FORCE IMPROVING, FACES LONG ROAD AHEAD (John Force has moved from the trauma intensive care unit to the neuro intensive care unit. Prayers are most appreciated.)

John Force Racing Website ^ | 06/27/2024 | John Force Racing

[mabarker1]

RICHMOND, Va. / NORWALK, Ohio. – Four days after his crash at more than 300 miles per hour, drag racing champion John Force has moved from the trauma intensive care unit to the neuro intensive care unit, where the medical team can focus on his head injury which is their primary concern.

The move was a welcome positive for his family members, who have maintained a daily presence at the hospital all week.

With the unanimous support of her family, team, and sponsors, Brittany Force is not planning to compete this week at the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, where she would have driven the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster. Instead, she will remain at the hospital with her family in solidarity for her father.

Austin Prock will compete this weekend with the same courageous, fighting spirit that John has embodied and instilled in his teams over the years, and his AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS team will proudly carry the torch for the entire John Force Racing organization and sponsors this weekend.

The Force family is grateful for the team of medical professionals who are caring for John, and for the overwhelming number of heartfelt messages of prayer, support, and concern. Thank you for continuing to respect the privacy of the family and John Force Racing team members.

Video of crash last Sunday 6/23/24, (Thanks Chode for the Link)

[mabarker1]

NORWALK, Ohio (June 28, 2024) – Racing solo in the absence of teammates John and Brittany Force and facing distractions he never could have anticipated, Funny Car rookie Austin Prock drove the AAA Chevy Camaro SS to the provisional No. 1 starting position Friday in the first day of qualifying for the 17th Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.

After a best of the session 3.892 at 329.19 miles per hour in Q1, the 28-year-old point leader, who is after his third straight victory on the NHRA’s Mission Foods tour, stopped the timers in a track record-setting 3.863 seconds at 327.51miles per hour in the evening session in which conditions likely were the best they will be all weekend.

Qualifying continues Saturday at 3:10 and 5 p.m., EDT. Prock will face reigning series champion Matt Hagan at the end of the first session in a semifinal rematch from last week’s Virginia Nationals made possible through the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. If Hagan is unable to flip the script, he then will race for his third straight #2Fast2Tasty title (worth cash and Countdown bonus points) at the end of the final session.

Very much on the mind of the one-time sprint car, quarter midget and Top Fuel dragster driver was his boss at John Force Racing who remained hospitalized in the neuro care unit of a Richmond, Va., trauma center following a 300 mile-an-hour crash last Sunday at Virginia Motorsports Park.

The 16-time Funny Car Champion has been heavily sedated since the accident but family members were encouraged when medical staff moved the 75-year-old icon from the intensive care unit to neuro care where doctors can focus on the biggest immediate concern which is a head injury.

Brittany Force, who was to have driven the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet dragster this week, opted instead to remain at the hospital with her mother and sisters in a show of family solidarity.

“I’ve been looking forward to putting my helmet back on and just kinda getting into race mode and turning the entire world off for 90 seconds,” said the Funny Car point leader. “Definitely proud of this team, battling through some tough times representing John Force Racing and all our great partners.

“We’re going to try to do the best job we can for them so, off to a great start,” he said. “Thanks to the fans today for being respectful and just having my back. I appreciate it and hopefully we can do some good for them.”

Prock is trying to become the fourth different JFR Funny Car driver to win at Norwalk after Force himself (2014), JFR president Robert Hight (2022) and Mike Neff. Neff, now the crew chief for Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher, won Norwalk in his last two years at the wheel of a JFR Funny Car in 2011 and 2012.

“Two very good runs by this AAA Camaro SS,” Prock said. “You know, we’ve had a long-term partnership with (AAA) and its great to be flying their colors but we’re thinking of Brittany and John and the whole Force family. MMiss all you guys out here. It just ain’t the same.”

Austin Prock will be carrying the JFR Team torch while Brittany and the rest of the Force Family continue to be by John at the Hospital.

[x]

If he's on an IV it means they are force feeding Force.

This is serious. I wish the guy well.

[tflabo]

Amazing how he survived the explosion and then the crash.

[BenLurkin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k62MlhbnZCs

[mabarker1]

🙏🙏Praying for John Force, Family, Medical Team and JFR Team.🙏🙏

[mabarker1]

This is the biggest crash John has ever had. He was conscious when he got out of the car and was sitting up on the gurney as they rolled him into the ambulance.

[JonPreston]

prayers up

[faucetman]

Yeah, the first reports were like, he’ll just shake it off and be back racing tomorrow. Like he would stay in the hospital overnight just as a precaution.

Guess that was WRONG!

A tremendous car EXPLOSION, a 300 mph side crash and then another crash, head on at what 250 mph, you don’t just brush off.

He’s lucky to be alive.

He’s lucky to be alive

[mabarker1]

John is the King of Flambe Funny Car. The lateral hit He took from the wall impact is what the major problem is. It would not surprise Me that they have Him in the Medically Induced Coma because of Brain swelling and they probably had to Burr Hole Him.

[Chode]

prayers up.... wonder if there’s an incar cam?

[Psalm 73]

Doesn’t he have a daughter that races top fuel?

[Psalm 73]

(Would help if I read the whole article first - but that’s not how Freepers roll...)

[SaveFerris]

Yeah

✝️🙏🛐

[Big Red Badger]

Met them at Firebird International in
Mid ‘90s———God Bless Straightliners!
.
Prayers Up.

[SaveFerris]

My cousins gave me an autographed John Force baseball cap 🧢 back in the 1980s

They met him

[Big Red Badger]

We both wore PENNZOIL Sponsorship then.
John Andretti was my Driver.

[SaveFerris]

A better America

One that we will not see again

Sadly

[logi_cal869]

75 and still racing.

Gonna state it:

Wouldn’t be a bad way to go (compared to losing reality in a rest home due to all the prior crashes).

I don’t know the details and didn’t know of the crash until seeing this post. I hope he recovers, if that’s truly for the best all around.

[Ex-Con777]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se-87igvCrI

Luckily Terry Haddock went up in smoke a bit earlier or he could have been balled up in the mess too. He had a front row seat to one of the worst crashes I’ve seen.

EC

[mabarker1]

My Funny Car legend John Force opens eyes, five days after frightening crash.

Drag racing icon John Force opened his eyes on Friday for the first time since hi high-speed crash during last weekend's NHRA Virginia Nationals, his race team said in a statement.

Force, a 16-time NHRA champion, was moved to the neuro intensive care unit at a Richmond-area hospital last Wednesday, but had been unable to respond consistently to doctors' commands. Following five days of treatment for a Traumatic Brain Injury, Force was finally able to speak his name and give a thumbs up sign when prompted, according to the statement from John Force Racing issued Sunday morning.

Along with daily signs of improvement, family members say Force has also shown signs of agitation and confusion, having to be restrained on several occasions when he attempted to get out of bed.

"Despite the welcomed progress, the 157-time tour winner still faces a long and difficult recovery ahead and for the immediate future, will remain in neuro intensive care with visitation restricted to immediate family members only," the team statement said. Force, 75, won his heat with a 302 mph run on June 23 at Virginia Motorsports Park but his engine exploded in a massive fireball shortly after he crossed the finish line. The car crashed into both side walls, but Force was able to escape the flaming wreckage.