If you're a fan of NHRA drag racing, then there's a great chance you're a fan of John Force Racing and his team. As a Ford fan, (don't forget, Pop's was a Ford Mechanic for 25 years) I've been following Force for as long as I can remember so when I got the chance to interview co-crew chief Austin Coil, I jumped at it. Meeting with Austin Coil in the small town the John Force Racing trucks make was awesome. Cruising past the beast Force pilots down the strip as his crew finished prepping for Saturday at the Firebird Race, then stepping into the trailer you often see on TV was unreal. I carefully tried to keep my grin from extending past my ears as I sat down with Coil. Without his trademark toothpick, Coil smiled alot and seemed to be winding down from Friday's session that saw all of John Force Racing cars in the top half of the field. Coil's easy going manner and obvious passion for racing and technology made this interview a breeze. I just had to keep up... WHAT’S CHANGED THE MOST ABOUT FUNNY...

Courtesy of Ford Media and PCGCambell John Force, driver of the Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Funny Car, heads into this weekend’s 2009 Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., with four career victories in the season-opening event. Force, who has a record 126 career victories and 14 championships, reflects on his team’s 2008 accomplishments and looks ahead to this year. JOHN FORCE – GTX Castrol Mustang – CAN YOU CONTRAST WHERE THE TEAM IS RIGHT NOW TO WHERE IT WAS A YEAR AGO THIS TIME? “Well, we’re in the middle of change right now. That’s what our new president Obama has been coming in and screaming and that’s what I have been hearing, you know, from all of the automakers, but Ford started change, we went back years ago. You know we knew this was coming; we are trying to get right and what I’m taking to my race team is I’m not going to wait for the opening race to figure out how to run on a budget – we saw this six months ago coming. We have got to cut back everywhere to make this thing in...

Couresty of Ford Media and PCGCambell Bob Tasca III, driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang Funny Car, enters his second season at the Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals this weekend in Pomona. Tasca talks about the importance of off-season testing, racing in Pomona with sophomore eyes and the return of the Mustang Cobra Jet to competition. Bob Tasca III – MOTORCRAFT/QUICK LANE SHELBY MUSTANG FUNNY CAR – HOW WAS THE PHOENIX TEST SESSION? “Phoenix is traditionally a difficult race track to go down this time of year. For whatever reason, it lends itself to cause tire shake. In our sport, tire shake is a huge challenge for crew chiefs with certain track conditions. It prevents you from going A-to-B and it will cause tire smoke. The car will shake and will end up smoking the tires. Going into Phoenix this year, I have a lot more confidence than I did going into it last year and our results proved pretty strong. When you look at the teams that were there, John Force Racing, the Schumacher camp, Del Worsham and other seasoned teams with a lot of data didn’t go...

Summary of Contents: Robert Hight, driver of the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang Funny Car, finished fourth in the NHRA Funny Car standings in 2008 after posting back-to-back runner up results in 2006 and 2007. Hight will once again team with 14-time champion John Force, 2007 Rookie of the Year Ashley Force and 2008 Rookie of the Year Mike Neff to comprise the lineup for John Force Racing. Hight took a few minutes to chat with TWIFR about the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car Series. Bob Tasca III, driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang Funny Car, reflects on his rookie year as he prepares for the 2009 Full Throttle NHRA season. Tasca talks about his goals for 2009, the alliance with ’08 Funny Car championship contender Tim Wilkerson and other changes at Tasca Racing. ROBERT HIGHT – Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang – COMPARE WHERE YOU AND THE TEAM ARE AT THIS POINT IN 2009 TO WHERE YOU WERE IN PREPARATION FOR THE 2008 SEASON. “I think we are in better shape as far as going out and contending for a championship and...

Story Submitted by John C. Hill or MoparMagic Old Fuelers Never Die!! (They just become "killer" bracket cars) Many of you that were spectators at drag races during the late 60's, the 70's and early 80's probably remember a lot of the fantastic Top Fuel and Funny Cars that used to compete. Some of these cars may have been favorites of yours, but have you ever wondered what became of these ultimate drag race machines? It's not like you could take the pink slip and sell it to your neighbor after the racing season was over. These were special built cars with only one purpose in mind: go fast and do it quickly! A lot of these cars ended up out behind the garage as scrap, or perhaps pushed over in the corner of the garage and covered with a tarp, never to be raced again. Some of them ended up in museums such as Don Garlit's Drag Race Museum in Ocala, Florida. If you have ever been to his museum you would be amazed at the number and quality of Top Fuelers and Funny Cars on display there....

Story Submitted by John C. Hill or MoparMagic Jungle Jim vs. Joe Jacono, April 1972 Those of you who are drag race fans, especially from the 60's and 70's probably fondly remember certain races. Maybe you remember a national event, or a local "class racing" show, or the "Coca Cola Calvacade of Stars", or even a booked in Funny Car match race. For me, one of my most memorable experiences was a nostalgia funny car match race between "Jungle Jim" Lieberman and Joe Jacono and his "Brief Encounter". Now let me set the stage for you as to why this particular race was so memorable to me... My family lived in New Castle, Delaware and my brother and I loved cars and drag racing. Now lucky for us, our grandmother had a farm in Conowingo, Maryland and to get there, we had to travel down Theodore Road near Rising Sun, which is the road that Cecil County Dragway is on! We literally had to travel by the "Traction Capitol of the World" every weekend when we were growing up visiting our grandmother's farm. On a cold April day in...

Story Submitted by John C. Hill or MoparMagic Virtually everyone who has an interest in automobiles knows who Richard Petty is. "The King" is considered the very best NASCAR driver fomr the early era, about the early 60s through the late 70s. Richard went on to win hundreds of NASCAR races, and multiple NASCAR Championships until his retirement from active driving in the early 90s. But, did you know for a very brief period in the mid-60's, King Richard was a drag racer? It's true, and not only was he a drag racer, but Petty Enterprises created and built one of the earliest "F/X" cars, which could arguably be considered the first Hemi powered funny car. It's also quite possible that without this particular car, the Chrysler 426 Hemi as we know it may have been eliminated from production in early 1965, never to be produced again! If this doesn't peak your interest, nothing will! So read on about "43 jr" and find out how a Plymouth Barracuda with Richard Petty at the wheel, saved the 426 Hemi from extinction. "NASCAR, If you can't outrun 'em, outlaw 'em." On...

Over at the NHRA.com site, one of my favorites, I read that the NHRA Technical Services is making all Top Fuel cars run what they're calling the "Electrimotion Safety Shutoff Controller". This new rule will be in effect for the 2009 NHRA Drag Race season. The Electrimotion Safety Shutoff Controller was designed by Dave Leahy of Electrimotion of Delaware, Ohio. Electrimotion.com has a very detailed explanation of what the box does detailed on his website in Adobe pdf form. Download the info here: Drag Race Safety Device info. The basics are that the device will: Sense manifold burst panel failure Activates the fuel shutoff, Shuts off ignition, and Deploys parachutes Pretty cool, but am I the only one that's thinking, "Its about time!" I almost can't watch drag racing since the death of Eric Medlen. I never knew him, but he seemed like a nice guy and as part of the Force Racing team, I always routed for him. Then John Force got seriously hurt and next Scott Kalitta died. I don't know all the facts, but shortening the track wouldn't have saved Scott. Shutting off the fuel and...

If you want to have some funny on the net, type in Nostalgia Drag Racing. From wild fuel altereds to stockers banging 4 speeds to top fuel funny cars, I like it all! No delay boxes or throttle stops there, just honest drag racing. I can't get enough. So stumbling around, I found Army Armstrong of The Funny Factory. You ever wonder who builds the bodies for the growing wave of nostalgia racers? You found it. The Funny Factory's got a short but impressive list of funny car bodies and it sounds like they're growing. Here's what Army had to say about his business: We were mainly racers so I guess the funny factory was kind of an accident. We mainly wanted to race a 1969 Charger bodied F/C but settled for a 1972 Vega body. Nothing against Vega's, but we really wanted to be different so the search went on for a few more months with no luck. During the search, we heard a rumor of a Charger mold hiding in Chicago. With a few phone calls we were on a road trip to get the mold... Once...

You'll never guess who's a new member at Ford's media site? MyRideisMe! We'll keep an eye on what's happening with the performance cars and racing action over at the Ford site and post it here so you won't have to look around. This first story hits close to home for me. When Eric Medlen died I had trouble watching drag racing. I've always liked John Force so I cheered for his teammates as well. Eric just seemed like a good guy from watching him in interviews too. That whole incident hit me hard.The John Force Racing team reaction was over the top. They've re-examined EVERYTHING about safety in their funny cars and is doing the right thing by sharing all of the data with the NHRA and the other racing teams. The latest step is illustrated in this story from Ford Media. At Force's request (I'll bet) Ford's doing the in depth engineering study needed to make sure these 7000 HP monsters are as safe as they can be. Great work guys! Courtesy of Ford's Media: DEARBORN, Mich. – Accelerating safety development in the sport of drag racing, the...