John Force hates racing without Austin Coil.

The 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion from Yorba Linda, Ca., said that was the best way to describe how it felt to race without his longtime crew chief and tuner during the first day of the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, he hated it.

“Me and Coil have been partners, this is our 25th year,” said a physically drained Force following the single session of qualifying. “It’s hard for him to be in that hospital bed. I don’t like it.”

Force said he and Coil made the decision heading into the weekend for the brain-trust to handle his team’s tuning during the U.S. Nationals. He’s also leaning on the kin folk.

John Force hates racing without Austin Coil.

The 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion from Yorba Linda, Ca., said that was the best way to describe how it felt to race without his longtime crew chief and tuner during the first day of the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, he hated it.

“Me and Coil have been partners, this is our 25th year,” said a physically drained Force following the single session of qualifying. “It’s hard for him to be in that hospital bed. I don’t like it.”

Force said he and Coil made the decision heading into the weekend for the brain-trust to handle his team’s tuning during the U.S. Nationals. He’s also leaning on the kin folk.

“My son-in-law Danny [Hood] was there backing me up [from the burnout] making sure everything was okay,” Force said. “We’ll be okay.”

Hood has been working under the tutelage of Coil and Bernie Fedderly.

“He’s learning, it’s just going to take some time,” Force said of Hood.

For this weekend, Force is in the capable hands of Fedderly, a veteran tuner who first tasted Indy success winning the 1980 Top Fuel crown with the unlikeliest of winners in Terry Capps. He and Ed McCulloch later teamed up for multiple Indy wins.

Force remembers what it was like to be on the receiving end of the Fedderly/McCulloch combination.

“Bernie is just the best,” Force said. “He knows what Coil did. I just think a lot of him.”

As for Coil, Force said they talked once on Friday.

“He wanted me to get out there and stay focused,” Force said. “I called him right before I ran and said, ‘Let’s pray for you. I told him I loved him. The first thing he asked was where was his big screen.” 

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