John Force pleased with Vegas test

Fans of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) will be pleased to note that John Force, owner of John Force Racing, was satisfied with the safety changes made to his stable of Ford Mustang Funny Cars after today's test on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway . The three Funny Cars and both of the Super Comp dragsters will compete this weekend in the city that never sleeps.

The decision that the 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion and team owner had to make was a tough one and one that other racing owners would not want to be forced to make under the circumstances that Force was placed in.

Last month, the day after the team competed in the Gainesville, Florida round of the NHRA POWERade Series, Eric Medlen's Mustang went awry in testing at the Gainesville drag strip into the guardwall. Medlen died from a head injury.

The team withdrew from competition at the Baytown facility in Texas. After installing special padding to their roll cages plus changes made by the team's chassis builder Murf McKinney, Force declared that the team was ready to compete this weekend.

"I want to thank the NHRA, Graham Light and Dan Olson especially, for working with us through this tough time and understanding what we're trying to accomplish," Force said. "We're not through, but I feel that what we've done the last three weeks will at least allow us to get back in the game and attempt to race again. It's a good start."

Today, John Force made several runs for a variety of safety reasons including the tire shake that occurred in Gainesville. He also was checking the stability of the roll cage, mainly clearances with the new padding. Plus shaking down the new chassis.

"I want to say that what we did in the driver cockpit area might not be right for everyone, but I'm giving all the clearance data to the NHRA and to Kenny Bernstein to share with the PRO membership," commented Force.

Fans can catch the team back in action, starting on Friday for the POWERade teams and the Sportsman classes take to the The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway tomorrow.