By Brian T. Smith
Assistant Sports Editor / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: May 18, 2008

John Force is a modern-day cowboy.

Fifty-nine years young. Wind- and weather-lined face. Survivor of death. Preacher of life.

Force walks it and talks it and sings it. He is old-school racing cool, incarnate. And Force brings the good word to anyone who will listen.

Funny Car-driver, quote-making machine, walker of the Earth when the doctors said he’d never again, Force is “The King” of the National Hot Rod Association.

Like Richard Petty, no line is too long for Force. No hand too open. No smile too big. If you’re a fan and you care, Force is ready, waiting and willing.

And while NASCAR continues to primp in the mirror, chat on a cell, worry about it who it’s dating and wonder how it looks on TV – all while trying to drive a car – Force and NHRA are rising up. And they’re beginning to show up in NASCAR’s rear view.

“We don’t try to kid anybody, NASCAR’s our big brother,” Force said.

It’s high time that big brother started paying attention to its younger sibling.

Force has become the proud, legend-like face of NHRA. And he’s everything that NASCAR needs right now.

Force didn’t come off an assembly line. He wasn’t cut on a cookie sheet and wrapped in plastic at an early age. And he’s as far removed from Madison Ave. and Wall Street as are Bristol and Thunder Valley.

But, man, could NASCAR use Force right now.

What NASCAR lacks, Force packs the stands with.

Originality, a loose tongue, a genuine smile and an unabashed enthusiasm for everything that is oil, fuel, combustion and horsepower: It’s the Force way.

But Force would never have made it out of the factory in modern NASCAR-land.

He’d have been thrown in the trash heap.

He’s too old. Too honest. Too real. Too uncontrollable.

NASCAR’s all, like, current. It wants cute and young. It wants Kasey Kahne.

Are you cute? Are you young? Can you drive a car? Well, NASCAR just might have a place for you.

But, wait. You mean you can really drive a car and you fall outside the target-audience demographic.

Well, yeah, sorry. NASCAR can’t use you right now. It’s got ad spots to sell and pre-race slots to fill. Maybe in the next life, old man.

NASCAR’s loss is NHRA’s gain.

Force believes in racing. He’s walked through fire just to get back in a car, strap in again and burn. And Force believes in NHRA.

“We fight it from the streets and [we’re] fighting to make it better,” Force said. “And the key is working as a family.”

Force believes in family.

His daughter, Ashley, is the brightest star to hover over a race track in years and has already made the bandwagon racing crowd begin to forget about sullen, stale Danica Patrick.

Meanwhile, three other Force-family relations currently hit the strip, all while Force celebrates his 59th year on Earth by continuing to defy the rules of life and laugh in the face of conformity.

Racing, tradition and family: The foundation of the house Force has built.

Racing, tradition and family: Everything that NASCAR has left behind.

Well, watch out big brother, because NHRA is crashing the party. And Force is tearing up the floor at the old folks’ dance.

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