Thread: A Force ??

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Oh one things for sure, that girl doesnt lack guts! Fear doesnt seem to be one of her faults.

With team funding and dads patience I think she'll probably make it. She's packed a bunch of experience into a short time and im sure all that will pay off in the long run. Assuming she doesnt run through all the house cars first.

If she took Capps, she can't be totally inept.

I don't quite understand fully Dad's reaction. 1) That crash was not that bad, relatively speaking (from the comfort of my easy chair ). 2) He and the family made the decision to race knowing fully the risks. 3) What's he gonna do if she has a real bad accident? Watching him is worse than the accident itself.

Kitz

I think most of us who have kids that race have gone through the same emotions. When my boys first jumped into the dragster I was scaraed s%$less on every pass. My wife wouldn't even watch them make a pass. Even now, 20 years later, I worry about them when the race.

Now it is my grandkids. Every time the little ones get into the go-cart or the bigs ones take the car out, I worry about all the "whatifs".
My grandson had his first accident with the family car a couple of weeks ago. It brought back up all of those feelings again.

But we can't protect them frome everything forever. We have to make sure we give them the best and the safest rides possible.

I say, Good for John, he has got a lot to worry about with three of them in race cars.

Kids! tell me about it! Ive watched my son race mototcross and go over the bars so many times and get ran over that It started to seem normal?



As far a John's reaction I also questioned if it was drama laced for TV but then thought about how it must feel to have your kid crash shortly after one of your young drivers died. I think it was all real feelings coming up.

Okay, enough of the serious stuff, how about some gossip that should contribute a little levity. Could be rumor, but a neat story anyway;

Steve Gibbs wrote:

With all the rain here in Seattle, there was ample time to b.s. with the troops today, and the big story going around involves the Jerry Tolliver/Rockstar funny car body fiasco. Goes something like this... Tolliver damaged the body last weekend at Denver when he put it in the sand trap. He makes arrangements for someone to come to the track and pick up the body, and take it to Roush's for repair. Leaving the body in their pit area, the team packs up everything else and heads for the hotel to clean up, with a couple of the crew guys planning on going back to the track to help load the car. During the ensuing time, a coup le of Warren Johnson's crewguys see the thing sitting all by itself and think the body has been abandoned. They proceed to field strip it, taking all the titanium pieces and other trick stuff. Then they decide that parts of the car would make good souvenirs to sell on E-Bay, and cut off the roof, nose section of the car, and a big piecc out of the door area. Well, when Tolliver's guys get back to the track and find out what's happened all hell obviously breaks loose. Cops get involved, and when it's determined W.J.'s crew are responsible, an APB is put out and they are stopped enroute to Seattle. You can imagine what Tolliver's phone call to W.J. must have been like. Anyway, it looks like one of the big name Pro Stock racers just bought a 40k Funny Car body.

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Okay, enough of the serious stuff, how about some gossip that should contribute a little levity. Could be rumor, but a neat story anyway;

Steve Gibbs wrote:

With all the rain here in Seattle, there was ample time to b.s. with the troops today, and the big story going around involves the Jerry Tolliver/Rockstar funny car body fiasco. Goes something like this... Tolliver damaged the body last weekend at Denver when he put it in the sand trap. He makes arrangements for someone to come to the track and pick up the body, and take it to Roush's for repair. Leaving the body in their pit area, the team packs up everything else and heads for the hotel to clean up, with a couple of the crew guys planning on going back to the track to help load the car. During the ensuing time, a coup le of Warren Johnson's crewguys see the thing sitting all by itself and think the body has been abandoned. They proceed to field strip it, taking all the titanium pieces and other trick stuff. Then they decide that parts of the car would make good souvenirs to sell on E-Bay, and cut off the roof, nose section of the car, and a big piecc out of the door area. Well, when Tolliver's guys get back to the track and find out what's happened all hell obviously breaks loose. Cops get involved, and when it's determined W.J.'s crew are responsible, an APB is put out and they are stopped enroute to Seattle. You can imagine what Tolliver's phone call to W.J. must have been like. Anyway, it looks like one of the big name Pro Stock racers just bought a 40k Funny Car body.

Thanks for the "rest of the story" Bob. I've been gone for awhile and only caught this part of the deal.


http://competitionplus.com/index.php...=3478&Itemid=6


That's a funny story. (Well maybe not for everybody).

Originally Posted by kitz

If she took Capps, she can't be totally inept.

I don't quite understand fully Dad's reaction. 1) That crash was not that bad, relatively speaking (from the comfort of my easy chair ). 2) He and the family made the decision to race knowing fully the risks. 3) What's he gonna do if she has a real bad accident? Watching him is worse than the accident itself.

Kitz

Come on Kitz, I love it when they interview John, he's hilarious!

MIKE NEFF???????????

MIKE NEFF?????

Now I understand the mechanic turned driver thing as a positive but from what I heard on the tube he took 'a squirt' in Selzi's car and has motocross and GO KART EXPERIENCE?????????????? THATS IT?????????

I know Medlin and Height had little experience in the seat but not sure if they had this little, maybe so. Does John not like to pay drivers so he hires rooks?

You mean to tell me there were no candidates in the alky or pro mod ranks, or in drag racing, period?

Does this speak to the legitimacy of pro FC drivers spot against the worlds greatest drivers in other types of racing?

Originally Posted by Mike in Motown

MIKE NEFF???????????

MIKE NEFF?????

Now I understand the mechanic turned driver thing as a positive but from what I heard on the tube he took 'a squirt' in Selzi's car and has motocross and GO KART EXPERIENCE?????????????? THATS IT?????????

I know Medlin and Height had little experience in the seat but not sure if they had this little, maybe so. Does John not like to pay drivers so he hires rooks?

You mean to tell me there were no candidates in the alky or pro mod ranks, or in drag racing, period?

Does this speak to the legitimacy of pro FC drivers spot against the worlds greatest drivers in other types of racing?

And, from my own experiences as a car owner....It's often a lot easier to teach a driver how you want things done then it is to re-educate a guy with a lot of experience who thinks his way is right...!!!!!! Robert Hight was one of John's mechanics, he seems to have learned his lessons quite well!!! I for one am all for new blood in the sport, tired of seeing the same names every week in Nat. Digger!!!! I would congratulate John from promoting within his own company rather then entering some sort of bidding war for a hired gun!!!! If you have ever had a driver in one of your cars and tried to teach him your way of doing things........I think you would better understand John's logic.... With a record like his, seems others would copy John rather then put him down for his tactics!!!!! Let's give some deserving people a shot at being the driver!!!! Sounds like a most excellent tactic for hiring and keeping good help!!!!!!

PS, I would imagine Mr. Neff will go through the same training as Robert and Ashley have.....Meaning he too will be a rookie, make rookie mistakes and learn from them!!!! I can't think of anyone more qualified then John Force to be a trainer and coach for a new driver in funny car!!!!

.............and besides all that, think of the strategy of robbing a significant competitor (Schumacher) of a high quality crew chief, which in turn motivated a proven competitor (Scelzi) to choose a "sabatical"!

[QUOTE=Dave Severson]Let's give some deserving people a shot at being the driver!!!! QUOTE]



Cmmon Dave! I gotta say this sounds like disagreeing just to do so. I thought someone would respond with some facts of past drag race experience that wasnt mentioned on tv yesterday. Hey why not pick some good looking 'mug for tv' off the street. hey wait John, let me finish my beer and I'll give it a shot.(ok my mug doesnt qualify)

I see the advantage of hiring a crew chief to drive but having NO EXPERIENCE on the strip (assuming thats true) is an advantage?

Far be it for me to question the great John Force but it seems strange to not pick from a pool of drivers with experience (you know there are some out there) in the lower ranks that certainly did more to EARN a shot.

Originally Posted by Mike in Motown

I thought someone would respond with some facts of past drag race experience that wasnt mentioned on tv yesterday.

I'm not sure what examples the TV guys gave, but a few that pop to mind in recent history are Kurt Johnson, Greg Anderson, and, in turn, Jason Line. In FC Hight and E. Medlin. My guess would be that these guys, as well as others, have some level of driving experience in lower classes sometime in their history. Haven't heard anything about Neff, but the same could be true for him. I'm sure this isn't the only thread in the world to exclaim some angst about the choice, so we're likely to get to know more about Mike Neff than we may even care to know (when they get to telling us what kind of toilet paper he prefers that will be the sign it's gone too far).

In years past we've had lots of examples that went the other way too. Ed "The Ace" was a driver for many years before putting on the CC hat, as did Dale Armstrong just to name a couple. Again, these guys probably spent their earlier years as "amateurs" who did it all for their own operation.

Originally Posted by Sinister

Come on Kitz, I love it when they interview John, he's hilarious!

Yeah he is. He is so full of energy and sometimes other matter. I do really like him though and think he's right at home in the Funnys.

I saw him spank the daughter in a race last night. He certainly didn't let her win.

Kitz

There was a lot of really good racing on last night. Right now John needs the wins more than she does. He has a lot of ground to make up, and as much as I would like to see her win more often, she's just not going to be that high in the rankings this year. But John has a chance to climb and letting Ashley win just isn't in the cards. At least not this year, and maybe never.

She'll do all right. Maybe she might have gotten set down if it were not for family and plenty of money, but I have to hand it to her for just trying. I don't think I would voluntarily sit inside of an 8000 HP missle and try to keep it straight for a quarter mile at maximun velocity. Things can go horribly wrong regardless if you are a rookie or an old pro. She may be a rookie to FC but not to racing. Besides she's a helluva lot prettier than her old man.

Hell, she can drive my sedate little hotrod any day.