John Force will do what it takes to race competitively again, even if he has to race naked.

That’s what being the No. 17 qualifier in a 16-car field will do to a man.

Now the naked Force refers to is not the clothing on his person, the term refers to his Castrol GTX Mustang.

The carbon-fiber body that cloaks his chassis will be minus the traditional paint with minimal Castrol identification. It’s all about weight. It’s all about ensuring he’s not the odd man out during this weekend’s 21st annual FRAM/Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.

How bad did the DNQ at last weekend’s Seattle event hurt him? Fourteen-time world champion enjoys the finer things in life with a bucket of popcorn …

John Force will do what it takes to race competitively again, even if he has to race naked.

That’s what being the No. 17 qualifier in a 16-car field will do to a man.

Now the naked Force refers to is not the clothing on his person, the term refers to his Castrol GTX Mustang.

The carbon-fiber body that cloaks his chassis will be minus the traditional paint with minimal Castrol identification. It’s all about weight. It’s all about ensuring he’s not the odd man out during this weekend’s 21st annual FRAM/Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway.

How bad did the DNQ at last weekend’s Seattle event hurt him?

At seventh in the points, with a second DNQ, Force's thoughts of being  a cinch for a Countdown to the Championship berth appears in jeopardy. When the playoffs are in question, Force, the ultimate drag racing coach, springs his team into action.

"We're re-evaluating our race car," Force said. "We found some gremlins in the fuel system and we found that it's 30-40 pounds heavier than Robert's," a reference to the Auto Club Ford Mustang of son-in-law and teammate Robert Hight.

"I've still got that fight at 59 years old (and) my other three cars are doing too good for our car to be struggling like this," he said. "I'm still up in the Top 10 (No. 7); I can still make the Countdown, but this isn't the car it used to be."

"We've got to get back to the basics," said the 126-time tour winner. "At the end of the day, I want to be safe, but I still want to win. That's what it's all about."

The fire is still there for a man who just ten months ago was laying in a hospital bed in Dallas, Texas, with a compound fracture of the left ankle and broken bones in every other appendage.

Force is still about winning in everything he does.

"I don't want to just fill a spot," Force said. "if you can't deliver as a driver, it's not fair to these young kids to stay in the seat just because you own the car. They work to hard for that. We're gonna fix the problems with our car. We're gonna be fine."

And, you know why Force was fine after the Seattle shortcoming?

He went to the movies and ate some popcorn. He went to see the late Heath Ledger, who died before the movie’s release of an apparent overdose.

“If they call me tomorrow and tell me I got cancer, I’ll address that,” Force said to a gathering of reporters in the Seattle press room.

He continued, “I’m going to take my daughters to the movies tonight and eat some popcorn. I’ll probably be signing autographs in the third row.”