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The True Story of John Force, Kicked Out of the Track
March 15, 2009
Click here to buy the Night Stalker diecast car.
As we have been unveiling this year's limited edition diecast car, we promised you an amazing story. Well, here it is, the true story of how John Force was banned from the track in 1973. Or rather, how this infamous car was banned.
This is the story of John Force's first Funny Car, the Night Stalker. John and his brother, Louie "Diesel" Force bought the car, a 1972 Mach 1 Mustang body, built by Jack Chrisman. It was unconventional for a couple of reasons. First, the car had a SOHC 427 big block Ford mounted in the rear.
The engine was mounted sideways.
Second, it had a chain drive, which would ultimately be the car's downfall.
John had a real challenge keeping the Night Stalker under control. In fact, John gave us some rather spicy descriptions for the car and about all we can pass along in public is this: "This car was a handful."
That folks, is the shortest quote you'll ever see from John Force!
John and Louie towed the car from Yorba Linda, California to nearby Irwindale Speedway. They backed it carefully off the trailer and brought it to the starting line. Irwindale official starter Larry Sutton probably raised an eyebrow when he first saw the car, with the engine in the rear. John fired the Night Stalker up and, according to JFR archives, had a seven-second pass at 180 mph. To put that in perspective, the average Funny Car in 1973 was running in the 6.80s and around 210 mph or so.
Doing the burnout for its second run the chain gave away. Now, if you can imagine the shrapnel created when a chain spinning at thousands of RPMs fails...well, despite sunny weather it was raining chain links and fiberglass that day. Unfortunately, Sutton encountered some of those links and promptly threw John, Louie and the Night Stalker out right there.
That day was a disaster. But John had experienced competition in a Funny Car. Even though the Night Stalker wasn't a success it didn't stop John's dream of becoming a professional racer. And as things come full circle, John races a Mustang today.
It wouldn't be until 1975, two years later, that John would start racing his "Brute Force" car, the car many think is John's first. But now you know the real story of John's first Funny Car and how John was kicked out of Irwindale Speedway.
It is this slice of Funny Car drag racing history that we have recreated with this year's limited edition diecast car.
