5/07/07

Sometimes, when it looks like things are finally coming around and good fortune is knocking on the door, the trap door opens underneath you.

In a way, that’s how you could describe the Force teams’ weekend in St. Louis.

For every ray of light, it seemed there was a stray cloud somewhere in the area about to drift into its path.

I know, I’m getting a little too poetic here.

The truth is, there was plenty of sunshine in St. Louis from Saturday on. Friday got drenched and moisturized which scratched the first two qualifying rounds. But John, Ashley, and Robert wound up looking pretty strong when qualifying ended, sitting second, third, and fifth. In fact, heading into the last session, Ashley was outside of the field but made an outstanding run on her last attempt to move all the way to No. 3. At one point during the final session, Robert, John, and Ashley were 1, 2 and 3.

Things were all in alignment for Sunday.

As we now know, the dominoes began tumbling as soon as eliminations began. Robert lost to No. 15 qualifier Cruz Pedregon thanks to a mechanical problem. John was upended by Del Worsham in Round 2, and Ashley smoked the tires, veered way over near the right-side retaining wall and had to watch Ron Capps scamper to the finish line in the semi-finals, thus preventing the talented rookie from making NHRA history by becoming the first woman ever to advance to an F/C final round.

Robert was hoping to rack up his third straight win—something he has had the chance to do only once before in his career without success. Since I’ve been conducting a media skills workshop over the past couple of months with both Ashley and Robert, I’m getting the chance to talk to him much more regularly than I did when I was serving as a pit reporter on the ESPN TV crew. Trust me when I tell you, Robert is immensely intelligent, perceptive, and extremely well-equipped to both work on and drive a nitro Funny Car. Talking to him is infinitely enjoyable and it’s unmistakably apparent why John felt Robert could be a capable and competent driver for JFR.

And to tell the truth, you could make the same observations about Ashley. She is tremendously brilliant, and had she decided not to make drag racing her career, she has the smarts, looks and personality to succeed in any field of endeavor she might have otherwise chosen.

Every John Force fan was aware that Friday was the champ’s 58th birthday. It’s not that hard for me to remember it since John and I are the same age, separated by only five months. Of course, there’s no conceivable way I could maintain the schedule John does and it’s something I’ve commented on before in “ITG”. I can say that my two sons, Will and Sean, picked out a couple of gifts for John which I presented to him on Friday. Since I live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, my kids picked out a pullover sweatshirt with a big “Boston” emblazoned on the front and a genuine Boston Red Sox coffee mug. Nothing too extravagant, mind you; just a couple of little mementos to mark John’s 58th.

Two weeks of R&R, then it’s back to racing in Bristol, TN in Thunder Valley, one of the real showplace facilities on the NHRA trail. Following the race, I’ll have more from In the Groove right here at www.JohnForceRacing.com, so I hope you’ll drop by then.

In the meantime, buckle up and drive safely!