NHRA MELLO YELLOW DRAG RACING SERIES
NGK SPARK PLUGS NHRA FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS
ZMAX DRAGWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 27, 2018
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier and winner at Phoenix; No. 1 qualifier at Las Vegas; No. 2 qualifier at Houston; holds track Funny Car elapsed time record, set in April 2017; No. 1 qualifier in 2017 spring race) met with members of the media at zMax Dragway and discussed a number of topics) Full Transcript:
TALK ABOUT THE PERSEVERANCE THAT JOHN FORCE RACING HAS HAD TO GET TO THIS POINT AFTER A ROUGH START TO 2018:
“It’s definitely been a rough start for sure, but it’s been alright. I feel like we tested a lot in the offseason and I feel like our Advance Auto Parts team came out second race with Brian Corradi and ended up with a win. It was a rough day in itself with my dad’s crash and having him go off to the hospital and get checked out, but we ended up with a win by the end of the day at Phoenix. Then for Brittany to come out and get the win last weekend in Houston was pretty awesome. It’s definitely been a roller coaster start for all of us, but it really goes to show the level of commitment for all of our teams and like you said, the perseverance of all of us. We are just pushing forward because we want to do well out here and we want to run well for our sponsors. Is drag racing and there is going to be some tough things going on and there is going to be some ups and downs, but it’s a matter of how you come out on top and push forward.”
LAST YEAR YOUR TEAM HAD SEVEN NO. 1 QUALIFIERS, TWO OF WHICH CAME AT THIS TRACK. TALK ABOUT YOUR SUCCESS AT THIS ZMAX DRAGWAY
“Yeah, we have done pretty well here but have yet to take home a win. This is one track where it was awesome last year getting the No. 1 qualifier last time. This is the home track for my primary sponsor Advance Auto Parts and it’s a track I would absolutely love to get a win at. I love coming out here to Concord (North Carolina) and to zMax Dragway. Bruton Smith always does it right and it’s a lot of fun to race on. I love all his race tracks, but specifically here because it’s a home track of my sponsors. We would love to end up in the winner’s circle with everyone from Advance and the customers and everyone to just be able to hopefully celebrate a big win and hopefully to get ourselves back up there in points. We dropped a couple spots all in one weekend just because we went out early. So, we are hoping that doesn’t happen this weekend and that we have a long and successful day on Sunday.”
DRIVERS EITHER LOVE OR HATE THE FOUR-WIDE FORMAT. WHAT SIDE DO YOU FALL ON?
“Well, you know, it’s unique. I think everyone has their own opinion from going from the traditional two-wide to four-wide, but to be honest, if you look at it, these races are selling out in the stands and that is the most important thing. So, it’s definitely caught the attention of a lot of people and that is amazing. That is the whole point of why Bruton Smith does something that is so crazy, so new, and something that fans and drivers have never seen before. Then you look back to the 60s or 70s and I saw a photo and they were running cars four wide then. I think that was kind of cool to full circle it out here. It’s a big challenge for the drivers, the teams, and the crew chiefs. This is also an opportunity for the crew chiefs to flex their muscles and show what they got because you have one shot in each lane when you come to a four-wide track and you have to be ready for it on race day. You have to figure it out quick and it really shows where these teams are at. It’s a challenge for everybody, the drivers included – especially in staging. You used to only see this kind of Christmas Tree once a year and now we have Vegas, and these are the only two tracks like this in our entire NHRA season. I think it’s pretty cool because its unique, and there is a lot going on. It can get a little confusing, but it can be exciting because it’s so overwhelming and just so much horsepower and speed all at once.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED WHEN YOUR DAD MISSED THE SHOW LAST RACE OUT AND WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE CLASS RIGHT NOW? SEEMS LIKE THE COMPETITION HAS RATCHED UP A NOTCH?
“Yeah, absolutely. It was a little bit of a shock and they had struggled a little bit from the start of the season and have continued to test, continued to push forward and try to figure out what the problem is. They find one and sometimes its creating another. But I think that they have got it handled and I think they have had a lot of automatic shutoff issues. That was kind of the biggest thing that kind of took them away from getting in the field last week, but he was safe by the end of the day and that is what I really care about. I know that he and his entire Peak team was extremely bummed about it. That is not the performance that they were looking for and you know that you are going to see them pushing hard this weekend because they are all a little bit frustrated. But I know that they have a great team over there and all of our teams are working together to help each other out to figure out the problem. It’s not just them trying to do it themselves, we are all just trying to come together and solve it, so we can learn from it, move on to the next race, and hopefully perform better.”
FATHER’S DAY IS COMING UP, IS THERE A PARTICULAR MEMORY YOU HAVE OF HIM IN YOUR TIME IN RACING?
“We would always love coming out to spend Father’s Day with him but now it’s kind of a twist because now I get to race with him on Father’s Day which makes it even more fun. I get to be in the lane next to him and try to take him down for the win, but I don’t want to ruin Father’s Day for him. But at the same time, I don’t mind giving him the day off. It works both ways and I think he has been pretty proud of what my sisters and I have done. I have followed in his footsteps and I think that in itself should be a pretty good Father’s Day gift. But we love picking on him and giving him a hard time, but just being around him even since we were kids and watch him compete and celebrate Father’s Day with him at dinner or whatever it may be. It’s always been a lot of fun to be with him, but it’s always been at a race track.”
DOES IT BRING AN EXTRA SENSE OF CALM IN COMING INTO THIS WEEKNED AFTER JUST HAVING DONE THIS IN JUST OVER A MONTH AGO?
“Definitely. To be coming from Vegas where they opened up the four-wide track…..they did a phenomenal job with it there. I saw a lot of fans posting on social media about how excited they were because they hadn’t been able to come out here to see the four-wide and now they have one on the west coast. I think it was good idea for them to expand out there so fans get a feel for it and see it. For us drivers I think it’s awesome because we already got to go through it and normally you are waiting till you get to the one race we have here in Charlotte and trying to figure out the Christmas Tree. Usually by the time you get it figured out, the weekend is over, and you have to wait another year until you see it again. I think it was kind of cool that we all got to go over there in Vegas and see the Christmas Tree and do the four-wide, get the hang of it, and only wait a few more races until we do it again. So, I think it’s definitely going to help a lot of the drivers and teams when coming out this weekend.”
YOUR TEAM HAS BEEN THE ONLY ONE TO NOT HAVE ANY MAJOR ISSUES AND BAD LUCK THIS YEAR. DO YOU FEEL LIKE ITS YOUR TURN OR DO YOU THINK THEY DON’T NEED TO BRING THAT BAD JUJU OVER HERE?
“I don’t think it’s bad juju. These cars don’t want to perform perfectly. You change one thing, and it screws with another thing. It’s just a matter of fixing the problem and figuring it out. I would like to think my episode in Epping was it. So, I am just going to stick with that. The big explosion. For us this year, we don’t plan on anything happening. We just hope to push our car hard and come out with some safe racing by the end of the season.”
HOW DO YOU CONSOLE YOUR DAD, YOUR SISTER, OR ROBERT WHEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT HAPPENS?
“It’s not easy. I think the best way to help my dad after what happened last weekend would have been Brittany’s win. That is the best thing that could have come from that weekend to help him feel better and put him in a better mood.”
DO YOU THINK IT’S A COINCIDENCE THAT EVERY TIME YOUR DAD HAS SOMETHING BAD LIKE PHOENIX AND HOUSTON AND THEN YOU OR YOUR SISTER STEP UP AND WIN?
“I don’t know. I think it definitely puts a little extra fire in my sister and I when we see something like that. Obviously we are a very tight knit family and we don’t like to see dad being down and frustrated with how a team is or how a car is performing. I think that pushes us to just try that much harder to show him that we do all have a great team and we are one team and we are able to come out with the win.”
WHEN HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR FATHER CRY THAT REALLY NUMBED YOU INSIDE?
“He doesn’t cry a lot and it’s usually out here involving something in racing where you can tell he is really proud of what we have accomplished. I think the biggest one would have been when Brittany won the championship last year. I was strapped in my race car and couldn’t be there to see her run, but I could just see a corner of the big screen. I was just as excited and celebrating as much as I could move in my cockpit, but it was the second I saw him fall to his knees. That is when I lost it and I said someone has to loosen my belts up because I can’t breathe. I am crying, and I have to race in two more pairs. It’s tough and that is a big deal if you can make my dad cry because he is proud, then you know you have done something right. It was really a big moment when Brittany won that championship. When I got my first win in my rookie year was another. There have been quite a few times and racing has been my dad’s life and it’s been that way since we were kids. And nothing has changed. It’s cool we get to be a part of the sport with him and try to make him proud though his passion.”