John Force is officially retiring.
The winningest driver in NHRA Funny Car history announced Thursday that he was stepping away from racing for good. The 16-time Funny Car champion has not raced since suffering a traumatic brain injury in a fiery crash in June 2024.
“It’s been over a year but I’ve been under doctors’ care and I still am so if I say anything wrong, please excuse me,” Force said in his retirement announcement. “But it’s time for me to retire. It all made sense to me even though I knew I had medical stuff that I had to address, that, ‘do I want to get back in the car and get hit in the head?’ And I don’t.”
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All three of Force’s daughters have competed in NHRA. Both Ashley Force Hood and Courtney Force raced Funny Cars. Ashley retired in 2010 and Courtney retired in 2018.
Brittany Force is in her final year of Top Fuel competition and is set to retire after this weekend’s final event of the season as she and her husband look to have children.
“It was time for me with Brittany stepping out of the seat and I don’t want to get hurt,” Force said. “I’ve said it many times, I’m going to stay in the car until my race car gets me and I always meant that.”
John Force’s career ended at the Virginia Nationals when his car’s engine exploded after a first-round win. The explosion caused his car to hit the outside wall multiple times and Force was immediately hospitalized in intensive care after the crash.
A week after the crash, Force’s team revealed that he had been unable to respond to commands for four days following the impact and didn’t open his eyes until day five of his hospitalization. After he was initially hospitalized in trauma intensive care, Force was moved to neurological intensive care where the team said “the biggest challenge has been managing his extreme agitation and confusion, which causes him significant distress. He has repeatedly tried to get out of bed and has been restrained; his doctors have humorously described him as a raging bull.”
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The talkative and affable Force has long been the NHRA’s most recognizable driver. He won his first NHRA title in 1990 and then won 12 titles over a 14-year period from 1991 through 2004.
His last title came in 2013, though he was second in the points standings at the time of his crash.
Six years before his final title, Force missed races after suffering a broken wrist and dislocated ankle in a crash that happened months after one of his team’s drivers, Eric Medlen, was killed in a crash.
Force will continue to field John Force Racing, which has cars in both the Funny Car and Top Fuel divisions of NHRA. Longtime NHRA driver Jack Beckman has been filling in for Force in Funny Car alongside Austin Prock, the 2024 champion and current Funny Car points leader.