John Force Racing, one of the winningest organizations in National Hot Rod Association history with a record 22 championships and more than 225 national event wins, enters the 2024 NHRA season with a new Force-ful theme that highlights the organization’s overall efforts, as well as offers a vision for JFR’s future.
That theme, #2024ORCE (a metaphor for twenty-twenty-Force), is centered around the leadership of team patriarch and 16-time Funny Car champion John Force, along with daughter and two-time Top Fuel champion Brittany Force, plus Austin Prock, filling in for sidelined three-time Funny Car champ Robert Hight. All three drivers hope to make 2024 one of their best years yet, and to cap things off with the championship in their respective classes for JFR. Hence, the #2024ORCE theme.
“John Force Racing is ready to turn it around this season in 2024. We are calling it 2024ORCE,” Brittany Force said. “We have the most championships in NHRA history and our goal is to get right back on top, where we belong.”
Added John Force, “Well, it’s 2024, but we’re looking at it like 24s (meaning JFR could win its 23rd and 24th championships). “My daughter is in this, and of course, our new kid, (Austin) Prock, replacing Robert Hight while he gets through some personal stuff. But it’s exciting. A new major series sponsor with Mission Foods is coming on board. We’re already out promoting it.”
Prock previously drove a Top Fuel dragster for JFR before being tabbed to fill in for Hight, who finished second in the Funny Car class last season. Prock has been licensed for Funny Car for the last several years.
Prock also embraces the #2024ORCE theme.
“Races are won and lost as a team,” Prock said. “The structure of JFR has been built off of the ‘one team’ mentality, meaning all teams have each other’s back and share information. I believe the countless race wins and championships is derived from this approach.”
After Prock won his first-ever start in a Funny Car last month in Bradenton, Fla., he and John and Brittany, as well as their teams, are looking forward to getting off to a strong showing in this weekend’s 2024 season-opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
Force, who earned his NHRA Funny Car license in 1974, turns 75 years old this May and is closing in on 50 years of full-time competition in NHRA. But the driver of the PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS is not retiring or slowing down. Rather, he still hopes to capture several more Funny Car national event wins and championships.
But Force, who is the winningest individual driver in NHRA history with 155 national event victories, is also looking ahead to growing JFR’s future as an organization and brand in the coming years, both before and after he closes out his legendary racing career.
Among the initiatives Force hopes to eventually bring to fruition include a book and a movie deal about his incredible life and career, possibly another reality TV show (following the breakthrough A&E real life series “Driving Force” that debuted in 2006), an in-studio TV show similar to Jay Leno’s tenure with “The Tonight Show,” and possibly a regular podcast.
Force also has hopes to essentially one-up Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, who has said he will delay retirement so as to get the chance to play in the NBA with his son Bronny. After spending several years of racing with three of his daughters – Ashley, Brittany and Courtney – Force is now looking forward to see his grandchildren move up in the NHRA ranks, including granddaughter Autumn Hight, and grandsons Jacob and Noah Hood.
Autumn Hight is the daughter of JFR President Robert Hight, while her mother is Force’s oldest daughter, JFR Chief Financial Officer Adria Hight. Autumn is currently 19 years old and is expected to race in the NHRA Super Comp class this season.
Jacob and Noah Hood, meanwhile, are the sons of John Force’s crew chief, Danny Hood, and JFR Vice President and Creative Director Ashley Force Hood.
Others who also play vital roles in JFR’s overall operation include Director of Business Operations Bob McAleer, Director of Public Relations Jerry Bonkowski, the team’s new Social Media Manager Cole Wilgus, Communications Coordinator A.J. England, Social Media Assistant Darin Williams Jr., Graphic Designer Armando Villa, and veteran drag racing consultant Dave Densmore.
“We’re getting ready to head for Gainesville and I’m ready,” John Force said. “I feel really good physically, and am looking forward to winning and going after number 17 (a record-breaking 17th championship).”
Given the organization’s new theme for 2024 and all the plans he has for the future, while retirement is inevitable, Force still has plenty more to accomplish in his life.
Or as he emphatically says with a smile, “It ain’t over till I say it’s over.”
— John Force Racing —
