Which are your favorite John Force quotes?
John Force is an American drag racer. He is best known for being one of the most dominant drag racers to date with notably 154 career victories. Throughout his career in the sport, Force has successfully won the prestigious ‘National Hot Rod Association (NHRA)’ championship 16 times and ‘Funny Car’ 1 time.
Force interestingly also owns and drives for his own racing team, the ‘John Force Racing (JFR)’, and has three of his four daughters and son-in-law currently race for his team, with his oldest daughter serving as the team’s CFO. Thus, no wonder Force’s family is collectively known as ‘The First Family of Drag Racing’.
We’ve put together this collection of the best John Force quotes:
40 Greatest John Force Quotes
1. “You look at this (Steve) Torrence kid in Top Fuel. My daughter won the championship, but he fought her all the way to the end, right up until the last race. In his mind, he believes he won. I don’t even disagree with him. He had a race car that was whipping everybody, then he crashed there in Dallas. But to watch him come out of that car and fight back, he’s got a personality. I love it about him.” – John Force
2. “There were so many things that tore the circus down, but it was the Greatest Show on Earth for children to go see for well over a century. That’s why I compare it to drag racing.” – John Force
3. “We’ve just got to go to work. What do we have to do? The sponsors in Corporate America, they don’t want a sign on the side of a race car. They want more than that. They want the sign, and they’ll pay for it, but it ain’t just about the sign anymore, putting it on TV or getting it in the newspaper. It’s about creating storylines, putting those brands in the places they want to be, and being somebody those brands want to be associated with.” – John Force
4. “The circus will evolve. I’m old-school and I’m trying to hang on, and I’m trying to help, but maybe it’s stuck in a rut with me.” – John Force
5. “The lesson is that circus didn’t close down because it wasn’t a great show. People 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, titanium and rubber, and horsepower.” – John Force
6. “Now, there’s so many women in the sport.” – John Force
7. “There’s a lot going on. That’s why I’m being honest here, and I know it sounds a little negative – can come off a little negative – but I think you have to have that conversation to really appreciate all the positive things.” – John Force
8. “I think I got a second chance. Two companies 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.” – John Force
9. “All of us – you, me, and everybody else. I think about this a lot. But I believe that if we adapt, if we make the changes and give the people what they want – we can win this thing. We can set it on the road to the future for our children. My granddaughter, Autumn, is 13, and just won her first race in a Jr. Dragster. Jacob, he’s 5 years old, Ashley’s son, just got his license in Jr. Dragster. I’m amazed by that, and I’m so proud to think they might love this sport the way that I love it. I see there’s a future here.” – John Force
10th of 40 John Force Quotes
10. “I’m going to get to the positive here. I don’t want to come out and say, “Hey, the world is shiny and everything is great.” It ain’t. That’s not the case.” – John Force
11. “Fox Sports will find those personalities and they’ll grow. That’s a positive about our sport.” – John Force
12. “Something about my longevity in the sport is what’s kept me going. It’s what I know. Sometimes I just feel like God is talking to me, telling 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.” – John Force
13. “Some older people want their final days to kick back and relax, and God bless them. Me? I will die at the drag strip. I know it’s already in the books, and as far as I’m concerned it’s a good way to end my movie.” – John Force
14. “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.” – John Force
15. “So much of the things I created I did because of the likes of Garlits, 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.” – John Force
16. “I get rid of the negatives and I turn them into positives, and I move ahead down the road.” – John Force
17. “Luckily, we don’t have elephants and tigers. We’ve got motors that roar, that’s part of our show. From the lion claws digging into the ground to the tires grabbing the track – it’s so much of the same thing. It might have been financial issues or keeping the animals caged up, but whatever it was – the reality is that they closed down the circus.” – John Force
18. “In the real view of it, we’re doing good, but I think you have to look at why. Number one, I believe NHRA is doing a good job.” – John Force
19. “Peter brought in this new TV package with FOX, and I think that was key. Creating the show in-house, doing their own shoes – the cost has been huge, but I think there’s something there that made it better, made the fans respond and show up at the races. I really, truly believe that’s part of what we’re seeing, and that NHRA has had a hand in it.” – John Force
20th of 40 John Force Quotes
20. “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.” – John Force
21. “One time I painted a map of the United States on the side of the trailer with the locations of races and hamburger stands.” – John Force
22. “Whether it’s all the exposure we’ve had on FOX or something else, for whatever reason, drag racing seems to be up. We’ve had sellout shows at multiple stops on the tour this year – the new four-wide race by Bruton Smith in Las Vegas, the return to Richmond, Virginia, Gainesville early this year, and others. And I’m only saying these things to set this up, and try to explain the way I feel.” – John Force
23. “When you look at the economy today, people have a lot of choices – more than ever – and a lot of things going on just in everyday life.” – John Force
24. “Number one, whenever I’ve been asked about the sport of NHRA championship drag racing, I’ve always been positive.” – John Force
25. “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.” – John Force
26. “For some reason, drag racing doesn’t seem to be getting hurt as much. I can’t pin it down exactly why. I can tell you this, and I want to be fair: our crowds aren’t as big as NASCAR. When their crowds are down, you see it in the stands. When our crowds are down, maybe you don’t see it as much. I’m just trying to be totally fair and honest.” – John Force
27. “I loved the circus. I would go and watch the elephants and everything. I loved it all.” – John Force
28. “I admit it’s the love of my life. It’s like a child of mine. It’s something I truly care about, and something I truly want to see succeed.” – John Force
29. “When you look at our sport and you compare it to NASCAR and IndyCar – and don’t get me wrong, my son-in-law Graham Rahal is over there in IndyCar and I have a lot of friends in NASCAR – but they’re all struggling.” – John Force
30th of 40 John Force Quotes
30. “You win by having the right drivers. You win by having the right crew chiefs. How do you hire those people? By getting the money. Where do you get the money? From sponsors. So, I’m sitting here, thinking, Man, we’re in a new world. It’s a lot.” – John Force
31. “My whole deal is, how do I make things better? How do I win? Well, you win by having the right team around you.” – John Force
32. “From the early days, it was Shirley Muldowney – one person who would encourage other women to come out to the races and bring their kids because they had somebody they could root for.” – John Force
33. “We got women in the sport today, active and competitive – and not just mine.” – John Force
34. “Erica Enders in Pro Stock does a great job. (Leah) Pritchett in Top Fuel with the Schumacher clan does a great job. It’s happening in pro bikes and it’s happening everywhere. They had Danica (Patrick) in IndyCar and NASCAR and she’s gone, but we’re still creating this atmosphere where it’s not just the men, the gear heads, bringing the kids out, but Mom is, too. I don’t think we can say enough about the diversity we have here; there’s nothing like it in sports.” – John Force
35. “Glen Cromwell, the new president, is making a lot of changes, but even before him it was Peter Clifford, who’s still chairman of the board, and I believe he was really opening to make changes and trying new things.” – John Force
36. “The circus tents go up, the trailers pull into town, they put up the big top – that’s exactly what we do. But the circus is gone. Where did it go? What happened? Things change.” – John Force
37. “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.” – John Force
38. “That new movie about Barnum, I’ve seen it five times. The guy at the theater would ask me, “Force, you’ve already seen this movie. Why do you keep coming back?” Because it motivates me. There’s a lesson there, though.” – John Force
39. “Baseball is down, football has been down. Everybody seems to be down for whatever reason. How do I know that? Only from what I see in the stands.” – John Force
40. “The circus didn’t fold up because it wasn’t good. There were other things – outside forces that made it difficult to continue.” – John Force
Summary
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