Halfway through the 2010 racing season, John Force stands as the most significant driver in all of American motorsports.

Think about that, drag racing fans.

And be PROUD.

This is the star-spangled reality as of July 4:

Halfway through the 2010 racing season, John Force stands as the most significant driver in all of American motorsports.

Think about that, drag racing fans.

And be PROUD.

This is the star-spangled reality as of July 4:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t won a Sprint Cup race in over two years, at a cost to his reputation, popularity and marketability. Danica Patrick sometimes seems distracted in a sort of no-woman’s-land between her IndyCar fame and NASCAR future. Jeff Gordon’s Drive for Five Cup championships hasn’t taken him to the winner’s circle.

Jimmie Johnson keeps visiting victory lane but his image is vanilla in a double-espresso/triple-rich chocolate society. Dario Franchitti drank the milk at the Indianapolis 500 but is better known to the public-at-large for being married to Ashley Judd. Ashley Force Hood has qualified but not finished No. 1, out of the short attention span of the national media after 2009’s oh-so-close-to-history/could-have-been/probably-should-have-been championship season.

That leaves Big John as the country’s most significant driver. I choose that adjective carefully, distinct from “important” or “best,” using as my guide these dictionary definitions: “Meaningful; momentous and influential; substantial; occurring not merely by chance.”

Sounds like John Force to me!

It’s a somewhat surprising turn of events in the straight-line sport.  

Let us remember (as if John could forget!) that ‘09 was the first year he didn’t grab a Wally since 1986. Back in those ancient times, Ronald Reagan was president, the Soviet Union still existed, Platoon won the Best Picture Oscar, That’s What Friends Are For topped the music charts, and Don Garlits, Kenny Bernstein and Bob Glidden were NHRA’s pro class champions.

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Let us also remember, it’s been less than three years since Force suffered serious, multiple and -- what for others -- might well have been career-ending injuries at the Texas Motorplex.  

And, let us further remember, the fans are again cheering Force and his 25th anniversary Castrol GTX High-Mileage Ford Mustang after the sound and fury of last season’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals semifinals. Which, as it turned out, signified nothing. Son-in-law Robert Hight dominated the Countdown, winning 50 percent of those playoff games in the Auto Club Mustang, making fumes of any question as to the legitimacy of his title.  

Now it’s Force with four wins and the Full Throttle championship advantage after the first 13 Nationals. Yes, credit new co-crew chief Mike Neff and other inter-team maneuverings, but . . .     

“He still has the desire,” Hight said to me at a January test. “He told me all winter, ‘I’m coming after you.’”

Force’s “60 is the new 40” quote got a lot of media traction – at least until Joey Logano famously said Kevin Harvick’s wife, DeLana, “wears the firesuit in the family.” Even before the season’s first pre-staged beam was lit at Pomona, however, Force Hood was marveling at her father’s renewed determination.

“I don’t know how he does it,” she told me. “I can barely keep up with what I’m supposed to do and I only do about one of every five of his jobs. He must drink a lot of coffee or something.

“I joke about that but . . . we’ve had family interventions and say, ‘One person cannot do all of this. You’re going to have a heart attack. We need you around here.’”    

Sitting in his motorhome, I asked Force about the state of his physical health and competitive spirit. Because, after all, he had billed 2009 as the year of “No Excuses.”

“I’m a guy that the cup is not half-empty, it’s half-full,” he said. “In the hospital when they told me I might not walk again without a crutch or cane, I said, ‘These guys don’t know who they’re talking to.’ Anybody who tells me I can’t, they are my motivation. Any driver that says to me, ‘Hey, we love you, it’s OK you didn’t win a race,’ they only light my fire.

“I was an underdog growing up. We had to share that baloney sandwich with my brothers and sisters. Being an underdog is what makes me a fighter. Being on top worries me. Put me back down on the bottom where I started, and I’ll show you how to get back to the top.

“I told Ashley, ‘Don’t worry about your old man until they put him in the coffin. That’s when I can’t help you. She worries more about me winning than herself. I told her, ‘I’m coming after you. I’m coming after Robert’. Now, I’m in shape to win.”

After winning at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in April, with daughter Courtney looking on in the media center, Force said something that told me a lot about what’s going on within him:

“I want to show my kids I can still do it.”

America loves a winner. And a great comeback story.

That’s why, at least at mid-season, John Force is this country’s most significant driver.


 

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