YORBA LINDA, Calif. — It was the weekend from hell in what was the hardest year in John Force’s career.
On Sept. 23, 2007, in a vicious crash in competition at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Force suffered a compound fracture of his left ankle, a broken left wrist, a deep cut to his right knee and several broken fingers. With blood everywhere, Force was airlifted to a nearby hospital.
Six months earlier, Eric Medlen, one of Force’s drivers and a big-brother figure for the Force girls, had died after a crash in a test run at Gainesville, Fla. Medlen’s death led Force and others in the NHRA to work on improving driver safety.
On the night before his crash in Texas, Force, who said he had been drinking and was still shaken by Medlen’s death, walked out to the track fence and saw the “win” lights shining in the darkness.
“I had a sudden mood swing,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “We had lost Eric, and it had changed all our lives. I didn’t know what to do. And I got mad. I said, ‘Oh, God, why would you take a young kid like that and leave me?’ And I got rude, cursing God.’ ”
Force, rarely seen without a St. Christopher’s medal around his neck, almost died in the crash the next day.
“I always told the girls that there’s a monster out there,” Force said. “You love these cars, but there’s a monster, and he’ll jump in the seat by you one day. He’s out there. Ashley said, ‘The monster got Dad.’ ”
Force was hospitalized for weeks and later was in a wheelchair and later still on crutches.
Wife Laurie was there beside him, although the couple was in the midst of a 10-year separation.
“The crash probably saved my life,” Force said. “I was heading down a bad road, drinking every day even though I was still winning championships. Hell, I was Elvis, Superman and James Dean rolled into one. Now any time I start getting lippy, I think about that.”
Force stopped the excessive drinking. After months of physical rehabilitation, he charted a course to return to the track, which he did at the start of the 2008 season.
“The doctors told me I’d never race again, that they might be able to get me walking with a cane,” Force said. “But I knew I’d race.”
And so work began on their current home – called Chateau de Force – in 2008, and the family – a family again -- moved in as the calendar turned to 2011.
“I think the accident really played a huge part in changing him,” Laurie told USA TODAY Sports. “He told me, ‘I’m actually glad that it happened.’ For the longest time, he couldn’t walk. He had to crawl some. It made him see how precious life is and that he should take care of himself and be a better dad and husband.”
Now Force works out regularly in his home gym, determined to keep his body in shape to race years into the future. Even at 66, he hasn’t targeted retirement.
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PHOTOS: In the driver's seat with John Force
