John Force went for a wild ride during the second round of Funny Car qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals on Saturday afternoon at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in California.
The 16-time NHRA champion held on tight as his BlueDEF Chevrolet Camaro danced around on the drag strip, jutted across the center line and made contact with opponent J.R. Todd.
With the parachutes engaged on both cars, Force finally came to a stop after his Funny Car crossed in front of Todd and eventually hit the wall on the opposite side of the track, significantly damaging the car body.
Both drivers climbed out of their vehicles on their own accord at the top end of the drag strip and were evaluated by the medical unit on site.
“I thought it was OK, but all of sudden, it struck the tires and made a hard left on me. It hit the wall and I couldn’t get it off the wall,” Force recalled in a post-crash interview on the FOX broadcast. “I’m OK, he’s OK — that’s most important — and we’re both just trying to stay in the show.”
The John Force Racing crew will scramble to prepare Force’s backup hot rod so the team can continue its charge at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals this weekend.
Todd also transitioned to a backup car for the third qualifying session and remainder of the event.
“It sucks. I don’t like tearing up stuff, especially when it’s out of my control,” Todd said. “It’s a helpless feeling. You’re not really in control at that point when the other guy is wrapped in your chutes or his chutes are wrapped around your car.”
Admittedly, Todd had yet to watch a replay of the incident and as such, can’t pinpoint what went wrong on his end.
He added, “I can’t critique what he did or didn’t do because I haven’t seen the run. We made a nice, solid 393 run and got the chutes out and the next thing, I’m getting run over.”
Both drivers hope to rebound for a strong run during eliminations on Sunday.