Respected and well-informed auto racing reporter Louis Brewster of the Inland Daily Bulletin newspaper is reporting that John Force Racing will announce tomorrow that they will be running Chevy Camaro funny car bodies for the 2015 season and beyond. Brewster has been one of the premier newsmen in the sport of drag racing for years and thats’s why we’re running with this word here. The man is as well (or better) connected than anyone else in the sport of NHRA drag racing. His report WHICH IS LINKED BELOW was published mid-day today (1/14/2015) and states with authority that this is the major announcement that JFR will be making tomorrow.
Remember, Force had a long relationship with GM before making the switch to Ford in the 1990s so there’s plenty of history there. If this actually comes to fruition (and we’re obviously taking Brewster’s word that it will) Force will be the first (and potentially only) team running the Camaro bodies in the nitro ranks. The alcohol bodies made their appearance during the 2014 season but this is the first they will be seen in nitro funny car form with the large rear wing, etc.
This is obviously a developing story and we’ll keep you updated with more information. There is a major press conference at John Force Racing tomorrow that we’ll also have updates from. STAY TUNED, but for now, read Louis Brewster’s story linked below!
CLICK HERE TO READ LOUIS BREWSTER’S STORY HERE – JOHN FORCE TO CHEVY CAMARO BODIES IN 2015 AND BEYOND
(BELOW IS THE NEW JOHN FORCE RACING CHEVROLET CAMARO CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION) –
Here’s the update from today’s John Force Racing Press Conference
JOHN FORCE RETURNS TO HIS CHEVROLET ROOTS
YORBA LINDA, CA (January 15, 2015) — John Force Racing, Inc. and Chevrolet announced today that they will be joining forces to back the 18-time NHRA Funny Car championship team starting with the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. The multi-year agreement will see all three John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro Funny Cars adorned with the iconic gold bowtie as well as the JFR Top Fuel dragster.
“John Force is a champion and a legend both on and off the track, as a driver and as a team owner,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet Vice President for Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “John Force is a racer’s racer and a fierce competitor, and we are excited to welcome John and his team back to Chevrolet.”
“It is great to be back with Chevrolet. I started my career in a Chevy and my plan is to keep racing with them for many years to come. This is a great American company and we are excited about the opportunities in front of us,” said John Force, CEO John Force Racing and 16-time Funny Car champion.
The first 60 starts of John Force’s illustrious career were behind the wheel of a Chevrolet product. From 1978-80 he raced a Corvette before switching to a Citation (1981-82), Camaro (1983-84), Corvette (1985), and then a Cavalier (1986). Force won the 1994 NHRA Funny Car championship racing a Chevy Lumina to a 50-8 record, 11 finals, 10 wins, and 12 No. 1 qualifiers.
“I won my first round of racing, went to my first final and got my first No. 1 in a Chevy. Since then I have won more rounds, races, championships than anyone in the sport. I have the record for most No. 1 qualifiers too and I can’t wait to get to the Winternationals and start adding to those records in a brand new Chevy,” added Force.
Chevrolet completed one of its most successful years in its motorsports history in 2014, earning five manufacturer and six driver championships in NHRA, NASCAR, IndyCar, United SportsCar Championship and World Challenge series.
In addition, Chevrolet drivers won several noteworthy races in 2014, including the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Pro Stock and Stock Eliminator classes, Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, IndyCar Dual in Detroit, and the 24 Hours of Daytona.
But if you take the decals off will you be able to tell the difference? I think not. 🙂
How can we tell? Only by printing CAMARO in big letters on it. So what. Remember when you could tell them apart?
Why this matters escapes me.
Because the world of NHRA is John Force. Who is going to run the list of all the crew guys Force has let go from John Force racing over winter?
well, I wonder if the Camaro will be Chrysler hemi motorvated? that is the only way it will be competitive.
His Mustangs were all Ford powered.
His mustangs all used Ford valve covers, none of them were based on anything that came out of Ford, engines are the Chrysler Hemi spec dictated by the nhra.
Technically, NHRA doesn’t state it has to be a Chrysler Hemi, it’s just that no other engine is competitive at that level.
Can’t run a Ford 385 series style engine in NHRA fuel classes. They dictate what you can run. Bore spacing is why in case you are wondering. NHRA allows up to 4.840 (CBB), Ford 385 series is 4.900. Go figure.
Sorry buddy but more than valve covers. Study up – they were Ford produced BOSS 500 engines. The only thing ‘Hemi’ about them is the location of the spark plug.
you are so correct, Lenny!
Mustangs were all Ford powered ……are you serious ??????
They were not Fords. They were Chrysler Hemi anodized blue with Boss on the side. Internally it was all Chrysler.
You really have no idea what you are talking about, do you?!
Damn, I would of sworn it said Freightliner
Freight liner would be awesome, what’s the difference?
Castrol dropping out was a surprise. Going to Camaro bodies? I didn’t see that coming!
It’s been years since I’ve been able to tell what manufacturer it is unless they paste a decal on it telling me. I have no idea what benefit any car company gets out of these sponsorships.
Bob
Anyone who thinks the engines used in fuel cars are derived from anything other than the Chrysler hemi is purely dellusional. Force ran a Ford engine? Yeah, right…I don’t care what corporate lawyers force companies to say, virtually every fuel car today runs a derivitive of the Chrysler hemi.
finally…..out of those damn fords. basically the worst kept secret in nitro for a long time, just wonder if they have had any secret tests anywhere
I guess Phoenix next week. You guys gonna be there?
The last “Ford” I can remember was Micky Thompson’s SOHC fueler.
PLEASE say it ain’t so!!!
Just to be clear they aren’t Chrysler Hemi’s either. The basic engine architecture is BASED off the gen 2 426 elephant motor. The actual engines are 100% custom built in house. CNC blocks, heads, etc..
The number of parts from Chrysler, Ford, Chevy whatever are 0%.
The shear fact that a bowtie will appear on the fire suit after all the years of John Force and Mustang being together is crazy to me.
You’re so right PJ. This ain’t 1966, everything on fuel cars is factory zero!
these cars do not represent “ANY” car on the market , but the “LOGO’S”
YOU GO WITH WHO PAYS YOU TO RUN WHAT EVER
Exactly. Richard Petty ran: Plymouths, Dodges, Chevys, Pontiacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Fords. Same with nearly every famous racer of anything.
I remember Force running the “Brute Force” Camaros back in the ’80’s.
Who Cares what that blowhard,big mouth runs?!! NHRA= No Hot Rods Allowed!!
This is a business decision. He did his job promoting Ford while he had a contract. Same as he did with Castrol. Now, someone else is going to have him promote their product. If Studebaker were to come back and offer him a ton of $, he’d run that. The only thing I think will hurt is if he does have to modify the shape of the nose, as he has a lot of wind tunnel time in the current car. The good thing is all it takes is a Decal change and it is whatever you want it to be. Still not happy about how Don Shoemacher pulled his chief mechanic out from under him just as they got into the final stretch for the championship. Kind of strange that John’s performance tanked about the same time Prock accepted the job offer. John isn’t making any acusations, but it is plain as day to me. He was tanked by a trusted employee. And the “Shoe” was pulling the puppet strings. He called John to let him know? BS, he was rubbing his nose in it…He will get his some day..
The big show is nothing more than a traveling motorsport circus and the goal is to make money including JFR and DSR!!!!
who cares !!!! cant stand t/f …too many divers and bs for me p/s and comp for me any day
The 2015 Mustaro
This Just In!! John Force is changing headlight and grille decals on his funny cars!!!
Oh wow. Like, no one other than whoever he suckered into paying him to say it’s a Camaro even cares.
amazing all the haters, it costs $$$$$$ to run nitro and entertain people like me who like the noise, ground shaking, smells, and ultimate speed of these land based rockets, glad he got the $$$$$$ to continue
Like putting a band aid on a greased pig, this is a minor symptom of whats wrong with prof racing.
Money Money Money. .
He held out until the last hour and got MAX MONEY….
Why even have a driver? Computer controls the clutch and everything else, just make it remote control
This belongs in the Scrapple section
It has to be noted that lots of (most?) people don’t really care, I doubt anyone would argue the jelly mold cars lack character. However if you were take the bodies off squeeze on a T-bucket body on or a Topolino and everybody went fuel altered racing then hell yea I’m interested. I know that shouldn’t/doesn’t make sense but modern FCs don’t speak to the heart the way they should. If you look at a modern fuel altered, they are as far away as from the cars they’re meant to be as a funny car BUT they look great and they have drama in spades, they’ll maybe have name that makes you smile and they have character. I love the technology of the FCs and have total respect for the crew’s, drivers etc but somewhere along that evolutionary path they’ve lost a whatever it was that made me as a hot rodder think F**ck Yea!
However it seemed that when everybody saw “that” Camry in the pictures from SEMA there were choruses of F**ck Yea!” around the globe. I know we’re talking different beasts here (I’m not THAT daft) but surely there is something to be learned here.
http://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/toyotas-wild-flip-top-supercharged-v8-production-bodied-funny-car-even-awesome-person-yes-just-said-camry-awesome/
Again NHRA bends over backwards for JFR. Sad when the poster child for NHRA gets to bend rules. And for the guy who cried that Shoemacher poached Forces crew chiefs, remember when John went and poached Neff from the Schoemacher camp a few years ago. Seems as long as Force does it, you ok with it. When its done to JFR you cry foul.