In the biggest off-season news yet for NHRA drag racing fans, John Force Racing has announced their imminent return to competition starting at the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Florida which will be run in early March. The team will return with three full time cars as opposed to four previous to the pandemic. Austin Prock is the odd-man out in this scenario but will stay with the team, working with his father Jimmy Prock on Robert Hight’s car.
Some people had written the guy off, some people were speculating that he was going to retire, and some were figuring that all of his sponsors had abandoned Force after the pandemic hit. As it turns out, virtually all of that was hogwash. The names on the cars remain the same with Auto Club, Fla-R-Pac, Chevrolet, Peak, BlueDEF and others returning to support the team. There are some questions that remain.
The first involves personnel. Force had to downsize his workforce when the team was off the track. Many of those quality crewmen and employees were scooped up by other drag racing teams, IndyCar teams, and frankly career changes. Can he gather the high level of talent he once had supporting those cars?
And a John specific question. What’s the net effect of a 70+ year old guy taking a year off of nitro funny car driving. We’re going to find out.
This is good stuff and the Gators just got even more exciting.
JOHN FORCE RACING TO MAKE NHRA CAMPING WORLD SERIES DEBUT
YORBA LINDA, Calif. (Feb. 16, 2021) – The John Force Racing team will make their much-anticipated return to NHRA Championship Drag Racing at the 2021 Camping World Series season-opening NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Fla. It was announced today that the 21-time championship team will feature three full-time hot rods driven by John Force, Robert Hight and Brittany Force.
On 16-time world champion John Force’s PEAK / BlueDEF Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, Danny Hood, son-in-law to John Force, will continue as lead crew chief with Tim Fabrisi, long-time car chief for Force, moving up to assistant. Both were key players in John’s historic 150th and 151st national event wins.
“Thank you to all of our sponsors and fans for sticking by us. I really realized how much I love this sport and I appreciate the chance to get back into my PEAK / BlueDEF Chevrolet,” said owner and CEO John Force. “We’re excited to be back racing and to have all of our sponsors with us. I’m looking forward to working with Camping World and can’t wait to see where the sport goes with them on board.”
President of John Force Racing and three-time Funny Car world champion Robert Hight will continue to drive the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS with his tandem of crew chiefs Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back to going rounds and winning races with this Auto Club team,” said Hight. “I know Jimmy [Prock] and Chris [Cunningham] and all our Auto Club guys are excited and ready to get going. I’m happy to be continuing John Force Racing’s over 20-year partnership with AAA and ultimately going after another championship.”
Crew chiefs David Grubnic and Mac Savage will continue to tune 2017 Top Fuel world champion Brittany Force’s Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac dragster. The two sponsors will split the season as primary partners on the national record holding dragster.
“I can’t wait to get back to the racetrack with my Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team,” said Brittany Force. “We’ll be chasing down our first win of the season right out of the gate. This year I’m really looking forward to racing in Seattle with Frank Tiegs and Flav-R-Pac as the title sponsor.”
In addition to PEAK / BlueDEF, Auto Club, Monster Energy and Flav-R-Pac, John Force Racing brings back its full roster of sponsors including Chevrolet, Cornwell Tools, Montana Brand, ParkerStore, Baldwin Filters, Gates Belts, Weld Racing, Simpson Race Products and Goodyear.
John Force Racing will prepare for the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series opening race at PRO Winter Warm-Up March 5-7 at Palm Beach International Raceway. Limited tickets are available for the test session at racepbir.com. Tickets for the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals March 12-14 are on sale at nhra.com.
It will be interesting to see if they can be competitive after taking a year off. That’s a long time in racing to be parked.