in the lead, you have to be protective of the points. When you’re behind, you open up and it’s guns-a-blazing. \u00a0That’s how I’m going into Vegas. \u00a0I told \u00a0Courtney and Brittany, ‘You can’t look at those races or any round or qualifying or final any differently than you did opening day at Pomona. The race car doesn’t know the difference. \u00a0If you set the pace of where you’re going and do what you’ve always done, then your best potential will come out as a driver in the driver’s seat.’ \u00a0So, nope, I’m going to address Vegas and Pomona as any other race and I’ll see how the cards fall.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Force and daughter Courtney are only 36 points apart in the Countdown to the Championship, and the Las Vegas could change everything. Can either Force catch up to points leader Matt Hagan? And will their relationship effect their competitive spirits? Not a chance!<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,3399],"tags":[554,77,38,75,223],"class_list":["post-8705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-nhra","tag-2014-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-series","tag-courtney-force","tag-funny-car","tag-john-force","tag-las-vegas"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/JForce-CForce-Sun2_Lewis-1Feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-2gp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8705"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8713,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8705\/revisions\/8713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}