John Force Clinches Record 16th NHRA Funny Car Championship

John Force signed, sealed, and delivered his unprecedented 16th NHRA Funny Car championship on Sunday, powering his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to victory at the Toyota NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway over daughter Courtney Force, putting the title out of reach of his nearest challengers.

The win, the 138th of Force’s illustrious career, was his third in a row during a stretch of four straight final round appearances in what has been a dominating performance in the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship. Force defeated longtime friend and former teammate Gary Densham, Del Worsham, and Alex DeJoria before squaring off with Courtney’s Traxxas Mustang in the final. With the early exits of Matt Hagan and Ron Capps, the stage was set for Force to capture another championship, adding to his 15 titles that have come under every major series sponsor, from Winston to POWERade and Full Throttle.

With the title on the line, crew chief Jimmy Prock tuned Force to a 4.062 that defeated Courtney’s right-there 4.085.

“I read an article this morning about being humble but after a day like today I would like to say it was me,” joked Force in the Las Vegas media center.  “Jimmy Prock is unbelievable. The team he has around him is awesome. I used to race against his dad, Tom, who ran the Tom and Jerry Funny Car and the Detroit Tiger. He and Danny DeGennaro got the job done. Look at how those cars run side by side.

“If there is anything I have done right is putting together this team effort. We pulled together when it looked like we were falling apart. I have great companies with me and they allow me do this. We won them a championship. We got a Mello Yello championship but next year I am going to try and win again. We are strong with Auto Club with Robert (Hight) and Traxxas with Courtney. My luck just turned around in a year when I needed it to sell corporate America. I remember Dale Earnhardt used to say ‘I’ll do the winning and you marketing guys sell me.’ I never had the nerve to say that but that guy was a winner so he could do it. I have had luck on my side the last three races.”

Said Prock: “It felt great to see that win light come on and know we had clinched the championship. It was an awesome feeling to be able to get John another championship. He is the greatest drag racer ever. It is just a great feeling. We were down for a while but we worked hard and we stuck together. We got rewarded for it.”

“Most of these guys that are working on this Funny Car have been here since 2005. We have been through the ups and downs. Everybody hung in there and we worked together. They work really hard at what they do. This is a tough gig working on one of these race cars. Your heart and soul goes into them to be good at it. When you can win it is a great feeling.”