Hitler Not Happy About John Force Racing Winning Six in a Row

Neff defends Gatornationals title as points leader

(Mike Neff returns to the Gatornationals as the defending race winner and current NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car points leader. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Entering this week’s 43rd annual Tire Kingdom Gatornationals at Auto Plus Raceway, Mike Neff likely is the most frustrated recent points leader in any motor racing discipline.

Twice in as many races this year, the 45-year-old driver/crew chief on the Castrol GTX® Ford Mustang has rolled to the starting line for the final round with the quickest race car on the grounds. Twice he’s come away empty-handed, beaten both times by John Force Racing teammates.

“All in all, anytime you go to the final, it’s a good day,” said the defending Gatornationals Funny Car champion, “but still, I’m frustrated with letting two chances slip away.”

Neff first lost to his boss, John Force, at the season-opening O’Reilly Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., when he was momentarily distracted and therefore was late in reacting to the starting signal. That gave Force the edge he needed to win despite a slower track time (4.080 to a best-of-the-event 4.036).

A week later, at Phoenix, Neff’s 8,000 horsepower Ford stumbled at the start in a final round showdown with Robert Hight’s Auto Club Mustang. As a result, it crossed the finish line just .027 of a second behind the winner.

“Our car had been running great (quick time of the event at 4.070 seconds),” Neff said of the Phoenix result, “and then it just shook. I had to pedal it (feather the throttle to regain traction) and then, to just barely lose, it’s frustrating.

“We want to win every race and we work hard at it,” he said, “but, on the positive side, we’ve had two races with Force Mustangs in the finals. We’re definitely satisfied with that. We’ll just keep on keepin’ on.”

No one has been “keepin’ on” quite like Neff, who first distinguished himself as crew chief to 2005 NHRA Funny Car champion Gary Scelzi before, intrigued by Force’s promise of a driving job, moving to JFR in 2007. After earning Rookie-of-the-Year recognition in 2008, the former motocross racer found himself out of a ride, the victim of the economic downturn and lack of sponsorship.

Back in the more familiar role of crew chief, he directed Force to a category-best six wins and a record 15th career championship in 2010. He was preparing to settle in to that strictly mechanical role when fate once again intervened, this time in a positive way.

When two-time Mac Tools U.S. Nationals champion Ashley Force Hood revealed in January, 2011, that she was climbing out of the car to start a family, Neff was offered another chance behind the wheel. Needless to say, he’s made the most of it.

He’s made final round appearances a habit, especially since taking on the dual role of driver and crew chief.

As a driver, he’s taken a JFR Ford to the final round 12 times in his last 25 starts. As a crew chief, he’s done the same thing 22 times in 47 races. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that Neff has been at the starting line in one capacity or the other at virtually every-other-race over the past three seasons.

Moreover, while he was struggling with the dual role last year, even on the way to his Gatornationals win, he has settled into a comfortable routine this year thanks in no small measure to the rapid development of Jon Schaffer as his mechanical facilitator.

“I’ve got my man Little Jon and he can get in there and twist the knobs for me,” Neff said of the last minute adjustments to the tune-up that used to be a major concern when conditions changed significantly while he was helplessly strapped into the cockpit. “I can communicate with him. We’ve got a good situation.”

Force back at Gatornationals, 33 years later

(John Force, left, seen here with fellow Ford Racing driver Bob Tasca III, returns to the Gatornationals for the 33rd year. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

In 1979, after competing in just two events in his budding NHRA Funny Car career, both of them in his native California, John “Brute” Force loaded his Wendy’s Hamburgers Corvette into a bare bones transporter and, on March 6, with a makeshift crew, drove 2,415 miles to the site of the 1979 Gatornationals.

It then was known as Gainesville Raceway, not Auto Plus Raceway, and Force arrived with no illusions. He was just there to rub elbows with his racing idols and to satisfy a commitment to Phil Dunne, a Wendy’s franchisee who was one of his biggest corporate supporters.

He didn’t expect to win. He just wanted to qualify.

It was not to be. The former truck driver missed the 16-car starting lineup, likely because he spent more time displaying his car than he did racing it. Significantly, there were no drag racing show cars in 1979 so, between qualifying opportunities, Force was out displaying his actual, ready-to-run race car at multiple Wendy’s locations.

That’s where he was, in fact, on Sunday morning when he got word that he was in the show as an alternate for the Larry Fullerton. Back then, NHRA filled short fields with alternates, a policy to which it no longer subscribes.

Unfortunately, on race day, the man who would become king slowed from his 6.470 second qualifying pace (just .015 of a second short of the time needed to make the show) to 7.230 seconds and, as a result, lost in the first round to one of those aforementioned idols, Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen.

Now, 33 years later, Force is back and, in this week’s 43rd Tire Kingdom Gatornationals, he will not be content simply to compete. The desire to win still burns brightly and, at age 62, he already has shown that he’s lost few of the skills that have carried him to 134 tour victories and 15 NHRA championships.

Winner of the season-opening O’Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., Force brings his newest Castrol GTX® HIGH MILEAGE™ Ford Mustang to Florida trailing only teammates Mike Neff and Robert Hight in the Full Throttle point standings.

He probably would be trailing absolutely no one were it not for the fact that his youngest daughter, Courtney, took him out in the first round of last month’s Arizona Nationals at Phoenix. It was a sobering moment for the man who this year will be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala.

“You love your kids and you want them to do well,” Force said. “I want (Courtney) to do well for her sponsor, Traxxas, (but) I had the points lead and I haven’t had it in awhile. I just choked out there. Yeah, the car dropped a cylinder. It wasn’t going to run anyway no matter what I did, (but) you have to get your energy up every run. It’s just hard to get in that fight mode against your family.”

Still, despite his Phoenix frustrations, Force knows he is back in contention after a largely forgettable 2011 during which he won once, but never was a threat to win the championship.

“No matter how hard you try, you still have to have a good hot rod,” Force said, “and last year I just didn’t have a heap that could win. I had my crew chiefs (Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas) running Courtney’s test program and they were just spread too thin. But we’re back.

“Making the Top 10 is going to be tough,” he predicted. “Somebody is going to be left out. There are a lot of cars running better than ours right now. We’re in the hunt but, we’ve got a little ways to go. I just want to keep fighting and keep my nose clean and get points. It’s too early to think about anything else.”

Like, maybe, a 16th championship.

Robert Hight Eyes First Victory in Phoenix

Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team have been picked by a number of media outlets and experts as one of the odds on favorites to win the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship. Their performance in West Palm Beach, Florida testing further impressed experts as they consistently posted the quickest and fastest times. At the season opening O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals they qualified No. 1, a feat they had accomplished twice before at the first race and 40 times in Hight’s career.

Unfortunately, all the predictions, accolades and qualifying success added up to a surprising first round loss and a 9th place position in the Full Throttle Funny Car point standing heading into the NHRA Arizona Nationals this weekend at Firebird International Raceway.

“We didn’t get the job done in Pomona. We got behind the eight ball on Thursday when we broke a blower shaft. Then on Friday we were weak on our tune-up and smoked the tires. We made a great run on Saturday in killer conditions but the rains came in and we didn’t get a fourth run. Then Sunday morning we smoke the tires in the first round and we were done,” said Hight, a three-time Winternationals winner.

“The only positive I take away from last weekend was our run on Saturday and the fact that we got two JFR Mustangs into the final round to guarantee we started the season with one of my teammates winning the race. We are 1-2 in the points with John (Force) and Mike (Neff) at the top,” said the perennial championship contender. “I have raced well at Phoenix but never won and I want to change that this weekend. (Crew chief) Jimmy (Prock) and I will have the Auto Club Ford Mustang ready to go. I am so glad to be going back to a race track this weekend. If they told me they were starting qualifying tomorrow I would be out there with my guys. We are going to put Pomona behind us and move forward.”

Hight is a two-time finalist at Firebird International Raceway dropping races to Tony Pedregon in 2007 and Jack Beckman in 2008. Getting his first win at the NHRA Arizona Nationals would keep a number of streaks alive for Hight and start a new, very important streak for the former crewman turned driver. Hight has won multiple races every year he has raced going back to his rookie season of 2005 plus he has led the points every year. After seeing his boss and team leader introduced in the winner’s circle as the first qualified driver for the inaugural Traxxas Nitro Shootout, the $100,000 to win race within a race at the Mac Tools US Nationals, Hight wants to race his way into that event.

“I am not putting pressure on myself or my team but we definitely want to wrap up a spot in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout sooner rather than later. The first seven drivers to win a race are guaranteed a slot and trust me there are way more than seven drivers out here that can win,” said Hight. “John got the first slot last weekend and I want to get my name up there beside his.”

Before the elimination rounds last Sunday Hight and the rest of the Ford Racing NHRA Funny Car competitors posed for a photo with Director of Ford Racing Jamie Allison and Ford executive Henry Ford III. The photo celebrated Ford winning the 2011 Manufacturer’s Cup for NHRA. Being around the Ford Racing executives as well as his fellow Ford Racing teammates made Hight aware of the strength of the Funny Car category.

“You look at how strong the Funny Car class is this season and you know you better bring your “A” game to the starting line every pass. There are new drivers coming up with Courtney Force and Alexis DeJoria and the drivers that just missed out on the championship last year like Neff, (Jack) Beckman, (Ron) Capps, myself, Bob Tasca (III), and Cruz (Pedregon). Those are some hitters plus you add in drivers that have won championships like Force, Tony (Pedregon), and (Matt) Hagan. That’s more than enough drivers to fill the Countdown and I haven’t even mentioned guys like Tim Wilkerson and Jeff Arend who can step up any weekend and beat you. This is going to be an exciting season and with the right conditions this weekend in Phoenix you could see some great times.”

“I know this Auto Club team will be ready,” concluded Hight.

Force, Traxxas Take Confidence and Consistency to Phoenix

(Photo by John Force Racing PR)

Courtney Force gave the Funny Car field at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona a run for their money last weekend when she began her pro career in her Traxxas Ford Mustang. Courtney qualified in the no. 12 spot and took out Bob Tasca III in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday before falling victim to teammate Mike Neff who won 40 rounds throughout the 2011 season, more than any other driver.

The 2012 O’Reilly Winternationals event was a big step forward for Force, John Force Racing as a whole and new sponsor Traxxas, who came on board as primary sponsor for the rookie driver at the beginning of this season.

“I think our first race out for the season went a little better than expected. We were going in with very modest attitudes because all parts of our Traxxas team were new- driver, crew members, car, parts, etc. Our main goal in Pomona was to get qualified. We got in the field and were able to get past first round so it definitely was a good weekend for the Traxxas Ford Mustang team,” said Force

Force is only the second of eight Funny Car drivers at John Force Racing to snag a first round win during a debut event. The first was Gary Densham, who drove from 2001 through 2006. Densham made it to the semifinal round at the 2001 NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston, Texas. The other six JFR drivers exited their first events for the team in the first round of eliminations.

“It’s an honor to be one of the few drivers at John Force Racing to do well at my first event. It was definitely a team effort. I try to take everything I learn from the previous season and everything that my teammates have taught me, including my sister Ashley, and use that to move forward. I think that making it that far was good for us and the guys. They worked hard for it. With all of them being new and having to work together I think we all handled it well,” said Force.

New to the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing series is the Traxxas Nitro Shootout. In addition to Traxxas being announced as the Official Radio Controlled Performance Products of the NHRA, the new sponsor is giving Top Fuel and Funny Car teams a chance at a $100,000 prize.

The first seven event winners from both Top Fuel and Funny Car classes qualify for a spot in the shootout and are joined by an eighth driver voted in by fans. The Traxxas Nitro Shootout will be held during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, with Top Fuel showcased on Saturday, Sept. 1, and Funny Car featured on Sunday, Sept. 2.

“I’m definitely excited about the Traxxas Nitro Shootout. I think it’s something amazing to bring back into the sport. I grew up watching the Big Bud Shootout and the Skoal Showdown so it’s exciting. Giving the fans those different events all at one race is pretty awesome especially mixing it up this year with Traxxas and making it so the fans have a say in who that eighth entry is. I think it will make for an interesting race,” said Force.

This coming weekend, Force will continue to build experience as she competes in the 28th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway, Feb. 17-19.

“I’m looking forward to going to Phoenix because I think we have a pretty consistent car, great crew chiefs and a great group of guys behind us. We definitely want to go out there and try to get qualified again, make it in the field and just try to stay as consistent as we were at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona for the Winternationals. We want our car to continue to do well, we want to learn from it and push it a little harder and make it go a little quicker because it’s going to be tough to beat some of these guys that are our competitors.”

“Conditions are going to be different out in Phoenix, but I think as long as we keep doing what we have been and keep the car going down the racetrack maybe we can go one more round further,” added Force.

For more information on the Traxxas Nitro Shootout click here

Neff Poised for Another Title Run in 2012

(Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Mike Neff learned last year that winning the NHRA Full Throttle championship is not so much about what you do as when you do it.

The crew chief and driver of the Castrol GTX® Ford Mustang won a career high five races last year to share the category lead with teammate Robert Hight. In addition, he won more racing rounds (40) and appeared in more final rounds (nine) than anyone, Hight included. To top it off, he was the points leader after 15 of the 22 tour events.

Unfortunately, the bulk of that success came in the regular season and not in the six-race Countdown to 1 that, in essence, now crowns the champion.

When Neff won his first Funny Car championship in 2005 as crew chief to Gary Scelzi, the title reflected his team’s performance over an entire season. All that changed in 2007, however, when the NHRA adopted the current playoff system.

Not surprisingly, even though he won another title in 2010 as crew chief to John Force, Neff is not a big fan.

In fact, the premium placed on the Countdown races has compelled the California native to re-strategize for a 2012 season that begins this week with the 52nd O’Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway.

“It does change your strategy,” Neff said, “but that doesn’t mean you just sacrifice races at the beginning of the year (for testing purposes). We want to win every race we go to so we’re not going to approach it like ‘we don’t care what happens this week, we’re just going to test.’

“We’re just going to try and race smarter and take advantage of the two extra test days they’ve given us this year,” Neff said, referring to NHRA’s decision to up the number of approved, in-season test days from four to six. “Plus, if we run good on Friday (in qualifying), that may give us a chance on Saturday to try something different with some different parts.”

Regardless, the 45-year-old veteran knows a little better what to expect this time around even if he doesn’t know exactly what threw him off track last year.

“I wouldn’t look at it like I was ‘overthinking’ it or I was burned out,” he said. “I didn’t do anything differently than I did the first 16 races. Things just quit working. The tricky thing about racing is sometimes it just doesn’t work the way you want it to. Looking back on it, I can see some things I would do differently if I had to do it again. You work on your weaknesses and that’s what we’ve been trying to do. The thing is, if it was easy, everybody’d be winning.

“Our car runs great,” Neff continued. “We’re just trying to improve in areas where we might have been a little weaker. Nobody accumulated more points last year than we did, but it’s just based off six races now and you have to try and plan so your program is strongest in those last six races.”

Despite his disdain for the system, Neff feels good about his chances of becoming the first to win a Funny Car championship as driver/crew chief since the late Shirl Greer did so in 1974.

After testing well at Palm Beach International Raceway in Florida, he starts the season this week on a track on which he has been exceedingly successful.

Not only did Auto Club Raceway yield his first win as a driver (at the 2009 Auto Club Finals), it also was the site of key crew chief victories in 2007 and 2010. He won with Scelzi at the 2007 Winternationals, his last victory before moving from Don Schumacher Racing to JFR, and with Force at the same race in 2010, laying the foundation for the sport’s biggest winner to earn his record 15th championship.

Courtney Force Sets Out on Funny Car Journey

(Photo from John Force Racing Facebook)

Many childhood dreams begin with a small glimpse into the working world their parents live in, but when your father is 15-time NHRA Funny Car Champion John Force and races to speeds topping 300 mph, you may think some kids would change their minds.

This was not the case for Courtney Force.

The 23-year-old addition to John Force Racing took on the racing world at the age of 16, competing in classes such as Super Comp Dragster and Top Alcohol Dragster. Her sister Ashley Force Hood, who is a four-time Funny Car national event winner including back to back Mac Tools US Nationals titles in 2009 and 2010, began the tradition.

Now, it’s Force’s time to shine as she begins an action-packed rookie year in Funny Car for the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season. Force will compete in the 52nd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries, Feb. 9-12, at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.

“It’s unreal to look back at being a little kid and watching my dad race, knowing that was what I wanted to do with my life someday. Time has really flown by and now I’m here, looking around and saying, ‘This is it.’ When I really stop and think about it that way it’s unreal and extremely exciting at the same time” said Force.

On January 10, 2012 Force announced that she would begin a five-year sponsorship with Traxxas for 2012. She will run a full 23-race tour in her Traxxas Mustang Funny Car powered by the JFR-developed BOSS 500 Ford engine.

“2012 is going to be a year of learning. John Force Racing will be running four Funny Cars this year and that’s something we haven’t done in a while. It may take a few races for both my dad and I to get used to seeing my name on the side of a Funny Car body, but I couldn’t be more thrilled,” she added.

Force participated in the 2nd Annual PRO Winter Warm-ups and additional John Force Racing private testing at Palm Beach International Raceway January 19-24 in West Palm Beach along with teammates John Force, Mike Neff and Robert Hight.

The PRO Winter Warm-ups presented fans with the chance to witness history. Courtney and John Force raced in their first side-by-side competition—an exciting pair to get everyone warmed up for 2012.

Force made several laps in the Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car test body beginning with half-track passes. She then gradually and safely completed full, clean, straight runs, giving new Crew Chiefs Ron Douglas and Scott Wible necessary data to tune the new car to a customary level of precision for the 2012 season.

The Yorba Linda, California native traveled straight from testing to NASCAR Media Day at zMax Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina where she was very well received as a future star of John Force Racing and the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing series.

Force plans to be very active in 2012 promoting the sport she loves while competing in her rookie year. She will be supplying ESPN.com with an ongoing video blog throughout the entire season that gives fans a behind-the-scenes view of what it’s like to be a 23-year-old woman competing in a professional drag racing world.

The first task for Force will be getting her Traxxas Ford Mustang qualified in Pomona and then continuing to develop as a rookie driver.