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John Force has no trouble pinpointing his life-changing experience, even if he can't remember it.

"God woke me up at 1,000-feet in Dallas, Texas, and he crushed me with a hammer,'' the drag racing legend explains of a horrific 2007 accident at the Texas Motorplex.

"Nearly getting killed was the best thing that ever happened to me.''

As with most things in Force's technicolor life, the accident was spectacularly frightening and especially cruel coming in a season where his young protege and teammate Eric Medlen had already been killed and his daughter, Ashley Force-Food survived a terrifying accident.

Force was airlifted from Dallas that October afternoon with serious injuries and here he is less than three years later -- at age 60 -- leading the National Hot Rod Association's Funny Car championship -- its most competitive division -- as the NHRA holds its version of the "Daytona 500" this weekend, the U.S. Nationals.

It is the first of six races in the NHRA's "Countdown to 1" playoffs to crown the season champ. It would be an unprecedented 15th series title for Force completing one of the most remarkable comeback stories in auto racing and providing the exclamation point on a racing resume that will never be equaled.

But as feel-great as this feel-good story is, it's not history Force seeks. It's redemption.

"What hurt the most after that accident, was having people you raced, look at you and feel sorry for you,'' Force said.

 

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Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Formula One

When the announcement came this summer that Austin, Texas, was going to host a Formula One race in 2012 there was a collective "whaaaaaat?" from the racing world. No one was more shocked than the promoter of the last U.S. Grand Prix, Joie Chitwood.

"I was as surprised as anyone,'' Chitwood (pictured right) told FanHouse.com. "Everything I had heard was that it would be somewhere on the East Coast or the West Coast in some waterfront location.

"Austin is about the same size and scope as Indianapolis and there's not even a facility built. It's still hard to believe, and to be honest, I'm not even sure it's really going to happen.''

Chitwood, now president of Daytona International Speedway, oversaw the USGP from 2000-2007 as Indianapolis Motor Speedway President. And he isn't alone in his doubts about the project, even as the state of Texas has already agreed to a controversial, $25 million-a-year, kick-in for the race's 10-year contract to help fund and sustain the event.

If a Formula One grand prix didn't work in America's greatest racing town Indianapolis -- or in a dozen other previous locales -- how's it going to play out in a city there's never even hosted a major auto race?

 

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Filed under: Nationwide Series, NASCAR

Newly reinstated by NASCAR after a failed drug test this summer, former NASCAR series champion Randy LaJoie opened up to FanHouse about the fateful May night he smoked marijuana, the ensuing NASCAR-mandated treatment since his June 22 suspension, his future in racing and his opportunity to teach his teenage children about owning up and making right.

"It was an isolated incident, but I was guilty as charged, no excuses,'' the two-time Nationwide (formerly Busch) Series champion LaJoie said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

"I called NASCAR before it all came out even and said, 'I did it. Now what do I have to do to get back?' ''

"That was the way I was taught. When you do something wrong, you need to fix it.''

Of the 32 people suspended for positive drug tests in the last five seasons under NASCAR's random testing policy, LaJoie is one of 10 who have been reinstated, according to NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston.

A major step was simply getting NASCAR to release a statement last Wednesday announcing that he had been reinstated, considering his suspension had been scroll fodder on sports channels when it was originally announced. NASCAR has publicly revealed all the suspensions, but this is the first time it has announced a reinstatement.

"We want to see competitors take advantage of the (treatment) program, that's why it exists,'' Poston said. "Anytime someone can make a successful comeback is a victory for everyone.''

 

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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Dale Jarrett, Talladega Superspeedway, IRL, NASCAR

No way. Won't happen. No need.

That's the prevailing consensus on whether NASCAR drivers will ever create the type of drivers organization formalized in the IZOD IndyCar Series a couple weeks ago and that has long existed in Formula One and even the National Hot Rod Association.

There have been concerted efforts over the years by some of NASCAR's biggest names, like Richard Petty, and even a rarely-talked-about effort in 1997 by the late seven-time champ Dale Earnhardt, but nothing sustainable. More often, it was a hush-hush, backroom suggestion that a committee or association was even necessary. The idea of anything resembling a union, pure blasphemy.

And that's from current and former drivers, not just the sanctioning body.

"It's pretty simple, NASCAR is the destination of choice for almost every driver in the world so if you don't like it, there's someone that will be right there on your heels ready to take your place,'' driver Carl Edwards said this week. "Maybe that's why they (NASCAR) have been able to do their own thing for so long.''

Or as 1989 champion Rusty Wallace puts it, "Having some sort of committee like that would just screw everything up.''

 

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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, NASCAR Crashes, NASCAR Fights, Joey Logano, NASCAR

Since NASCAR famously adopted and embraced its "Boys, Have At It" policy, some drivers are "having" more than others. Aggressive driving is nothing new to NASCAR. Most fans consider hard-nosed driving and rough-and-tumble finishes a large part of what makes their sport so compelling.

In these last few crucial weeks to set the 12-driver Chase for the Championship, however, this go-for-it mindset has risen to new heights -- or lows. There has been as much finger-pointing and shoving in the garage as bump-and-run on the race track ... and even a little profane name-calling during driver introductions.

 

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Filed under: Kyle Busch, Bristol Motor Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR

It wasn't as dramatic as historic, but Kyle Busch completed an unprecedented sweep of three NASCAR races at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night, holding off David Reutimann and Jamie McMurray for his third victory in four days at the half-mile track in Tennessee.

His No. 18 Doublemint Toyota led a resounding 283 of 500 laps for a convincing win Saturday that makes the 25-year old the first driver in NASCAR history to win all three national touring events in the same weekend. It was his fifth try at the historic achievement.

Busch won NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday at BMS, then added a win in the Nationwide Series race Friday courtesy of a controversial bump-and-go in the closing laps with Nationwide points leader Brad Keselowski.

"What a weekend,'' Busch radioed his Joe Gibbs Racing team as he took the checkered flag in what seemed the ultimate understatement.

The win was his third of the season and vaulted him five positions -- to third place -- in the Sprint Cup standings with two races remaining to set the Chase for the Sprint Cup 12-driver playoff run.

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Tracks, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

So much for the suspense.

After weeks of leaks and days of announcements and eye-rolling spectacle from NASCAR track promoters, the sanctioning body finally revealed the full 2011 Sprint Cup schedule Tuesday.

Thanks to the steady stream of announcements from individual tracks, there were no real surprises.

Most notable for the marquee Cup Series is a new venue for 2011 -- Kentucky Speedway -- which will host its first Sprint Cup event, a night race on July 9. The Chase for the Championship will begin in Chicago (Sept. 18) instead of New Hampshire, which will host the second Chase race instead.

Speedways in Atlanta and Los Angeles will only hold one Cup race instead of two, while conversely Kansas Speedway was awarded a second date in the summer (June 5) to complement its Oct. 8 Chase race.

 

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Filed under: Dodge, NASCAR

As announcements came down the last two weeks detailing the future of driver Kasey Kahne and revealing the direction of Richard Petty Motorsports, it felt like a long good-bye was at last complete -- the days when Richard Petty Motorsports was Evernham Motorsports done and gone.

But the NASCAR team's original namesake, Ray Evernham, told FanHouse.com Wednesday he's not really sentimental about the complete metamorphosis of the one-time championship contending operation he built from scratch.

"Obviously there's a certain sentimental value looking at what we had all hoped it would become and knowing that it didn't,'' Evernham said. "The reality is the (George) Gillett family now owns the majority interest and has had control for years. It's no different than if you sell your house or your car.''

"It's not the path I would have taken, but they own the controlling interests and the path they take is theirs," he said.

"Eventually the Ray Evernham DNA will be completely removed."

 

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Filed under: Kevin Harvick, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Richard Childress Racing , NASCAR

It's been a big week for Kevin Harvick; actually, a big year.

Months removed from what looked like a certain parting with a struggling 2009 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) organization, "Happy" Harvick has both himself and RCR comfortably atop the Sprint Cup championship standings.

On Sunday he won his third race of the season and became the first driver to lock into NASCAR's Chase for the Championship playoffs. On Tuesday, he and RCR welcomed a prized, major sponsor for 2011, Budweiser.

So what changed in the last 10 months?

"It would be easier to tell you what didn't change, to be honest with you,'' Harvick said Tuesday.

"I think everything (changed) from top to bottom. All the things we had here, we're just using them correctly and more often.

"It's still the same people; just working in a different direction.''

 

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Filed under: Ford, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

As speculated, Australian driver Marcos Ambrose has officially signed a multi-year contract to drive the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 Ford in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series beginning in 2011.

In its announcement Tuesday, the team also confirmed that Stanley Black & Decker will now be the primary sponsor of the car next year, replacing Budweiser, which goes to Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet.

The move will reunite Ambrose with Ford Motor Company, which played a key role in bringing the former Australian V8 Supercar champ to America in 2006. He will replace Kasey Kahne, who revealed last week he is moving to Red Bull Racing for 2011 before joining the Hendrick Motorsports organization for 2012.

"It's a journey that I'm on -- this NASCAR journey -- (and) I'm very excited to be able to stay in the sport," Ambrose said during a press conference at Stanley's world headquarters in Connecticut.

Also, RPM announced last week that former open-wheeler A.J. Allmendinger will remain driver of the team's No. 43 Ford next season. Paul Menard will move from RPM to Richard Childress Racing in 2012, and it remains unclear where the RPM team's other driver, Elliott Sadler, will end up next season. Stanley has been a long-time sponsor of Sadler's No. 19 Ford at RPM.

 

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