The legend who is John Force is still alive and well.

Force, a 16-time NHRA nitro Funny Car world champ, captured his first No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceway in Seattle.

Force clocked a 3.915-second elapsed time at 327.35 mph in Q4 in his PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS to grab the No. 1 spot.

It’s Force’s 166th career No. 1 qualifier, and he’s trying to add his NHRA nitro Funny Car record 155 national event wins. Force received a first-round bye and will face the winner of Chad Green vs. Alexis DeJoria in round two.

“Well, first of all, I got my good luck charm here, Jacob,” Force said. “He's a Junior Dragster driver, but he's also a hockey player, and really good at it, at both. But his dad tunes my car. Ashley, my Funny Car driver, this is her boy, and Danny does a great job. He's got (Tim) Fabrisi to back him up, and a great bunch of guys that really support me.

“But when you're out here, and you've got four teams – and there's Cornwell Tools, there's Flav-R-Pac, there's Monster, Montana Brand, Robert Hight with Auto Club, and me with Peak – you've got so many people to represent, it's hard to make everybody happy. We've got a race to win (Sunday). Our cars are good. Some are a little bit off, some are hot. I didn't think we'd be that fast. But like Danny said, hang on. When he does that, I know he's pushing it. But I'm excited, and I love Seattle, and Frank Tiegs sponsors this race with Flav-R-Pac, and I want to hear my grandson just tell you how much he loves his dad and his mom and how much he loves drag racing.”

Jacob said the following:

“I love racing because it's fast, and I love my parents because they make my grandpa go fast and win races and get number one,” he said.

Force has a race-record nine wins at the Northwest Nationals (1991, 1993-94, 1996, 2000, 2003-04, 2014, and 2019) – the second most he's won at a single event, the first being in Brainerd, Minn., where he's won 11 times. His most recent Seattle win in 2019 was a milestone, his 150th career victory. A moment he shared with, at the time, rookie Austin Prock as he had his first career victory. Force has now qualified No. 1 for the Northwest Nationals six times (1990, 1998-99, 2001, 2014 and 2023).

“I grew up in a lot of places. My dad was a logger,” Force said. “I lived in up here in Seattle. I lived all over. We're gypsies in a trailer house, and five brothers and sisters. But I love coming into the trees. I got trees planted all over my property, Christmas trees, that I won't live long enough to see them tall. But it's funny, the days beat you up, and you feel like everything's going wrong, and then all of a sudden you run like that, you get young again. You get healthy. And that's pathetic, but that's the way it works, okay? I'm just a good time in my life, but I'm struggling with a lot of personal issues that I go through with how things ought to be, because the new world, everyone's changing. And what I've got to do is adapt to them because there's too many. You know what I'm saying? And that's just from fans to sponsors to the people that work with me. But I can't complain. Love Seattle.”

With several NHRA tracks leaving the NHRA national schedule, Force doesn’t want Pacific Raceways to be added to the list.

“We've got to keep this track. We got to put a crowd in here tomorrow,” Force said. “We did (Saturday). (Friday) was light, but today it was strong. If we can do that (Sunday), then maybe we can keep Flav-R-Pac coming back because Frank Tiegs loves it. But you got to have people to make sales, and we did today. So, let's do it (Sunday). Let's have a safe race. Let's have a great race.”

Force also acknowledged the race weekend doesn’t start on Fridays for his team.

“We came into town. Brittany (Force) started with Sara (Slaughter) early in the morning, went all day to basketball, and with those ladies, and they got some great video. Then we went out, and she did media. We went out and did the fanfest over here that they put together with the big car show. That's what we've done in the old days. That's what makes it work for NHRA and the track and everybody to work together. So, that was pretty exciting.

“Things are changing, and we've got to adapt to it. Media's different than it was. Newspapers and all the stuff. We got to keep selling them. We got to keep preaching the gospel. Here I am, doing what I did in Denver. I should talk drag racing. I'm sorry. But I want to see these tracks stick around. We're excited to come here, and I won my 150th here, and I've won more since then, but I'm excited. My grandson always gives me that magic touch that I need, high-fives and all that, with my wife in the car, and then we go out there and run like that. So, I was real proud.”

Currently eighth in the NHRA points standings, Force is seeking his first win of the 2023 Camping World season.