★ ★ ★ ★ ★
PITCHMAN
After losing two major longtime sponsors after the
2014 season, Force and his marketing team were
sent scrambling to find new backers for 2015 and
beyond. Force found them in Peak Coolant & Mo-
tor Oil and Chevrolet, then then quickly rewarded
them with victories at Las Vegas and Epping.
JF: I think I got a second chance. Two com-
panies looked at me and said, “We’re gonna go
with him.” Chevrolet came on board. Of course,
Auto Club has been here forever, but then Peak
Motor Oil just picked me up. Why? “Well, who
knows the business better than you, John Force?
You’ve been in the oil business for 30-40 years.
You know the contacts and you can do nothing
but help us.” It made sense.
Something about my longevity in the sport is
what’s kept me going. It’s what I know. Some-
times I just feel like God is talking to me, tell-
ing me, “You have enough money to retire and
go learn how to fish or golf.” People love that
stuff, but I hate it. I love race cars. But what’s
amazing is that I was given an opportunity,
and it was an opportunity to go out there and
keep racing – they ain’t just handing me this
money to stand around. There’s a reason, and
it’s to race. And people might think I’m out here
trying to kill myself with all these crashes and
stuff, but I’m not.
You’ve got to admit, though – there’s a positive
with those negatives. Those explosions I had?
You could read the sponsor’s sign 300 feet in
the air. I got ‘em on the front of magazines, on
August 2018
television, in newspapers, all over social media.
They’re like, “Oh my God, you didn’t win the race.”
No, I didn’t, but I got more exposure than the guy
who did. And I don’t want to get it that way, but
I’ll take it. A lot of people think I have a death
wish, but I don’t.
WB: I didn’t think we’d be able to avoid
talking about some of the drama that has
unfolded this season for you – thes