John Force is blaming his medication for last weekend’s “woe is me, I’m old and I’m done,” interviews last weekend following NHRA national event victory No. 157.
One might have wondered as after his top-end interview, Force handed his trophy to Prock and walked away. Some believed Force had quit on the spot.
“I went back and I said, ‘Did I lose my mind? What did I say?” Force responded when he asked in the days following Epping if he was going to Bristol. “I went back. I know I went in the press room, said a lot of stuff. I’m a 100 years old. I got to leave here sometime. All I was saying is, ‘Here’s the future of John Force racing, this kid right here.”
“I handed him the trophy. Because one thing, the fans, they really react funny. A driver maybe takes my seat, might make some of them mad. So I’m just telling them early, ‘Don’t waste your time. He’s coming because we want to keep winning.”
“He’s the guy that will be able to do that for me if I quit in the next 25 years.”
Force will be 100 when that time comes.
“I’ll be ready to retire by then,” Force said with his trademark smile.
Next 25 days. No, did it again.
But just the thought of replacing what some feel is the greatest Funny Car racer of all time, Funny Car rookie Austin Prock rolls through interviews with ease, but this possibility leaves him searching for the right words.
“I’m really speechless over a comment like that,” Prock said. “Even to be in the position I’m in at John Force Racing is a dream come true. I’ve been working towards being a professional race car driver since I was about ten years old, and have been very, very blessed to race under the people that I have. I love racing here at John Force Racing. For him to say that, it makes me feel good about myself. I feel like all the hard work that I’ve put in over the years is paying off, and I just want to do a great job for him.
“He took a huge risk on me, hiring me back in 2017. I’d never been down a drag strip. All I did was circle track stuff, midgets, and spring cars, and he said, ‘You want to come drive one of these kid?”
“You’re not going to say no when the g.o.a.t. (greatest of all time) asks you a question like this. I’ve just been working really hard to try and make him proud of me.”
