Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: John has nothing to Force next season

Thursday, Dec. 5, 2002 | 10 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

After winning 106 races and 12 NHRA Funny Car championships -- including the past 10 in a row -- John Force has run out of goals as he looks to the 2003 season.

When the 2002 NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series season opened in February, it was clear that Force had two distinct goals: To notch his 100th career victory and to claim an unprecedented 10th straight NHRA championship. Now that he has achieved both of those objectives, Force said his approach next year is simple.

"Bottom line, the goal is just to win," Force said. "Our goal as a team is to win as many races as we can. If I can't win, then I want (teammates) Tony (Pedregon) or Gary (Densham) to win.

"I don't have any personal goals as to how many races I'd like to win before I get out; I just want to win the next one."

Because it took him 16 years to win 106 races, Force said surpassing NASCAR legend Richard Petty's record of 200 career victories is unrealistic.

"Winning the 100th, that was a goal but there's no way I can catch Richard Petty," Force said. "Two hundred wins -- how can you win 200 races? To be second behind someone as great as that, though, what can you say?

"I'm committed to drive through the 2005 season and, right now, I'm not thinking about retiring even then as long as I can still do my job. But 100 wins, that's an accomplishment. There were a couple of times I thought to myself, 'maybe I'll get stuck on 99 and never win the 100th.' "

Force went into this season with 98 career victories and quickly notched his 99th in the season-opening race in Pomona, Calif. He earned No. 100 four races later in Houston and captured his 105th in Las Vegas in late October.

Force took a 31-point lead over Pedregon into the season finale at Pomona last month. He clinched the title with a semifinal win over Pedregon and capped his 12th championship season with victory No. 106 by defeating Tommy Johnson Jr. in the final.

"I was proud to be the eleven-time Winston champion and after winning the last Winston championship, I really wanted to win the first Powerade championship and, thanks to a great team, I was able to do it," Force said.

"Plus, the way we won it (was special). We gave the fans -- Tony and I -- some real racing when it really meant something. I was really proud of how we both performed under all the pressure."

Brissette, who has worked with Herbert as a crew chief in the past, will work closely with new crew chief Ron Douglas on Herbert's Snap-on Racing team.

Brissette has served as tuner and/or tuning consultant for NHRA Top Fuel champion Joe Amato, Joe Gibbs' race teams, John Mitchell's Top Fuel team and, most recently, with Don Schumacher's teams.

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