Reports of John Force’s demise were definitely premature.

The legendary Force has been in stellar form lately.

In the last three races at Bristol, Tenn., Epping, N.H., and Chicago, Force has one win and two runner-up finishes.

The 15-time NHRA Funny Car world champion kept his hot streak going Friday at the national event at Norwalk, Ohio.

Reports of John Force’s demise were definitely premature.

The legendary Force has been in stellar form lately.

In the last three races at Bristol, Tenn., Epping, N.H., and Chicago, Force has one win and two runner-up finishes.

The 15-time NHRA Funny Car world champion kept his hot streak going Friday at the national event at Norwalk, Ohio.

Force clocked a 4.021-second elapsed time at 317.72 mph to grab the provisional pole at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

“I was amazed at it because it was hotter than heck (Friday),” Force said. “We ran that (4.13) in the heat, but we kind of got a handle on it. We are OK, but we are not where we want to be to win a championship. There are just a bunch of good race cars out here. To get low for tonight, I’m just happy. We need some good weather and great races for the fans. I’m excited right now because I get to race with the big boys. They have been spanking me here for a few years. Even (Don) Schumacher started saying he was my friend, feeling sorry for me. I do not need to be felt sorry for at all. I will fix my hot rod one way or the other.”

Force, who won his last world title in 2010, was quick to credit his team for his success.

“Mike Neff (Force’s crew chief) and Jon Schaffer give me a good car with that team,” Force said. “We will see what happens. Low ET doesn’t win you a race - in fact it puts you on the edge. Let’s see if it will hold and then we will celebrate.”

Force acknowledged he has taken some pointers from Neff this season.

“Neff is good,” Force said. “We have been trying a lot of stuff. Neff being a driver, some of the mistakes I made as a driver, we have talked about. One of them (the things we talked about) was I living in that gym trying to be a gorilla. I still have these Budweiser abs. (Earlier in the year), He told me I was way oversteering the car. You are the one taking it out of the groove. I thought it ain’t smoking the tires. We started watching videos and he took me to class because he understood it as a driver. The kid has a lot of talent, not only tuning but driving. He really helped me calm down and quit steering it. My other car was a dump truck and this new car is like power steering. You have to finesse it like a dragster. We are a team. We win together and we lose together.”

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