NHRA Funny Car legend John Force was taken to a Richmond-area hospital Sunday afternoon following his fiery, wall-smashing, high-speed crash during the first round of the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals.
The 75-year-old 157-time winner clocked a 302.62-mph victory over Terry Haddock in the right lane at Virginia Motorsports Park before the engine in his PEAK Chevy Camaro exploded in a massive fireball. It propelled him across the track and hard into the left-side wall directly by the driver’s compartment. The car came completely off the concrete surface as it darted back across the track and back into the right lane and made contact with that wall.
Force was able to exit his car and was alert and talking with the Safety Safari workers on site before he entered an ambulance.
His teammate, Austin Prock, had been waiting for him at the top end of the track following his own first-round victory, and he clearly was shaken by the incident.
“He’s one tough son of a bitch, I know that. He’ll be back,” an emotional Prock said of his boss. “It’s just tough to see somebody go through that. I hope he’s all right. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. I know he’ll be back.”
Force’s two-time Top Fuel champion daughter Brittany Force, who upset higher-qualified Jasmine Salinas in Round 1, stayed at the track to face Tony Stewart in the quarterfinals. She lost to Stewart but said when she climbed from her dragster, “My dad’s going to be all right. I was in the ambulance with him, holding his hand. And he’s one of the toughest people I know. So he’ll bounce back, like he always does.”
She said of returning to the track after witnessing a traumatic incident, “It’s something that’s tough. We know that’s a part of the drill. That’s how this sport goes. I wouldn’t be his daughter if I wasn’t back up here in that car, trying to win this thing with this team for him.”
