John Force thinks team can add to title count despite recent setbacks
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series rolls into North Carolina this weekend for the 2016 NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte.
The Fall race at Charlotte, which uses just two lanes of the drag strip as opposed to all four in the Spring, marks the start of the 2016 Countdown to the Championship, with the top 10 in each class being bunched back up together in points ahead of the final six rounds.
For John Force Racing, which has never gone more than two years without a championship, they will have three Funny Car drivers and one Top Fuel driver looking to build to the team's tally of 18 titles.
However, John Force, a 16-time champion himself, is all too aware that it won't be easy.
"The competition's the toughest I've ever seen," Force said in an exclusive interview with FOX Sports. "They're running right there together, it's all a matter of cutting the light. I'm running up against these young kids, got all the energy and no fear, but it's what I do and it's what I love to do, so bring it on."
To add to the challenge, John Force Racing has had two car bodies wrecked in the last three races, with both Courtney Force and Robert Hight being involved in separate incidents.
For Courtney, her crash came during a first-round elimination race against Jeff Diehl in Seattle.
"It was a driver error on my part by trying a little bit too hard and pedaling the car a few times," Courtney reflects. "It wasn't hooking up right and then it went into the wall.
"It definitely put a lot more work on our team. We had to build a whole new chassis and I actually had to use my dad's backup body.
"Luckily, we had a weekend off in between, which I think was huge. That gave us a little more time to regroup and get ready and really have everything prepared to go into Brainerd and then the U.S. Nationals."
"I don't believe it set us back," stated Hight, reflecting on when his Funny Car exploded during a qualifying run in Indianapolis. "We have good funding from our sponsors, we do pretty much everything in-house ourselves so we've got a lot of back-ups and spares so we're ready for this stuff.
"The only thing is the new Chevrolet body. We don't have a lot of those, so if we have any incidents here in the Countdown... we might have to run the old bodies or something that's heavier. After I had my explosion at Indy I had to drive the first body, which was one John crashed, and that thing was a tank but we still ran alright with it."
However, Hight will want to make sure he steps off on the right foot this weekend, as he sits sixth place in the points, 70 points back of Funny Car point leader Ron Capps. Courtney Force sits 50 points back of Capps in fourth, while John is 90 points back in eighth.
"The top 10 are very, very good cars," explains Hight. "You can't expect those top guys to have many bad weekends. This is a must weekend to at least come out of here the same. You know, you don't want to go backward, and hopefully you can gain points on the leader.
"It looks like the conditions are going to be hot and I think that favors the John Force Racing team so I'm excited, I can't wait to get out there and get going."
John Force echoes he's teammates sentiments, pointing out that Courtney and Robert have still been able to taste success in their new cars, while Brittany Force has had a virtually flawless season in Top Fuel.
"She crashed," John stated, reflecting on Courtney's misfortune in Seattle. "But they came out with a brand-new car, a lot of times cars have personalities, but it went right down the racetrack just like it always did.
"We build the cars alike and she's right back where she started. Robert exploded the body and they brought out a brand new car, didn't win the race, but they got to the final against Courtney in the TRAXXAS Shootout - and she won.
"Brittany, knock on wood, no crashes, she's got a great team behind her and we'll see where that goes. But crashing's part of the game. Right now I don't think it's going to hurt us but we still have a lot of work to do. Competition's really tough to beat, and we've got a lot of work."
Whether that work has paid off or not will be revealed this weekend at zMAX Dragway. If things don't go as planned, the team will have five more rounds to recover with the season concluding on Nov. 13 with the Auto Club NHRA Finals.
Coverage of the NHRA Carolina Nationals final eliminations begins at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1.
