NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Gainesville Raceway has always held a special place in John Force’s heart, providing plenty of memories along the way. His seven Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals victories are a Funny Car best, but it was the moments leading up to his first win in 1992 at the track that really stand out.

“I’m a West Coast guy, and in the early days, I had never been to the East Coast,” Force said. “I went to Englishtown and Gainesville. My first reaction to getting to the Gatornationals was it was unbelievable. It was a happening, and there were so many people there. There were people there from all over the country and even Canada. It was more than a drag race. It was a chance for people to get to some warm weather and enjoy the beauty of Florida. For me, my first memory was the Holiday Inn when I saw ‘the Snake’ [Don Prudhomme] and ‘the Mongoose’ [Tom McEwen] and I saw how the people reacted to them. They were walking idols. That is where the dream of wanting to be a star started.

“Just to be beat up by ‘Mongoose,’ the people you dreamed to be like, that was unimaginable. The dream wasn’t winning it was just qualifying. I was lucky if I could make the show. If you got in the show, you got picked off in the first round. The dream was there to someday win it.”

 

Force did it for the first time in 1992, kicking off a string of five straight victories in Gainesville. But the iconic star hasn’t won at the track since 2001, a streak he would love to break in 2016. In preparing for the race, Force can’t help but look back one more time to the early days of racing at the facility.

 

“The ride to the racetrack was where the dream really started every day,” Force said. “I remember talking to guys like Tripp Shumake and Gary Densham, they were the little guys like me. The Prudhommes, the Garlits, and Shirley Muldowney all walked on water. I couldn’t even talk to them. We went there to chase the dream and [wife] Laurie went with me. You wanted to stand on the starting line with the dream to win. There were great times there for me. The first time I won the Gatornationals was big. That was a big-time race.”

The 50th anniversary celebration of Funny Car is taking place this year, and the immense history of the class is something that is not lost on Force.

 

“Prudhomme and [Kenny] Bernstein moved to Top Fuel, and the Funny Car world was changing,” Force said. “[Al] Hoffman was a fighter. Cruz [Pedregon] was always right in the heat of battle. The ’90s were a new era of Funny Car. We were match racing all the time, too. Cruz, [Chuck] Etchells, and Hoffman and us would match race. Prudhomme had all the money, along with McEwen and Garlits, so they could race just the national events. We would have to race in the next town at a match race. We were all over the East Coast just trying to make a living. That is where we earned the money to get to the national event. We were selling T-shirts out of the back of our trailers. It was a different world.

 

“In the early days when I was trying to win the Gatornationals, I was on fire almost every time. I was on fire sideways, and then you got out of the race car screaming at [NHRA announcer] Steve Evans about how awesome racing was and capturing that moment. It was never about going to the Gatornationals and being a champion. I would love to hear the cheer of the crowd because I was brave or dumb enough to drive one of these cars when it was on fire. It was about chasing the dream and the struggle. The struggle is what makes you who you are. My kids are going through that now. It you didn’t have a struggle then winning would have no meaning.”