As of late, 74-year-old drag racer John Force has been feeling like he’s racing the clock more than he’s racing the driver in the other lane.
It’s not that he’s negative about the future — he’s just facing the truth.
“Time’s running out and I’m trying to hang on,” Force said, clutching his latest Wally in hand as he sat in the press room at Firebird Motorsports Park following his NHRA Winternationals victory on Saturday.
It’s a sobering reality for the 16-time Funny Car champion, who admitted he’s been having troubling sleeping at night as he contemplates what’s next for him.
“I go to bed sick every night, I get depression. Me and my wife talk about it all the time,” a candid Force said. “Why am I stressed? Because I dream that I won’t have a sponsor or I won’t be driving. I dream that and then I wake up sick.”
His ill feelings are slightly eased by showing up at the drag strip on the weekend and returning to his place of comfort behind the wheel of the PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car.
“Once I get in the race car, I’m home. That’s when the stomach aches go away, until you lose and (have to) come back,” Force said.
Force has been fighting a losing record for nearly two years, going winless in 2023 and earning only one win in 2022. It’s been a long time since Force’s glory days, when he’d win double-digit races in a single season (1993, ’94, ’96, ’99, 2000), and it’s been more than 10 years since his last title (2013).
None of that is lost on the NHRA legend, who has increasingly felt the weight of his losing streak grow heavier on his shoulders.
However, triumphing in the rain-delayed Winternationals finale against reigning Funny Car champion Matt Hagan brought back a little of Force’s characteristic ego. Force said the win helped stifle some of his encroaching self-doubt and made it a little easier to roll out of bed for the Arizona Nationals eliminations on Sunday morning.
“To have a day like this…you get this (win) and your life is back,” Force said about his 156th victory on Saturday. Despite being inside the press room, his shaded Aviator sunglasses were still perched atop his face as he continued, “This (holds up Wally) fixes you.”
In all his years of defying death, flying down a drag strip at 300-plus mph, there’s only one thing that troubles Force as he looks down the road.
“The hard part is thinking you’re gonna have to give it up. And you’re gonna have to, sooner or later. You just can’t go until you fall in the dirt,” Force said. “I just can’t believe I’m still doing this, but man, I love it so much. And if I quit, that’s what really scares me.”