When Did John Force Start Racing Funny Cars
The Beginning
John Force was so bad in the early years that Larry Sutton, the official starter at Irwindale Raceway, once banned him from the track as a safety risk to both himself and everyone else. Force's less than stellar reputation was prevalent among the established Funny Car racers of the late 1970s and early 1980s. For nine long seasons he didn't win an NHRA event. Starting his racing career with a less than stellar reputation as a serious competitor, who could have imagined that Force would become the most prolific winning driver in NHRA history?
1975
First Win
1987
One of the major keys to Force's turn around was the addition of championship crew chief Austin Coil in the mid-80's. Force's first win came on June 28, 1987 at the expense of Hall of Fame driver Ed "Ace" McCulloch and his crew chief Bernie Fedderly, ironically Fedderly would go on to become a Hall of Fame tuner with JFR in future seasons. Force had raced to nine previous finals before breaking through in Montreal.
First Championship
In a breakout season Force raced to seven final rounds winning them all on the way to his first world championship. He was the No. 1 qualifier ten times and finished this season with an amazing 45-12 record. Force backed up his 1990 success with another championship in 1991.
1990
Domination
1993-2002
After a season filled with fires and crashes in 1992, John Force came back to win 10 straight NHRA titles and beyond, dominating like no other driver or athlete in history. JFR became the first multi-car team with a lineup of talented young drivers throughout the years including Force's daughters who followed in his footsteps. They were featured on their own reality show, Driving Force on A&E, and their fanbase grew as fans, sponsors and the media loved the family dynamic of the team.
Tragedy
After the tragic loss of teammate Eric Medlen in a testing accident in March 2007, JFR created The Eric Medlen Project to focus on safety. Six months later John had a horrific crash in Dallas when his car came apart at over 300 mph. He survived with major trauma to his extremities but no head injuries thanks to cockpit modifications after Medlen's crash. After spending a month at Baylor Hospital he came home to continue off-season daily physical therapy . He returned to the seat 137 days after his crash to compete in the 2008 season.
2007
A Change For JFR
Following the 2007 season JFR focused on safety as well as performance. This dual focus did not slow the team down as Robert Hight won the 2009 Funny Car championship with the only worst to first finish in the history of the Countdown. The following season John Force won his historic and emotional 15th championship with an unprecedented final day of the season charge overcoming the largest final day point deficit to win a championship. He took his 16th championship three seasons later clinching the win with a victory over daughter Courtney Force in the final round of the second Las Vegas national event.
The Future
In 2017 John Force Racing rewrote their own record books winning both the Top Fuel and Funny Car championships in the same season. Brittany Force broke through for the first JFR Top Fuel championship and Robert Hight took home his second Funny Car title. Both drivers dominated in the Countdown. All four drivers finished the season strong and the future has never been brighter for the winningest team in motorsports history.
Source: https://www.johnforceracing.com/history/
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