Legend of the NHRA John Force explains that he isn’t retiring.Even though he is 75 years old and still competing, John Force knows who will succeed him when he retires, so his status as a racer won’t remain forever.
Although 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force believes he’s not quite ready to hang up his helmet, his announcement a week ago that Austin Prock would be his successor startled the drag racing community.
While getting ready for the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, the 75-year-old Force remarked, “All I was saying was here is the future of John Force Racing, this kid right here, and I handed him the trophy.” “At my age, there’s no reason for me to stay forever. I couldn’t justify staying in my seat and letting a child with his skill go.
“The fans really react funny, and a driver that takes my seat might make some of them mad, so I’m just telling them early. He’s coming because we want to keep winning and he’s the guy that will be able to do that for me.”
Prock’s family works for John Force Racing, and Force noted he’s known Prock since he was a “little, tiny kid sitting on the tailgate of my truck.”
Force, who won his 157th Funny Car career at the NHRA Mission Foods Series event in Epping, New Hampshire, remarked, “I raced his grandpa in Funny Car and his dad Jimmy (Prock) has been with me forever.” “Well, they’re family, and Austin Prock is a fit here.”
Leading the NHRA Funny Car standings going into the Bristol race, 28-year-old Prock expressed his shock at Force’s remarks.
“We’ve been discussing this for a very long time, but it hasn’t been made public,” the rookie Funny Car driver Prock explains. “When he said it, I thought, ‘Fuck you, John! That is not appropriate for you to say!
