John Force Announces Retirement

Sixteen-time NHRA Funny Car world champion John Force, the winningest professional drag racer in the history of the sport and its greatest ambassador for nearly 40 years, confirmed on Thursday what many had long expected, announcing his retirement as a driver from the sport at a press conference held at this Yorba Linda, California facility.

The 76-year-old legend has been sidelined since a devastating high-speed crash June 23, 2024 at the Virginia Nationals that left him with a traumatic brain injury. Force was away from the public eye for much of the remainder of the season as he recovered from his injuries, but has been active part of the racing program again in 2025 in support of replacement driver Jack Beckman, Austin Prock, and daughter Brittany Force.

“It’s time for me to retire. I spent 65 years beating this body up racing, and I pretty much had enough,” Force says. “It’s been over a year, and I’m still under a doctors care, and it all made sense to me, even though I knew that I had medical stuff that I needed to address — do I want to get back in the car and get hit in the head? No, I don’t. I’ve got new grandchildren coming, so I have a next generation that will follow me just like my girls. I’ve said it many times that I’ll stay in the racecar until it hurts me, and I always meant that. But I’ve been hurt really bad, and I’m going to grow my operation, and I’m excited with where it’s going. I love the sport and the NHRA, but I’m officially done with driving. I hate to say that word. I also said so many times that ‘until this racecar kills me, they’re going to have to drag me out of the seat,’ but the truth is, I was dragged out of the seat at Richmond…and they thought it killed me then. They say never say never. I won’t say I won’t ever warm up a car or make a burnout, but I guess it’ll be the response from the fans. You cheer loud enough, I’ll hear ‘ya.”

In a June 2025 interview with KTLA, Force hinted at his decision, stating “even if I don’t drive…and I probably won’t…I love the sport. I love NHRA. I love traveling the country, going to a new town every week. And I hate giving that up, because it’s been my whole life since high school.”

John’s rather unceremonious announcement comes on the eve of the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at the Force family’s home track in Pomona, California, where Brittany will contest the final Top Fuel race of her career before embarking on a new journey to start a family. It brings to a close one of the greatest chapters in motorsports history, as 2026 will mark the first season since 1977 that a driver named Force is not active in the fuel ranks.

John Force ends the greatest professional drag racing career of all-time with 157 wins, 167 No. 1 qualifiers, and a staggering 1,460-678 round record in 861 career NHRA national event appearances. He won at 33 different events at 26 different racetracks, and between 1987 and 1996, Force and legendary tuner Austin Coil won 67 of the 203 NHRA national events contested, along with four of nine Big Bud Shootouts. He won 10 NHRA world titles from 1993 to 2002, including six straight from 1997-2002, and was named 1996 Driver of the Year among all of American motorsports (the first drag racer ever so honored) on the heels of a dominating season during which he won 13 of 19 races.

Force holds the NHRA benchmark for final round appearances, victories, No. 1 qualifying performances, championships, and consecutive championships.

The list, of course, goes on — he has been inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, California Sports Hall of Fame, National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, and Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame, is a 14-time member of Auto Racing All-America Team selected by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association, and four-time winner of the Jerry Titus Memorial Award.

John’s accolades during the period of the mid-1990s to present extend beyond his own, as his team has secured more than 300 Funny Car victories between himself and team drivers Tony Pedregon, Gary Densham, Robert Hight, Eric Medlen, Mike Neff, Courtney Force, Ashley Force-Hood, Prock, and Beckman.