Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com

Sun, 4 May 2008, 03:48 PM

Force Beats Capps for Historic 1,000th Round Win

Courtesy of Dave Densmore
Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc.

MADISON, Ill. --

Force celebrates 1000 round win.

One week after his daughter made Funny Car history with a breakthrough victory in Atlanta, Ga., John Force celebrated his 59th birthday Sunday by becoming the first driver to win 1,000 competitive rounds in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

When Force drove his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang to a quarter mile time of 4.862 seconds, 320.20 miles per hour to beat defending event champion Ron Capps in the first round of Sunday's 12th annual O'Reilly Midwest Nationals, it propelled him to what may be his ultimate accomplishment in the sport.

NHRA officials suspended first round competition to bring Force back to the starting line area where he was congratulated by NHRA president Tom Compton and presented a crystal trophy commemorating his accomplishment.

Force in '79
"You can't win without a good crew, sponsors like Castrol, Ford, the Auto Club and Old Spice and crew chiefs like Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly," Force said. "Five hundred races (a milestone he achieved at Atlanta) just means you showed up a lot. But winning a thousand rounds, that means that at a point in time, we were pretty good."

JOHN FORCE WINS 1,000TH RACING ROUND!

(NOTE: John Force today became the first professional drag racer to win 1,000 competitive rounds in the NHRA's primary series. Below is a statistical data package designed to provide some perspective on his accomplishment)

John Force's historically significant round wins:

First win - beat Tom McEwen, first round, Cajun Nationals, Baton Rouge, La., June 1, 1979

100th win - beat Brad Tuttle, first round, NorthStar Nationals, Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 21, 1988, race winner, Oldsmobile Firenza

200th win - beat Mike Dunn, semifinals, Summernationals, Englishtown, N.J., July 7, 1991, semifinalist, Oldsmobile Cutlass 250th win - beat Del Worsham, semifinals, 1992 Mopar Mile-High Nationals, Denver, Colo. (Runner-up) July 26, 1992, Oldsmobile Cutlass

300th win - beat Gordie Bonin, semifinals, Mid-South Nationals, Memphis, Tenn., May 16, 1993, race winner, Oldsmobile Cutlass

400th win - beat Dale Pulde, second round, Northwest Nationals, Seattle, Wash., August 6, 1995, race winner, Pontiac Formula Firebird

500th win - beat Ray Higley, second round, Castrol Nationals, Dallas, Texas, May 4, 1997, runner-up, Ford Mustang

600th win - beat Whit Bazemore, second round, Virginia is for Lovers Nationals, Richmond, Va., May 2, 1999, race winner, Ford Mustang

700th win - beat Tim Wilkerson, first round, 1999 Auto Club Finals, Pomona, Calif., Nov. 14, 1999, runner-up, Ford Mustang

750th win - beat Bob Gilbertson, first round, 2001 Toyo Tires Nationals, Reading, Pa., Oct. 7, 2001, race winner, Ford Mustang

800th win - beat Tim Wilkerson, semifinals, ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals, Las Vegas, Nev., Oct. 27, 2002, race winner, Ford Mustang.

900th win - beat Whit Bazemore, first round, Summit Southern Nationals, Atlanta, Ga., May 15, 2005, race winner, Ford Mustang.

1000th win - beat Ron Capps, first round, O'Reilly Midwest Nationals, May 4, 2008, Ford Mustang.

The Next 10
Warren Johnson, Pro Stock             846
*Bob Glidden, Pro Stock               597
*Kenny Bernstein, Top Fuel/Funny Car  681
Kurt Johnson, Pro Stock               473
Larry Dixon, Top Fuel                 465
Jim Yates, Pro Stock                  412
Tony Pedregon, Top Fuel/Funny Car     410
Cory Mac, Top Fuel                    409
Tony Schumacher, Top Fuel             394
*Don Prudhomme, Top Fuel/Funny Car    389
*No longer racing

Did You Know? - John has beaten 114 different drivers to achieve 1000 round wins
- John has won 180 rounds versus NHRA world champions
- John has won 61 rounds against JFR teammates
- John has won rounds at 24 different racetracks
- John has won rounds in 18 different states
- John has won 805 rounds in Steve Pleuger-built cars; 195 in Murf McKinney cars.
- John has won 21 rounds outside the U.S., all at Sanair Raceway, St. Pie, Quebec, Canada
- The most rounds John ever won in a single season was 65 (1996)
- The most consecutive rounds won during the streak was 21 (beginning June 26, 1994 at Topeka, Kan., and concluding with a second round loss to K.C. Spurlock at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis on Sept. 5, 1994).
- John has won 100 rounds at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif., the most at any single track.
- John has won 62 rounds in the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., the most in any single event.
- John once won 33 consecutive first round races (starting at Brainerd, Minn., on Aug. 20, 1995 and concluding with a loss to Cruz Pedregon at Columbus, Ohio, on June 15, 1997).
- Of John's 1,000 round wins, more than half (506) have come in Ford Mustangs.
- John has won 954 rounds since Castrol came on board as his principal sponsor in 1987
- Although he's had a half dozen crew chiefs in his career, 969 of John's round wins have been earned with Austin Coil turning the wrenches.
- John won 420 rounds with a one-car team before adding a second car in 1996, a third in 2001 and a fourth in 2007
- John won more rounds at 47 (63) than at any other age
- John won almost one-quarter (240) of his 1000 rounds in four spectacular seasons: 65 wins in 1996, 61 wins in 1999, 58 wins in 2000 and 56 wins in 1993.
- John has won 10 rounds against women drivers
- John has won a single racing round against daughter Ashley, the current POWERade points leader
- John has won 111 rounds against drivers with surnames beginning with the letter "B"
- 263 of John's 1,000 round wins have come without facial hair.

John Force's round wins by day of the week:
 
Sunday     924
Monday      46
Saturday    25
Wednesday    3
Tuesday      2
 
John Force's rounds won by month:
 
Feb.      88
March     71
April     86
May      106
June     113
July     129
Aug.     118
Sept.    107
Oct.     149
Nov.      33
 
John Force's round wins by state:
 
California      148
Texas           115
Kansas           63
Minnesota        62
Georgia          59
Illinois         55
Tennessee        55
Florida          52
Arizona          51
New Jersey       51
Pennsylvania     50
Colorado         47
Washington       44
Ohio             41
Indiana          39
Virginia         22
Quebec, CANADA   21
Nevada           14
Louisiana        11

John Force 's 1000 round wins by the numbers....
1 - pro driver with 1,000 career round wins
2 - seasons with more than 60 round wins (1996, 1999)
3 - rounds won on Wednesday
4 - women drivers beaten at least once (Paula Martin, Cristen Powell, Della Woods and Ashley Force)
5 - rounds won when unopposed
6 - rounds won on his birthday (May 4)
7 - starting position from which he won 67 of his record rounds
8 - drivers responsible for one-third of his 1000 round wins (Tony Pedregon 53, Cruz Pedregon 50, Whit Bazemore 46, Del Worsham 43, Al Hofmann 43, Chuck Etchells 40, Ron Capps 38, Gary Densham 32)
9 - different car models in which he has won rounds (Chevy Corvette, Chevy Citation, Chevy Camaro, Chevy Cavalier, Chevy Lumina, Olds Firenza, Olds Cutlass, Pontiac Firebird, Ford Mustang).
10 - consecutive seasons with 40 or more round wins (1993-2002).