Image credit: John Force Racing

John Medlen is headed back home.

The 61-year old veteran crew chief, who is best known as one of John Force’s right hand men in his trio of championship-winning tuners during the 1990’s and 2000’s, confirmed on Tuesday that he will return to John Force Racing in the new capacity of Director of Technology and Safety. Late last week, it was announced that Roger Burgess’ R2B2 Funny Car operation, for which Medlen had served as crew chief for much of the 2011 season for driver Melanie Troxel, had shuttered its operations.

“I found out John Medlen became available over the weekend and I offered him a job to come back to work with us on safety. He is a leader in safety. I always wanted John Medlen back because he is like family. I am excited to have him back in our brain-trust. He will start immediately and he will get to work with the other crew chiefs building on a lot of the safety ideas we have worked on over the winter. We had a strong test session but we need to keep working on ideas and projects throughout the season. That is what Medlen will do for us,” said John Force, JFR CEO.

Medlen is a self-taught engineer that operated his own machine shop by the age of 20 and transformed an automotive repair facility into a custom parts fabrication business by 26. He later went work for Don Prudhomme and Chuck Etchells’ race teams before joining Force in an R&D role in 1996. He won the 2003 NHRA Funny Car championship with Tony Pedregon in 2003 and helped design and develop the BOSS 500 Ford nitro engine.

After Pedregon’s departure, Medlen’s young son Eric, an aspiring rodeo cowboy and experienced crew member on Force’s Castrol GTX flopper, stepped into the seat of the Castrol Syntec team machine. Together, the father and son duo won six races and finished fourth in the Funny Car standings in 2005 and 2006.

Following Eric’s tragic death in 2007 in a testing accident, the elder Medlen served as the “safety conscience” for the sport, heading up Force’s in-house safety initiative and safety research facility known as the Eric Medlen Project.

Medlen left John Force Racing in 2010 to join rival Don Schumacher Racing, where he served in various roles before moving over to work with Burgess’ R2B2 operation.

“I’m thrilled to be back here at John Force Racing. This is truly a family environment and I have missed it. From the time I walked in the door, everything has been the same,” said John Medlen. “The people, the hospitality; nothing has changed. We’re all looking forward to a great year racing four Funny Cars and going for that championship. I’m excited to be here and have the opportunity to be back in the family.”

Upon his return to the Force team, Medlen will oversee an expanded R&D program that focuses on safety and the further development of the BOSS 500 engine.