John Force crash in Virginia
 

Man! He hit the wall hard. He was conscious and was helped from car and flown by helicopter to the hospital. Prayers for John and family! Hard to believe he is 75 years old. Ray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se-87igvCrI

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Bad hit for sure but I thought the parachutes are supposed to deploy on an explosion and it appears the red flags are still attached to his.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

What are those red?s tags hanging from the parachute?

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Prevents the drag racing parachute from being deployed accidentally at the wrong time.
They are brightly colored with a message like this one: "remove before flight" so the crew won't forget to remove the tag before launch...

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Most would agree, it's time for John to retire from driving, the risk at his age isn't worth the reward.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

big fine and loss of points for NOT REMOVING those red flags on both chutes---he coulda gotten killed chutes did not deploy to slow him down---hate to see any racer crunch his car even JF ---he's got enough money he'll just unload another one from the truck for the next race this ones a "total"--- time to smell the roses might not be so lucky the next time---FED 387

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

I believe that John will come out O.K. health wise.

Looking at the video again, I believe that both chutes had the pins still in place. That being said - If the pins had been pulled and BOTH chutes had deployed the crash would have been potentially MUCH less severe.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

If those chutes would've deployed most likely it would've straightened him out and he may not have even hit the wall like he did. I'm about like Ed I'm not sure what he's trying to prove but that hit he took probably might make him second guess himself a little. I cringed watching the video I know that hurt.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

His whole extended family derives their livelihood from JFR and John?s personality is what brings in the sponsorship dollars so imagine he?ll feel pressure to keep it going. Obvious he hasn?t developed an exit strategy like DSR?s. Plus ego can drive a persona like John?s to soldier on until they hit the final wall. Personally I wish he would retire and bounce his grandkids on his knee?.he?d love it.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

I am a bit older than John Force and I understand
how hard it is to quit racing (Granted Stock/SS is not
the same situation) and I Have Tried several times. It
is no secret to everyone who observes me, the struggle
it is for me to continue to race at the track!

The point I am trying to make is this:
I have tried to if not to quit entirely, but to put someone else in
the seat. After 60 plus years of racing it is difficult to change
your entire life (Especially if you are still doing well racing).
At least until you feel you have come to a point that you
are a danger to yourself and your competitors.

John Force is still a totally capable driver at his age.
I doubt that we have seen the end of his racing! Yes
his team made a serious safety mistake but they
unfortunately occur in the heat of the moment. I have made
my share of mistakes at the track (Not the same but last week
I did drag my battery charger from the pits to the staging lanes).

I still have plenty of time to bounce the Grandkids and they
all love to watch PaPa race.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

GTX John , you wiped out the tree at Pomona but still came back. You have many years still left in you 😁😁

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

It’s hard to believe they left the pins in with the entire crew standing behind him on the starting line.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

and if the crew DID leave the pins in, anyone else would face a hefty fine or worse. Let's see what happens.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

From what I see, pin with red flag was still in place...

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Richard Shute posted a couple pictures on Facebook that appear to show there were no pins in the chutes when he left the line. Looking at the video it sure looks like they are still in but I have no reason to doubt Richard that's for sure.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Good call HR9121,
I think he is right.
If you take a look at the start of the run, red flags are not there.
The red thing near the chute could be part of the pilot out of the chute pack produce by the brutal impact, but those facts still doesn't explain the lack of deployment for those parachutes.
Thanks for the info,

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

The red is the tag from the pilot chute. A few years back everyone had to go to a bright color pilot for when they rip form the chute they can be spotted on the track.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

My understanding is that all their safety systems run on compressed air or CO2.

I can see how the explosion could have comprised that system causing a loss of pressure and rendering it inoperative.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Well, the new of John Force is not
as good as it could be. He sustained a pretty serious
head injury and been transferred to
Neuro ICU for an indefinite time at the time.
No estimate on any release date or his ability
to return to racing. Although the hospital said his
condition is improving at this time; they say he has
a long road ahead of him to recovery.

I am sitting here Praying for his recovery right
now.

If you are a Racer and a Man of Faith please keep him
in your Prayers if you can find time!

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Nothing else matters, other than John Force making a complete recovery from this.

Please God, if it is your will, let John Force have many more years with his family. Both his personal family and his racing family.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

News from John Force Racing website and decal of JF on a lot of race car at Norwalk.
https://johnforceracing.com/blog/for...ng-road-ahead/

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

It was a tough time for me that I have never discussed in public.
I broke a number of ribs and seriously damaged one of my Kidneys.
The kidney required a 12 hour surgery at USC Hospital (One of the
country's best) during which I died three times during the operation
and was revived.

I was in ICU for quite a few weeks , but two days after being released
I was racing a Divisional in Fontana!

Looking on the bright side, I was on the cover of Hot Rod (Plus entire back Page)
and cover of Car Craft (Entire two center pages).

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

After reading the interview with Force in the current ND, following his win in Epping , it's clear he's not going to retire once he recovers. He's more scared to quit driving and "live a life lost" then he is of dying.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

I think you are right on that. He is the attraction that brings in the sponsor money. That operation gobbles up a lot of cash to keep going. He will continue if possible. He will also be instrumental in figuring out why the safety equipment failed and work on a fix for that. Funny car is much safer because of him.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Yes I agree, However wouldn't NHRA be concerned enough to understand why the Chutes didn't auto deploy even if he couldn't do it?

Or has that already been discussed before racing this weekend?

Very concerning to me

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

I was quite surprised the announcer never mentions no chutes out in the replays I've seen.
However the safety system is designed it clearly needs to be redone.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

I don?t know the context of ?live a life lost? but there is wisdom in being willing to lose one?s life in order to truly find it.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Latest update from NHRA news section
https://www.nhra.com/news/2024/john-...covery-process

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

read the interview

https://nationaldragster.s3.amazonaw...024_06_21.html

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Closed head injuries are not pretty.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Those type of injuries have been career ending for several other race car drivers. Most notably Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kurt Busch. Both had similar injuries. Both recovered but did not race much afterward. Hopefully Force can make a full and complete recovery and return to the seat if he desires. He is the the most visible face of drag racing today.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Along with the no chutes and how badly the chassis disintegrated, i'm pretty concerned with the head injury. I don't think I've ever seen such a thing with a quality helmet. Other than a fatality, imo it's the most devastating injury by far.


And yes, the crash was massive but I've seen worse that produced less impact to the driver. My only thought is that something freakish happened like with the TF crash at Gateway years ago.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

I can believe Bernstein would say something like that, hopefully John is smarter than that.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

based on his comments, he isn't

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

I don't think until I read the statement today that I realized how bad of shape he is actually in. I guess since he was awake and appeared alert when he was put on the stretcher I didn't realize how severe his head injury was.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

After reading the news reports today, sadly I think that his return
to the driver's seat looks very much in question.

But = I am still praying for his full recovery!

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

I couldn't agree more John. The final decision just might be out of John Force's hands. John and his family and the doctors will get together at some point. I am sure that Lori and the kids will have some input, and John just might listen to them.

Will continue to pray for John, but the final outcome just might be based on how John does during recovery and physical therapy, if needed.

Seems like the racing community is 1000% behind John.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

Not a lot of news that week about John Force.

That concerns me a lot.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

John I was thinking the same thing this morning and even my wife who rarely will say anything about racing other than mine said don't you think it's odd there hasn't been any updates. I sincerely hope he's ok but the longer this goes without some news or a picture of him it doesn't look good.

Re: John Force crash in Virginia
 

The last update was on Sunday, only 5 days ago.