It was a seesaw battle of Funny Car titans today at the 50th Auto Club NHRA Finals as John Force just came up shy of winning his 142 career victory. The 16-time NHRA Mello Yello World Champion was also racing for Funny Car title number seventeen and despite the fact the mathematical odds favored his rival Matt Hagan, Force never gave up and pushed the gas pedal as far as it would go in his 8000 horsepower Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang.
Force understood the 23 points he trailed Hagan by would be tough to make up, but he drove like a machine with a beating heart during Sunday’s eliminations at the iconic Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.
“We were going for it, so was he (Hagan) and my hot rod was trucking in the finals. We tried to run a low 4.00 with it and it was going to but, if it don’t run, it don’t run. Got down there, it started rattling and drove me out of the groove, I tried to pedal it and it blew the blower off and set me on fire. You either need a good win at the end of the season to get ready for next year, or you need a good fire – and I had an awesome one. I’m excited – I congratulated Hagan and all the winners here at Auto Club Raceway. But, at the end of the day, I want to thank Castrol for 29 years of my life and being part of our family. And I want to thank Ford for 17 great years. We’ll be back next year, this isn’t the end, it’s just the beginning,” said John Force.
It was in the final round that Force faced Hagan. Even though the championship title had been determined by the semi-finals as Hagan had defeated teammate Tommy Johnson JR. Thus, it was mathematically impossible for Force to clinch the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello World Championship. However, that did not deter the winningest driver in NHRA history from racing for the win as his Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang was on a great run when just before the finish line, it began to shake and smoke the massive Goodyear slicks. This was just enough to let Hagan slip by and get the win as the struggling Mustang lost its steam before the lights and ran a 4.086 second time at 276 mph to Hagan’s 4.076 second time at 310.77 mph.
Sunday’s final eliminations for John Force began with squaring off with fellow Mustang driver Bob Tasca III in the opening round. These two seasoned drivers have faced each other five times this season with Force claiming three wins in those match ups. At the flash of green, the green and white Mustang left first with Tasca III not too far behind. As Force went straight down the track, Tasca III experienced tire shake and traction problems and had to pedal his machine. When the smoke cleared, Force crossed the finish line first with a 4.083 seconds run at 319.29 mph to Tasca’s slowing 4.337 second run at 245.45 mph.
