Force Admits He's "Getting Trounced On"
August 5 - After losing in the first round of last Sunday’s FRAM/Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway, then watching Gary Scelzi beat Dodge teammate Ron Capps to win the Funny Car championship, John Force acknowledged that he has his rivals right where he wants them.
“I said at Pomona that I thought this was going to be one of the toughest years because of that three-car team (assembled by rival Don Schumacher). I know all those kids. They’re good drivers: (Whit) Bazemore, Capps and Scelzi. And now they’ve got good hot rods, so they’re on their game and, obviously, we’re not," explained Force.
“I’m getting trounced on, but that’s good for me because that motivates me. Now they’ve given me the fight that I needed to get back in this ball game. If they kick my butt, which they could, well God bless ‘em, but they’re going to go down with my nose bleeding. This is exactly what I needed. I wish I had a race next week."
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“I told my guys, ‘let’s quit racing scared.’ When you’re after the championship, you always back it off a little bit and stay safe. But now, I ain’t got nothing to lose. So you want to play hard ball? Let’s play hard ball.”
Force wasn’t the only Team Castrol member to make an early exit Sunday although his fourth consecutive first round loss and record eighth of the season attracted more attention than any other.
Points leader Robert Hight also was ousted in round one in the Team Castrol/Auto Club of Southern California Ford, and Eric Medlen lost a 4.880-4.885 showdown to Capps in round two. Only Ashley Force, driving the Castrol/Hot Wheels dragster was able to get as far as the semifinals, but no further.
Although he still leads Scelzi by 16 points, Hight took the setback particularly hard.
“I sat with Robert in the trailer,” Force said. “I said ‘what do you think?’ He took a breath. He goes, ‘I think I’m sick at my stomach.’ Force replied, ‘well, welcome to the party. I’ve had a gutache for 14 years and, well, now you finally got it. Now is the test. Because if you can take that gutache and turn it into an ET slip, you can win like I have.’ Me, I need to have that gutache and, buddy, I got it today.”
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