The NHRA held its annual Thunder Valley Nationals at the Bristol Dragway on Sunday. Long-time driver John Force celebrated Father’s Day at the track with a win.
The AP reports that Force beat Cruz Pedregon in the Funny Car event at the Thunder Valley Nationals for his 135th career victory. A win is always exciting, but it was even more exciting for Force as he had finally escaped a 31-race losing streak.
Force said that the win was even more special due to it being on Father’s Day:
“If you can’t compete you are just mentally out of it. This is great to come back here and win. So many fans wanted me to win on Father’s Day. It’s just a great day for the Force family and to do it on Father’s Day is just awesome.”
The Force family he refers to are his three daughters – Ashley Force Hood, Brittany Force and Courtney Force. All three of them are currently or were racers in the NHRA. In fact, Force beat his daughter Courtney to advance to the finals. She’s still ranked above him, however, at 7th place while he is in 10th place. His son-in-law, Robert Hight, is also ahead of him in 8th place.
With this win, Force may have a renewed focus to win another Funny Car championship. He holds 15 championships thus far, and one more certainly couldn’t hurt. He’s probably not going to retire anytime soon either so he’s got plenty of time to defend his title of having the most Funny Car championships in NHRA history.
Here’s a recap of the race courtesy of ESPN:
If you’re curious, Steve Torrence came away with the victory in the Top Fuel event and Rodger Brogdon won the Pro Stock event.