On Saturday and Sunday during the 2010 March Meet at famed Auto Club Raceway at Famoso 14-time Funny Car champion John Force enjoyed meeting old friends and watching Funny Cars from his early days roar down the track. As the event’s Grand Marshal Force was on hand signing autographs for sponsor Auto Club of Southern California and enjoying a trip down memory lane.

“There were cars out there that spanked me years ago. Cars like the Blue Max. I used to drive for Steve Plueger (who was tuning the LA Hooker at the March Meet). What is really cool is that (Force’s son-in-law and 2009 Funny Car champion) Robert (Hight) said that I have to get back up here. I came here for 10-15 years in my early days of racing. I won here in 1984 and crashed here a number of times. I love this place and I love the fans,” said Force from the Famoso tower.  “I love coming back here. It is a real drag race. I was amazed by the crowds that are up here. (NHRA Vice-President) Steve Gibbs told me they are big and I was just amazed at all the people in the pits and all that is going on. God bless them. They never forgot where we came from. I am as old as all these guys nobody knows it though. There are guys that I didn’t recognize because I was on fire so much in the old days.”

On Saturday and Sunday during the 2010 March Meet at famed Auto Club Raceway at Famoso 14-time Funny Car champion John Force enjoyed meeting old friends and watching Funny Cars from his early days roar down the track. As the event’s Grand Marshal Force was on hand signing autographs for sponsor Auto Club of Southern California and enjoying a trip down memory lane.

“There were cars out there that spanked me years ago. Cars like the Blue Max. I used to drive for Steve Plueger (who was tuning the LA Hooker at the March Meet). What is really cool is that (Force’s son-in-law and 2009 Funny Car champion) Robert (Hight) said that I have to get back up here. I came here for 10-15 years in my early days of racing. I won here in 1984 and crashed here a number of times. I love this place and I love the fans,” said Force from the Famoso tower.  “I love coming back here. It is a real drag race. I was amazed by the crowds that are up here. (NHRA Vice-President) Steve Gibbs told me they are big and I was just amazed at all the people in the pits and all that is going on. God bless them. They never forgot where we came from. I am as old as all these guys nobody knows it though. There are guys that I didn’t recognize because I was on fire so much in the old days.”

As Force walked through the pits fans stopped him for photos and autographs. Force enjoyed talking with the tuners and drivers who were giving old and new fans a glimpse of drag racing history.

“I am pretty excited to be here. (Steve) Plueger is out in the pits. My brother Louis is here who I ran the Nightstalker Funny Car with. That Funny Car is out in the Auto Club tent. The Condit Brothers are here. This is pretty exciting for me. I saw Austin Coil here and talked to Gary Beck. There are so many legends here. People like Gordie Bonin and Roland Leong,” reflected Force during the event.

In addition to being a fixture on the starting line for the Funny Car qualifying and elimination sessions Force took in dragster action and the sportsman racers.

“I wanted to show all the racers my respect. I wasn’t here just to see the Funny Cars. I loved seeing all the cars and drivers. I went down to the swap meet to see if there were any of my old parts down there. When we pulled in on Saturday I saw a Chaparral trailer that looked just like the one I used to have. I would have sworn it was mine. This was an emotional weekend for me. Seeing these cars, they looked so great racing down the track, it made me remember the times that it was me and my wife Laurie driving up here and racing. Those were great times,” said Force.