Force suffers a HUGE crash!

At 75 years old, the dude is a racing LEGEND. He's broken more records than there are records to break. He's one of the toughest guys in the sport of Drag Racing...and he's the most approachable an nicest guys you could ever meet! He has engaged his fans from early in his career, never turned away from an autograph or fan picture...just a really great professional sports figure.

On the 23rd of June, John Force's 8,000 horsepower top fuel funnycar blew the engine, explosively, at full-track and top speed (300 mph). He careened across the track (3) times, the 2nd time colliding with the far wall, crushing his entire car in a ball of flames. Just this impact alone was enough to kill most humans, but from there his car went back across the track in a ball of flaming wreckage and collided with the in-lane wall and then tumbled to a stop...on fire.

The simple fact that anyone could have even survived a crash like this is amazing, but the fact John Force (75), the legend of drag racing, was at the wheel is absolutely off the charts! And he survived!

Yes, Force remains in the ICU tonight following the crash, but they don't make guys like this very often...not even Gawd!

Take a look...



Heal well, John Force...the world needs more guys like you!

edit...all safety systems failed. No automatic chute deployment on engine failure...nothing. He hit that wall at 280+ mph. You just don't live through # like that!!

That was a wiiiild ride, he hit hard. 11k hp guzzling 8 GPM is no joke. Best wishes to him, he is a legend.

a reply to: KrustyKrab

For anyone who's ever heard one of these top fuelers light-off from the starting line...it sounds like an atomic weapon going off, and the shock wave (just at the start line) will make almost all but the experienced duck for cover. It sounds like an absolute bomb being detonated right next to your head. You can feel it inside your chest, and it disrupts your heartbeat it's so loud! The amount of power these machines have is just off the scale of measurable. Raw power beyond most people's comprehension.

I've met Force twice, and like I said he's a great guy. I was nobody special, but he makes all his fans seem special. He'll be out in the pits talking with fans as they rebuild the racecar in between heats (and they rebuild the ENTIRE engine, every time). These top fuel dragsters suck down more fuel than a 747 at maximum takeoff power and they do it in less than 600 feet (a 747 takes nearly a mile to do the same thing).

The facts about these cars are absolutely stunning. They'll blow most peoples minds. Just the concussion and shock wave of even starting one of these engines will make people pass out...and then there's the nitro methane. It's like this instantaneous cloud of tear gas which envelops the spectators.

In the pits, the teams used to do this thing called "burping" where, with the car up on jacks, they'd start the motor and hit the throttle 2-3 times. Most of the crews had tents over the tops of the cars, and just hitting the throttle for a brief second would lift the tent off the ground. It was a crowd favorite, and it was absolutely deafening up close; it would rip your eardrums out if unprotected. The amount of power these things have is just not even comprehensible until you go see one of these races in person.

On TV you see these crew guys walking around the cars when they're running near the start line like it's nothing. In person, even far away, the sound is so loud you have to plug your ears. Up close, it sounds like the Apocalypse...just at idle. When they hit the throttle 60% of the fans duck for cover; it's just shocking how intense these race cars are!

When the lights go green, and two of them light off down the track, it's like the end of the world. But they disappear in a flash. They accelerate so fast that when they're just a few yards down the track they're a blur. And in less than 3 seconds they've gone 1/4 mile and are doing 320 mph.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no faster human driven machine from a dead stop to top speed on this planet! There have been lots of races against some of the fastest fighter jets in the world, and while they will go faster in the long run, nothing can beat one of these drag cars to 300mph. Not even close!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Yes, they’re insane on anther level. The ground shaking is crazy too, no doubt you need to have ear protection.

I’ve been going to the strip since the early 70’s, we use to go to the Winter Nationals every year. Had the pleasure to meet a lot of the greats Garlits, Prudohme, Muldowney, Gene Snow, Glidden, Force, Amato, Bernstein, Kalitta,etc….. The one thing really cool about the NHRA is that the drivers are very accessible and super friendly. Still have many of the autographs I got as a kid. We always got pit passes, some of my greatest memories were getting to meet the drivers and check out the cars up close. I remember when Big Daddy would be wrenching away with his Crew Chief, just the two of them that I can remember, pulling a fairly small trailer. Nothing like it is now. All good times.

a reply to: KrustyKrab

It's funny to me how television change the perspective on NHRA drag racing. From the vantage point of the cameras you really don't get a true sense of how fast they're going, and obviously the sound is nothing like in person. Most people don't realize that much of what they see on television is all in slow motion just so you can see what's happening. The first time you ever go see one of these races it's just stunning to see just how fast the top fuel cars disappear down the track.

It's like some magic trick right in front of your eyes. One second the car is sitting there, and then in an explosion of fire and sound, the car just vanishes and you see the chutes open down the track at the timing line.

We were at Mile High Nationals once and I'd brought my then brother in law. He'd never been to an NHRA race before. We had pit passes (I always got them also) and had gone through the pits, but the way they stage the race most of the top fuel guys don't go until later in the day so their pits are pretty quiet initially. It's mostly all the pro-stock and alcohol guys working, smaller teams.

So we go in and start watching the races. I'd built him all up for the top fuel guys, so he was 'under'-impressed watching the alcohol guys. I kept telling him to just wait. Finally later they started rolling out the top fuel guys, and it's all quiet. Then they start one up, and you can hear them sitting there crackling and spitting fuel, and they roll up to the line for the burnout...and that's just a 'tap' on the throttle and they launch down the track a couple hundred feet, then back up.

Then they're sitting there at the line, lights on the tree going from red to yellow to green, and then the ear-splitting BOOM! and they're gone...just gone! The fury and sonic boom scared my BIL so bad he dove under the bleachers just like a spontaneous nervous system reaction! He came out from under the bleachers, mouth agape..."JEEZ-US KRIST!!! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT??? Is that what it's supposed to be like or did something explode and go wrong??? I had NO idea it was gonna' be like that!! Just NO...IDEA! That's F'ing...TERRIFYING!"

A bunch of people standing nearby started laughing. It was on that day I realized one of the other fun things to do at the big races is to watch the crowd when the top fuel cars first come out and look for 1st time spectators. The shocking differences between the top fuel cars and all the other drag cars is just funny as hell to see people's reaction. Everybody is all smiles and laughter right up until that point...and suddenly the whole race takes on this far more serious tone. Whoa! This is SERIOUS stuff here! You can see people's reactions, see it in their faces. Suddenly, the whole thing goes from some fun wildly painted cars just going fast...to instantly DEADLY SERIOUS, like...'Whoa! People could actually get killed doing this!! Holy Sh!t !!! You see that reaction every time!

At the one race we were at Doug Kalitta had a bye run, so he was running solo. He pulled up and did the burnout, but while he was backing up the throttle stuck open at about 30% in reverse! The car came screaming back into the staging area and hit the guardwall and flipped. Kalitta had presence of mind enough to turn the wheels so the car would do exactly that (and not come sailing back into the staging area and potentially injuring people or worse). When the car flipped on its side the throttle went to 100% for a few seconds and blew sh!t all over the place before shutting down. That was a first for me, I'd never seen anything like that before. It sure freaked my BIL out! Gave me a pretty good scare too when fuel pumps pumped out a giant pool of nitro out onto the ground in about 1 millisecond. Fortunately it didn't ignite, and they got everything cleaned up reasonably quickly. Screwed up Kalitta's day though.

Anyway...the big drag races where the nitromethane cars run is quite the spectacle, that's for sure! Everyone should go at least once in their lives.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That looks brutal.

Props to the fellow still racing at that age.

I wish him a speedy recovery.

Brave man 300mph into the wall.

Just passing along a medical update on John Force.

Although he appeared conscious immediately after the crash, it seems he went rapidly downhill after arriving at the hospital, basically dropping into a comatose state for several days due to a significant TBI. He is on the mend now, and is apparently now responding to commands and people, but still has a ways to go.

My best wishes are with Force and family.

John Force faces 'long and difficult recovery'

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Sounds like he’s moving in a positive direction which is good to hear. That was one brutal crash.

Speaking of Bandimere, I thought it very strange they closed it, that was a great facility, sad to not see it on the schedule anymore. We used to go to the Mile High Nationals also. I lived in CO for 20+ years, Denver for about 4 years and Western Slope another 20 years. Loved going to Bandimere, we used to race the kart track there a couple of times a year when daughters and I were racing, lots of fond memories at Bandemere. Except the night I was up until 3:30 in the morning rebuilding two motors that decided to let go that night at practice, lol. All good times there though.

a reply to: KrustyKrab

The liberal Colorado enviro-crazies were part of the reason, and the surrounding community encroaching on Bandimere was the other (too much noise). Plus, the owners probably made astronomical sums on the sale of the real estate. All the homes in the surrounding community are all $1m+ homes.

a reply to: KrustyKrab

And, yeah I agree, Bandimere was an awesome place to go for the races. I'm sure they'll likely build something out on the plains now to replace it, but there will never be another Bandimere. The way the sound bounced off the mountainside to the west just made that place rock. Bandimere will be sorely missed by me.

BTW...I used to race Karts when I was younger too! I ran mostly Sprint Karts. That was a blast! Had a couple pretty nicely decked out Margay Kart with Italian Parilla engines. Switched to Mcculloch when parts started getting hard to find.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: KrustyKrab

And, yeah I agree, Bandimere was an awesome place to go for the races. I'm sure they'll likely build something out on the plains now to replace it, but there will never be another Bandimere. The way the sound bounced off the mountainside to the west just made that place rock. Bandimere will be sorely missed by me.

BTW...I used to race Karts when I was younger too! I ran mostly Sprint Karts. That was a blast! Had a couple pretty nicely decked out Margay Kart with Italian Parilla engines. Switched to Mcculloch when parts started getting hard to find.

Oh yeah… nothing like the sound bouncing off the mountain it’s snug up to, it’s also in somewhat of a valley. Yep, going to miss it. It was always a challenge making HP at that altitude.

How funny, I raced as a kid also. I too had a Margay with a Mcculloch 49E before moving to a MC91B. I can still smell the Klotz 2 stroke oil we used in those motors. As a adult I raced 125 shifter karts, crazy fast compared to the old karts.

a reply to: KrustyKrab

HA! Yep! Klotz was the only stuff I ran, best 2 cycle oil there is, IMO. Loved that red stuff.

I never raced any shifters, but my Sprint carts were pretty dang fast. They'd hit 90+ mph in the straights. The enduros would run faster with the twins, but I never really got into those.

a reply to: KrustyKrab

Sunoco 260, 100 octane fuel and Kotz 2-stroke oil. That was the ideal mix for the engines I ran.

Just passing along another update on John Force.

Force Update

In reading some of the comments to this article, I guess I have to agree with some. Maybe it is time for Force to step down. There's not much left to "win" that this guy hasn't already won. I've met him, and he's a great guy. I'd much rather have him around than see him go out in a wreck like he just had.

In reviewing the wreck again, as I have numerous times, I suspect the concussion of the engine blast was probably enough to render him unconscious, the resulting collision with the left and then right walls on the track were something his body had no control over. This likely exacerbated his TBI.

I've seen some really bad NHRA crashes, but Force's is near the top of the list from the forces involved. (Kalitta's death at the top of the list).

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I think he’ll step down, he’s seen enough. After all, at 75 he’s getting close to Bidens age, although he’s still competitive. Like you said he’s won everything he can win.