Nhra7
16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force at Bristol. (Kent Steele Photo)

Force Out Of Hospital, Into Outpatient Care

PHOENIX — Two weeks after leaving Virginia-based VCU Medical Center and entering a neurological rehab center, 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force has been discharged from Barrow Neurological Institute, John Force Racing revealed on Tuesday evening. 

Force was undergoing rehab for a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) following an engine explosion which sent his race car careening into a concrete guardwall at more than 300 miles per hour at Virginia Motorsports Park on June 23. 

According to family members, while Force will continue to work with therapists specializing in such injuries, it now will be on an outpatient basis in California.

“He finally gets to sleep in his own bed,” said daughter Ashley Hood who, with sisters Brittany, Courtney and Adria and mother, Laurie, maintained a constant presence through Force’s hospitalizations in Virginia and Arizona.  

The team release also stated that “the next phase in the recovery process will be outpatient speech, as well as OTPT (Occupational and Physical Therapy) to address lingering short-term memory and cognitive issues.”

Last week, JFR announced that the team is tentatively planning to field Force’s Funny Car on Aug. 2-3 at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, where Force was to take part in match races against Ron Capps, Cruz Pedregon and Dale Creasy Jr.

The driver has yet to be announced.