John Force made the most the first Countdown race of 2016 picking up his 146th career win and moving from the No. 8 to No. 3 position in the Mello Yello point standings.

Force outran Dave Richards, Tim Wilkerson, Ron Capps and then Tommy Johnson Jr to pick up his first win at the Carolina NHRA Nationals. From the winner’s circle stage Force dedicated the victory to his sponsors and announced he would be sending the Wally trophy to Advance Auto Parts who were emblazoned across the side of his Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car along with primary sponsor PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant.

(John Force visited NHRA victory lane for the 146th time in his career!)

Going into the final round John Force was 7-1 against Tommy Johnson Jr. and Force’s Advance Auto Parts PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car was looking for its third win of the season. The last final round match-up between these two racers was last season’s New England Nationals where Force also took the win.

“We have a lot of work cut out for us. We’ll be testing here all day tomorrow. You win a race and you still come right back and you test. I’m excited. My wife said to me this morning, ‘You have to get out of bed.’ It’s tough on me. I’m beat up and it’s been a challenge the last four nights in a row. I got up and I was mad. I said I was going to win today. Right before the final she said, ‘Remember what you told me this morning?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to win,’ said Force in the zMax Dragway press room.

In the final Force and Johnson Jr. left the starting line together but by about 700 feet Force was driving around Johnson Jr. and getting to the finish line first with a winning elapsed time of 3.946 seconds at 324.05 mph edging out Johnson Jr’s 3.987 second, 315.71 mph run.

(Force took the measure of Tommy Johnson Jr in the FC final by a close margin)

While the final round win was critical, the semifinal match up with point leader Ron Capps was important not just for Force but also for his JFR Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car teammates. Force defeated Capps, the No. 2 qualifier, in an epic side by side race. Force got the win on the strength of his 3.957 second, 323.27 mph race in front of Capps’s 4.003 second, 317.57 mph pass. The win stopped Capps’s accumulation of points and allowed Force to ultimately end the day just 50 points out of the top spot.

“I have a race car now that I can race with, and when you get a race car and you’re on your game I can win. Tommy Johnson flew all weekend; he outran us but I was right in the hunt with him. (Ron) Capps in the semis, I love to race him. At the end of the day it was just a fight and we got the win, and we’ll just take it from here,” added Force.

Force extended his win streak against Capps in Countdown races to 6-0 since the inception of the NHRA play-off format. The winningest driver in NHRA history beat three Countdown contending Funny Cars and also trailered the No. 1 and No. 2 qualifiers today.

In many instances the road to victory is paved with a fortuitous round win and Force earned his in the second round against veteran Tim Wilkerson. As Force was rolling to the staging beams he realized the brakes on his Chevrolet Camaro were not engaging fully and the winner of over 1,200 rounds of racing had to depress the clutch pedal to stop his 10,000 hp Funny Car from rolling through the staging beams and costing him the race. Force’s winning time of 4.013 seconds was pedestrian and his .394 reaction time could quite possibly be the worst winning reaction time of his illustrious career.

(Tommy Johnson Jr was the event low qualifier at 3.876 secs (low ET))

Earlier in the week Force moved crew chief Jason McCulloch from the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster to his PEAK Camaro Funny Car to work with lead crew chief Jon Schaffer. The shuffle worked seamlessly and from the winner’s circle Schaffer was proud of the effort the entire team displayed throughout the weekend and on race day.

“This is huge for us and this is the first time that I have been in this position. It is actually awesome to be in this position with our race team and John Force and I just feel like everything is starting to click again. I can’t be any happier,” said Schaffer, who has four wins with Force now. “We got as much points as you can, we have good momentum going into the Countdown. I think we started out eighth and moved up a few spots up to third, so that is huge for us.”

Event Essentials:   NHRA Carolina Nationals (Sep. 16-18th 2016) 

(Courtney Force raced this “special edition” Traxxas Camaro at Concord)

Posted by Elon Werner

Photos by Gary Nastase & Courtesy of NHRA