Later, he said, “If you knew the letters that I get…I’m no preacher. I can’t save or cure the sick, but people write me all the time. So I yelled out for people to get off that couch. I’ve seen so many people who are tired, people younger than me, who give up because they’ve been told by the system that it is over. Well, this is a big moment for me. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re too old. Get out there. Walk. Stay alive and keep moving.”
Despite his doubts and his insecurities, or maybe because of them, Force said, “I’m going to keep going – but something ain’t making sense. I’m going to go ’til I drop.”
He’ll begin the Countdown second to teammate Robert Hight.
So how is Force like all the Whos down in Whoville?
Well, when the Grinch swooped into Whoville and swiped all their possessions while the Whos “were a-snooze,” he was proud, thinking he had stopped Christmas from coming. After all, he had loaded his sled with “their presents, the ribbons, the wrappings, the tags, and the tinsel, the trimmings, the trappings.”
And sometimes, drag racing fans are disappointed that the U.S. Nationals isn’t as shiny as it used to be – and that Lucas Oil Raceway isn’t like the still-gleaming-new Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis, where the NFL’s Colts play their home games. Cities across America have razed historic arenas and venues and replaced them – at massive burdens to the taxpayers – with fancy new ones that come with modern amenities. By comparison, Lucas Oil Raceway, which opened in 1960, looks tired. Its parking lots are pitted with potholes and cracks. Sportsman racers this year took it on the chin again because of rain earlier in the week that kept them form being able to park their haulers as scheduled. Their side of the racetrack is not paved. Its cinder-block tower – which officials repeatedly, for years, have promised to replace – is shabby and more than a bit inadequate.
The U.S. Nationals no longer hosts a Bud Shootout, Skoal Showdown, or Traxxas Shootout. Budweiser, Skoal, and Traxxas no longer are involved with the NHRA. Many days these past few years, the massive grandstands are sparsely filled.
I thought about it in Seattle: ‘Just walk out.’ And I even said [after winning at Indianapolis], ‘If you [win] at Indy, walk out.’ But I couldn’t do it. I stood there and said, ‘You are going to have a heart attack. You are going to die here, like you always say.
Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, who spent some of his most triumphant and poignant moments at this storied racetrack, said the U.S. Nationals “put me on the map and put [Don] Garlits and Shirley [Muldowney] and [Bob] Glidden on the map. In today’s world, does it put you on the map? Mmm – I don’t think so. That’s just being honest. There are so many other great races. I think most racers want to win the U.S. Nationals, even though it’s not the nicest or biggest or prettiest racetrack they go to. It’s still the most prestigious drag race – but I don’t think it’ll put anybody on the map anymore.”
Time, elevated expectations, the disappearance of ABC’s popular “Wide World of Sports” that showcased this race, the absence of high-stakes bonus races, and outside activities that tug on fans’ entertainment loyalty are the Grinches.
But John Force still has the passion. The Indianapolis racetrack might not be new or fancy. But he didn’t care. He won the U.S. Nationals for a fifth time, and he cried. The man wept. He almost considered quitting because he had done, in his mind, something absolutely marvelous there, reached the pinnacle of his sport. His heart grew two sizes that day – and it already was as big as the 267-acre property.
So despite his hand-wringing, Force showed everyone that The Joy of Drag Racing came without ribbons or tags or packages, boxes, or bags. Like the Grinch’s, Force’s “puzzler was sore,” alright, but he knew without a doubt that The Joy of Drag Racing doesn’t come from a store. It means a little bit more. It isn’t about tinsel and trappings. It doesn’t matter what the dragstrip looks like. It’s there, and John Force conquered it once again.
He was proud. He was overcome with emotion and filled with satisfaction, which the Grinches of anxiety and panic and remorse tried to steal. But no matter how the Countdown shakes out – and Force is seeded second at the outset – at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles in November, John Force himself will carve the roast beast.