Cruz Pedregon wasn't wrong when asked about 16-time John Force before their semi-final match at the NHRA Heartland Nationals in Topeka, Kansas.

"He's got some miles, but he's pretty good," Pedregon said. 

Force beat Pedregon to advance to the Funny Car final round, where he knocked off No. 1 qualifier J.R. Todd to pick up national event win No. 154 in his storied career. 

Pedregon, now Force's friendly rival, had the champ scratching his head before the final. 

"Cruz Pedregon was hugging me at the other end," Force said following his semi-final victory. "I don't know why. One [brother] wants to beat me up, and the other guy wants to hug me. He was just excited because he cares. He knows what it takes. He knows how hard it is to keep winning."

But this was the kind of day Force had, keeping focused amid distractions all day. 

"God lives in Topeka," Force said he declared in a group setting, which was his first troublesome moment. "And then I joked and I got in trouble. And [God] lives in a trailer court down here," and the lady goes, 'That ain't funny." 

"But I grew up in trailer courts."

Trailer courts aside, Force knew the past NHRA champion Todd was going to bring him all the battle he could handle. 

"I just had a car that was pretty fast," Force said. "Wasn't the quickest. J.R. Todd was the quickest. I told him in the final, 'You're the baddest kid on the planet here in Topeka.

"I don't know what the reactions were, and I don't want to know, but J.R. Todd, he was out, and I tried to steal all I could on that tree. And he was out there, and I could see just the nose of him. And then he got in trouble. I went around him at the other end."

Todd smoked the tires enabling Force to drove around for his tenth career Topeka win. He also managed to wrestle away the point lead from both Bob Tasca and Ron Capps, who traded the lead like a tennis match. It was anyone's game headed into Topeka with only three rounds separating the first six places. 

It's the first time Force has led the points standings since 2014.

"I don't want to even look at the points," Force admitted. "They told me in the semis that I had taken the lead, but Todd could have taken it away. That'll jump around. It is what it is, but I love racing. And they're always asking me, 'What would make you happiest?" 

"What hit me today was, we had a crowd here. Friday was off, but Saturday and Sunday was good. It wasn't packed, but it was good. And that's where our hearts are, with the people. Otherwise, to win doesn't matter if nobody's there. And so I said on TV, "We're going to bring it. We want a crowd, but I'm telling people, 'Get off the couch. I want to see a packed house at Indy.'" 

"That's what I want. And we will entertain you, not just John Force racing, but the racers do because our hearts are in it. And when we see the crowd, we come alive, and that's what we really want. We want our crowds back. This pandemic has been tough on the kids, the adults. Let us entertain you. Come here."

It's only fitting that Force got another win at the track where he achieved his most emotional victory ever. In 2008, Force fought his way to a win after the Dallas crash that nearly ended his career. 

And for Force, he made a bit of history this time, scoring only the third father-daughter victory since 2004. Daughter Brittany won Top Fuel from the No. 1 qualifying position. 

Force looked back to 2008, in the midst of this monumental occasion for the drive his daughters instilled in him. 

"They told me I was finished, and I'm looking at my daughters, and they are like, 'Dad, you can't be finished,"; I've recalled. 

"I wanted to be around here to teach them. Now they're teaching me. I want to tell her things about a dragster; I've never driven one."

Force seems to be racing these days with an extra pep in his step. He swears he's not out to prove anything. He says it's just Force being Force. 

"I've done it all. I don't need to prove nothing. When it's over ... a guy asked me, 'Well, how will you retire?" 

"One day, they'll say, 'Anybody seen Force?" 

"Because a couple of times, at races, in the last few years, I wanted to get on my bike and drive out the gate just to go down the road and see what's on the other side. But I hear the nitromethane, and I charge back in the gate, like a drug addict. That's the way I've always been."

And as Pedregon puts it, "He's got some miles, but he's pretty good."