John Force might embellish a story, and he might live in the gray areas of the rulebook. But the 16-time champion said he will not cheat.

While the accusations fly of steadfast cheating in the Funny Car ranks today, history buffs will recall when a fellow competitor accused the cagey veteran of bending the rules. 

The year was 1995, and Force, at the NHRA Atsco Nationals in Phoenix, struggled in qualifying, barely making the 16-car field and in the bottom half of the qualifying list, with a 5.34 elapsed time. NHRA's tech scrutinized with every qualifying run, and the more scrutiny he faced, the worse he did. 

The late Al Hofmann accused Force of having a traction control device on his car. And, when NHRA Tech tore down the car repeatedly only to find nothing, further allegations suggested the device was on Force's person.

Multi-time NHRA Funny Car champion Robert Hight worked on Force's 1995 crew and witnessed the scenario.

"We had been accused of cheating," Hight said. "We weren't cheating; we were just struggling in qualifying. We were in a funk. We had qualified 15th. [Tuners] Austin [Coil] and Bernie [Fedderly] got their act together on Sunday, and we won the race. We started running like we know how to do."

Force beat Tom Hoover in the final round to win the event, but his semi-final triumph over his accuser Hofmann left the drag racing world with one of the most troubling "can't unsee" moments.

Force handily beat Hofmann and emerged from the car, taking off safety equipment and tossing it aside. He didn't toss the helmet, but it happened as soon as he got it off. 

Force unzipped his firesuit and pulled it to his knees, exposing his jockey shorts. 

"We know they [NHRA] are going to strip-search us," Force said while raising his arms in the air to bear all. "We are not cheating; we want to tell the fans we ain't doing anything illegal. They checked my hot rod; ain't nothing wrong with her. We were just struggling."

A much older and wiser Force remembered the incident with much chagrin.

"I probably should have worn cleaner underwear," Force said with a grin. "I didn't think anyone was going to be there, but everyone got pictures. 

Force believed Hofmann should have known better since he had visited Force's chassis builder, Steve Pleuger, and inspected the chassis on his race car. He knew if Force was running traction control that, it would be visible on the chassis mounts. 

"He saw my cars and saw there wasn't anything," Force explained. "I guess he overlooked the fact I had two of the best tuners in the business, Austin and Bernie, and they could make me run low elapsed time down a dirt road. 

"When people run good, the accusations are gonna fly. Did we always push the rules? Yes, we did and stayed within the rules. 

Not that Hight didn't already know it; he learned that Force wasn't your normal boss. 

"Yeah, that was quite the moment," Hight said, shaking his head with a smile. 

Force didn't hold any hard feelings towards Hofmann and considered him to be a favorite adversary. 

"He even came up to me and apologized, said he was wrong," Force said. 

But what was wrong was indeed seeing Force strip down to his underwear. That was wrong on so many fronts.