NHRA News: Force closes in on drag racing's most cherished record (5/15/2000)

Force closes in on drag racing's win record

by Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
5/13/2000

"If I'm lucky enough to pass him and get No. 86, I not going to get out of the car and yell 'I beat Glidden.' "
-- John Force

The sport of drag racing is entering a historic period. It's expected that somewhere over the course of the next few events, Funny Car legend John Force will score wins No. 85 and 86 and pass Pro Stock stalwart Bob Glidden as the winningest driver in the 49-year history of NHRA Championship Drag Racing.

The mark is the most cherished record in the sport as it officially crowns the holder as the most prolific drag racer of all-time. Force, a nine-time Winston champion, has already logged three wins in the first seven events of 2000 to push his grand total to 84 wins. Fellow active driver Warren Johnson, himself a five-time series champion, is close behind with 80 victories.

Glidden racked up 85 wins and 10 championships during his noteworthy career. He retired from the sport in the spring of 1997. Ironically, Glidden's 85th and final win came in 1995 at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., which is the next stop on the NHRA tour -- the 31st annual Matco Tools Spring SuperNationals presented by Racing Champions, which begins Thursday -- where Force may well win his 85th.

Impressive line on his resume
Force, a 51-year-old from Yorba Linda, Calif., admits that even in his award-filled, 23-year career, the all-time national event wins record is something special.

"Whenever I go give a speech somewhere or I'm at a deal where they introduce me," said the driver of the famous Castrol Mustang, "they always say 'Driver of the Year' or 'Winston Champion,' which sounds real nice. But there's a bunch of Driver of the Year guys, right? There's just about a new one every year in every form of racing. And there are a bunch of champions. But there's only one all-time winningest driver in the history of drag racing.

"If it happens, I'm going to enjoy for as long as I can. I know I won't hold the mark forever but I think it'll be there for a while. I just need to talk ol' Warren Johnson into retiring so he doesn't steal it from me.

"I guess I should thank that Jeg (Coughlin) guy. He's kept Warren from passing me this year. I thought he was going to blow right by me. I need to buy that guy dinner or something."

Comparing apples to oranges
Not lost on Force is the difference between his record and those of Glidden and Johnson, who carded their wins in Pro Stock cars.

"It's a weird deal because people say I'm beating Glidden," Force said. "How can I beat Glidden? I never raced the guy. I never raced Warren either. It's really just a goal that's out there that you chase. It's not about beating someone else.

"I don't want to show any disrespect to the Pro Stock guys but I don't know anything about those cars. I sat in one once. That's my entire knowledge of a Pro Stock car. I do know this, those guys race each other down to the finish line every time and it's so close I can't even tell who won. I think I'd have a heart attack before I'd ever even win one race over there.

"You want to see me get killed? Put me in a Pro Stock car. If Glidden and me raced he'd beat me 100 times in a row. But if we lined up in Funny Cars, I'd whup him. You can't compare him and me. I can't say what's harder either because I don't know what it takes to win in Pro Stock.

"I do know this, if I'm lucky enough to pass him and get No. 86, I'm not going to get out of the car and yell 'I beat Glidden.' "

Paying homage
Once Force ties up the title of all-time winningest driver, he'll be taking dead aim at Glidden's other all-time mark of 10 series championships.

"That's the next goal," Force said. "I'll be glad to get them both out of the way. They kind of get in your head and screw with you a little bit. You can't help but think about it all the time because everybody is talking about it everywhere you go.

"It's unbelievable to think I'm so close to these records. Bob Glidden was one of the guys I modeled myself after when I started racing. He was the main man in Pro Stock. No one beat him. Shirley Muldowney and "Big Daddy" Don Garlits ruled in Top Fuel and Tom "the Mongoose" McEwen, Snake (Don Prudhomme), Jungle Jim (Liberman), and the Chi-Town Hustler were the best in Funny Car. I wanted to be just like them.

"The real big thing to me is just the fact that I'm in a contest with Glidden and W.J. That's the event. It's cool just to be mentioned with all these people, and believe me when I say that because I've met all of them and they're all good people."

Sharing it with the fans
As he has throughout his career, Force plans to celebrate the historic feat with his legion of fans.

"Money doesn't motivate me," Force said. "And winning a ring or a trophy doesn't motivate me as much as my association with the fans. My fans are the best anywhere and I'll tell you why, because when I lose they're right there with me just the same as if I win. It's easy to love the guy that wins and I see those people lining up at the WWF pit when (Jerry) Toliver wins a race. But I can go out in Round 1 and my fans are still right there.

"There have been so many times when I've gotten my butt kicked and I feel so bad I want to throw up. Then I'll go back out to watch the next round and the fans are right there. I'll start signing autographs and I'll feel terrible but within a couple of minutes the fans have healed me. That's why I love them. That's why I share my rings and my trophies with them. And that's why I'll party with them when we pass Glidden.

"The fans are what make drag racing special. In baseball, the team loses and they go in the dugout and sneak out the back door and jump in a bus. We're right there with all the fans in the pit. You couldn't avoid them if you wanted to.

"When I won at Atlanta we must have had 500 people at the ropes two hours after the race was over. I was trying to sign for everyone when (crew chief Austin) Coil comes running out and says 'Look, we're on TV.' Well, all 500 of us ran to the back of my pit to watch it on the big-screen TV. They showed the final round and we all started jumping up and down like it had just happened. It was great.

"I'm going to dedicate this time to my fans. Without them it wouldn't matter how many races we've won."

The numbers speak for themselves
After Glidden (85), Force (84), and Johnson (80), the nearest competitor in number of wins is Kenny Bernstein, who has 53 victories (30 in Funny Car and 23 in Top Fuel.) Next is Top Fuel's Joe Amato (50), Prudhomme (49 wins, 35 in Funny Car and 14 in Top Fuel), Pro Stock Bike rider Dave Schultz (44), Top Fueler Garlits (35), the late Motorcycle great John Myers (33), and Pro Stock legend Darrell Alderman (27).

Force's nearest competition in the Funny Car ranks is Prudhomme's 35 wins, Bernstein's 30 wins, and Cruz Pedregon's 21 victories. Alderman's 27 Pro Stock wins represent that class' third highest mark behind Glidden and Johnson.

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