★ ★ ★ ★ ★
FPO: USE WRAP GUIDES TO POSITION
The ever-positive Ric Fleck and his
South-Carolina based team enjoyed their
best outing yet in PDRA Pro Boost at the
Firecracker Nationals, where Fleck in the
“Dragon III” ‘41 Willys qualified No. 2 and
earned his first PDRA victory.
closed down the circus.
The lesson is that circus didn’t close down be-
cause it wasn’t a great show. People got upset that
animals were traveling by railroad – I don’t know
what it was – but one of the longest running, most
entertaining events in history went out of business.
And I get it – our deal is steel and aluminum, ti-
tanium and rubber, and horsepower. We’re doing
nothing wrong there, so our show can go on. But
there’s something very key that we’re missing.
WB: What do you think we’re missing?
JF: When we started racing over 50 years ago,
the Connie Kalittas and the Don Garlitses, they
were personalities – larger than life. We need
that. That’s the difference. The kids today have
to get their personalities out there, they have to
tell people their story. You do that by living at the
ropes, by talking to the people. That’s how you
can make a difference.
I didn’t write the book on this stuff, but I read
the book. People like Gene Beaver taught me.
People don’t even know who he was. He was my
uncle. He raced Funny Cars and dragsters. It
was people like him and Tom “The Mongoose”
McEwen who were my teachers. So much of the
things I created I did because of the likes of Gar-
August 2018
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
THE NEXT GENERATION
Among the numerous young people Force has
brought into the fold at John Force Racing
are his own daughters. Ashley (not pictured)
recorded four Funny Car victories in as many
seasons before stepping away from driving in
2011. Brittany won the Top Fuel world champion-
ship in 2017, while Courtney races alongside Dad
in Funny Car with nine No. 1 spots and four wins
this year alone (at print time).
lits, Muldowney, Prudhomme, McEwen, Kenny
Bernstein, Raymond Beadle. These guys were
my reason for living, and I’m a little lost without
them. I’m struggling a little bit.
I used to be able to call up McEwen, and I
would say, “Hey, I have to do this trailer and I have
to put Wendy’s Hamburgers on the side of it,” and
he’d tell me what to do. One time I painted a map
of the United States on the side of the trailer with
the locations of races and hamburger stands. It
wasn’t just a race trailer. Those were ideas given
to me by people like Gene Beaver and McEwen.
They started it all. Going down this road, I lived
and learned by what they said and the things I
saw them do. “Paint a race car and put flames
on it,” they’d say. “Give an interview and go crazy,
be wild,” they’d tell me. “Put on a show.” It was
always a circus; we had to be a circus.
WB: The recent passing of Tom McEwen was
an emotional time for the whole sport, but I
know you were hit especially hard by his pass-
ing. What did “The Mongoose” mean to you?
I got to work the other day and Steve Cole, my
marketing guy, was there and I said, “Get in the
car, we’re going to get coffee.” We took off. We
drove all the way to the beach. He said, “Where
are we going?” I said, “I’ve gotta find where McE-
wen lives.”
I’ve known this guy for 40 years. He’s educat-
ed me more than anybody in the sport – ever. I
learned from Prudhomme how to win races and I
learned from Raymond Beadle how to crash and
stand up with your hands over your head and
be spectacular. I learned all that. But McEwen
taught me the circus side.
We go looking for his house and Steve said,
“He passed away, why are we looking for his
house?” I said, “I’m going to find his house,
I’m going to stand out on the street and stare
at his house and his garage and his car until I
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