Force is game for 4-wide drags

On the eve of the NHRA’s inaugural 4-Wide Nationals at Bruton Smith’s ZMax Dragway, drag racing icon John Force told his team that this week’s four-lane competition isn’t rocket science. The thing to remember, said the 14-time champion, is that just because everything’s different, doesn’t mean anything’s changed.

As strange as that may sound, it contains a profound truth, which is that no matter how advanced the technology, no matter how many opponents are lined up on either side, no matter what the configuration of the Christmas Tree starting system, the basic premise remains the same and that is to get one’s car to the finish line ahead of all the others.

Over 35 years, Force has done that better than anyone in history, getting to the finish line first 1,047 times, which is one of the reasons the 60-year-old legend has been installed as the pre-race favorite in a suddenly resurgent Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang that celebrates his 25-year association with BP/Castrol.

Force also gets a nod for being part of last fall’s four-wide experiment at ZMax in which he lost out to then teammate Mike Neff, who now is part of the 127-time tour winners’ mechanical brain trust along with Hall of Fame crew chiefs Austin Coil and
Bernie Fedderly.

Throw in Force’s penchant for winning the sport’s big events (the 50th Anniversary NHRA Nationals, the 50th annual Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals, the inaugural Winston Showdown in which Funny Cars and Top Fuel dragsters competed against one another) and his new willingness to embrace change and 4-Wide has “Force" written all over it.