For the first time in over 25 years after a signature long burn-out John Force looked out the
windshield of his funny car and was greeted by the serious face of not crew chief Austin Coil but
rather his big brother "Diesel" Louie Force. Last night at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park
the Force Brothers stole the show and the winner's trophy in Norwalk, Ohio.
Racing their "Night Stalker" themed funny car in front of a packed crowd at the 32nd annual NAPA
Night Under Fire the Force brothers stepped back in time and wowed the crowd with a performance
that they both dreamed about decades ago in a garage in Bell Gardens, California.
"We used to sit around a race car chassis and talk about winning funny car races all over
California. We didn't even have a race car. John had never ever sat in one but we had a dream. I
kept telling John it would happen and we worked hard. We didn't know what we were doing some times
but that didn't stop us. We had a dream and we knew we were going to be champions," said "Diesel"
Louie Force prior to the unveiling of the "Night Stalker".
During the Night Under Fire John Force raced an Austin Coil/Bernie Fedderly tuned "Night Stalker"
themed Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang. All his traditional sponsors were represented from Ford to
Auto Club to Mac Tools to Brandsource and Sanyo but on Saturday night all eyes were on the "Night
Stalker" artwork as Force raced to the top of the eight car qualified field and ultimately the
event win over long time rival Cruz Pedregon. Afterwards Force could not contain his excitement and
emotions.
"I went back to my roots tonight. I still had Coil tuning my hot rod but having my big brother
Louie here made this a special night. We only raced the 'Night Stalker' one time and got thrown out
of the track by the starter Larry Sutton. Louie tuned the 'Night Stalker' then and it was great to
see how much the crowd loved him tonight. When I looked out the windshield after my burn-out and
saw Louie backing me up it took me back in time. In the final I had to keep from crying because all
I wanted to do was win this race and give Louie the trophy. He deserved it," said Force.
"I can't thank Bill Bader Jr. and Bill Bader Sr. enough for making tonight happen. The stands were
packed and the fans were great. The show was so awesome that I am working on trying to make it
available somehow to fans that weren't at the race. I think it might something ESPN would be
interested in adding to one of the NHRA race shows. I have all the video and photos so we'll get it
to them and see where it goes from there."
"It was good to have the (Cruz and Tony) Pedregons here too. Louie set up the first meeting between
me and Tony Pedregon. We have a long history with the Pedregons. They want to beat me all the time
and I want to beat them but tonight everyone got to thank Louie and give him the attention and
respect that he deserves. He's been around racing for thirty years. He drove a wheel stander. He's
lived it just like me and I want to thank him for all his support in the early days and for
everyday after that."
In addition to Force's performance teammate Robert Hight qualified the Auto Club Ford Mustang 3rd
in the eight car field and won his elimination match-up versus Jim Head.
"Robert's Mustang ran good. It made three consistent passes. We'll keep working on it heading into
Brainerd. I am also excited that my daughters Brittany and Courtney qualified so well at the
Division Seven race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. They are qualified No. 3 and No. 4 so they are
doing alright too," concluded Force.
The Nightstalker funny car will be retired and Force will be back behind the wheel of his
traditional green, red and white Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang at the 28th annual Lucas Oil
Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., August 14-16, 2009.
