John Force earned $100,000 in 4.7 seconds Sunday at O'Reilly
Raceway Park with a victory over Tommy Johnson Jr. in
the 25th annual Skoal Showdown. The special race for the
top eight qualifiers from the last 12 months was contested
during Sunday's final two sessions of qualifying for the
52nd annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.
“This
is a great day for all of John Force Racing," said
Force, who was competing in this event for the 23rd time.
"It takes a team like this to win one of these deals
because it's so hard to win anymore. It's a lot of stress
because it's so much money on the line and your sponsors,
like Castrol, AAA, and Ford, really want this trophy."
Force
used consistency to earn his record sixth Skoal Showdown
trophy, beating former teammate Tony Pedregon with a 4.790,
Pedregon's replacement Eric Medlen with a 4.805, and Johnson
with a 4.789 at 327.19 mph. Johnson gave it a run, posting
a 4.823 at 321.04 mph in the money round, but Force simply
had too much horsepower.
"We
ran as good as I think we were allowed to run out there,"
said decorated crew chief Austin Coil. "You have
to remember not to get too greedy with the tune-up. The
spread in Funny Car is too close these days. It's like
Pro Stock. We used to have two-tenths on the field. Now
we're lucky to have two-hundredths.
"All
the wins feel great. This one might be a little better
because we've struggled so much this year. Winning is
what it's all about. It's why we're here. The money doesn't
hurt either, and we give so much of it back to the guys
in bonuses that I'm pretty sure this will actually cost
Force a few bucks, so that's all right, too."
Should
Force win Monday's U.S. Nationals Funny Car title, he'll
earn a $50,000 double-up bonus from NHRA.
Johnson
gets $15,000 for his runner-up finish. The Skoal Chevrolet
Monte Carlo driver was competing in the race for just
the third time. He took out reigning series champion Gary
Scelzi and red-hot sophomore Robert Hight to reach the
final. The win over Hight came after Hight lost his blower
to an explosive backfire, which allowed the tire-smoking
Johnson to zoom by for the victory.
Hight
and Medlen each received $6,000 for reaching the semifinals.
Scelzi, Pedregon, Whit Bazemore, and Ron Capps were awarded
$5,000 apiece for making the field.
Overall,
U.S. Tobacco awarded $239,000 in the Skoal Showdown series.
Aside from Sunday's $147,000 race-day purse, each top
qualifier from the 23-race schedule earned a $4,000 bonus
for his effort.
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