John Force, the 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion who suffered a severe brain injury in a June 2024 crash, announced Thursday he will retire.
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The 76-year-old drag racer held a press conference at the Yorba Linda, California headquarters of John Force Racing to announce the news.
“It all made sense to me, even though I knew I had medical stuff that I had to address,” Force said in a recorded message posted to his Twitter/X account. “Do I want to get back in the car and get hit in the head? I don’t.”
On June 23, 2024, an engine explosion led Force to collide with a concrete barrier while traveling at speeds exceeding 300 mph at a race in Virginia. He spent two weeks in intensive care in a local hospital, followed by rehabilitation at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.
Force retires with 157 career wins in NHRA — including two last year prior to his crash — in a career that began in 1979. Of his 16 career championships, 10 were won consecutively from 1993 to 2002.
The announcement comes one day before qualifying begins at the NHRA Finals in Pomona.
In a 2014 interview with The Sporting News, then-NHRA president Tom Compton said, “The NHRA and John Force are one and the same. We’re together, a team. You probably can’t say John Force without NHRA and NHRA without John Force. We’re one.”
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