Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005 | 10:10 a.m.
John Force has occupied the NHRA Funny Car throne for 13 of the past 15 seasons, including a reign of 10 consecutive years from 1993 to 2002.
After losing the title to then teammate Tony Pedregon in 2003, Force said his 13th season championship in 2004 was the most difficult to win. With the 2005 NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series season set to open Thursday in Pomona, Calif., Force said he doesn't expect it to get any easier.
"They just get harder and harder (to win)," Force said. "Last year's (championship) was so hard because, when you win your first championship, you don't know how you did it. Then you win two, three, four and you go down that road it's like 'do we really have magic?'
"But then to lose it -- I never felt that feeling since the other Pedregon (Cruz) beat me in '92 and it's like, 'can you come back once you lose?' I said, 'you came back in '92, you can come back again.' We won in '93 and we came back and we won (last year). At my age, it was more exciting to get back because ... it's not like I'm going to get any younger."
And the competition, Force said, is only getting stronger.
"It's getting harder because the competition has got multicar teams, they've got money and it's going to get harder," he said. "They know how to win."
Although Force has been able to keep the nucleus of his team together for the better part of his extraordinary run, he said losing even one employee could set a team back.
"It's really funny, but you can lose one guy on your motor program -- just the guy who does bottom end -- and it'll take two years to get back in the groove," Force said. "All of that is what makes a perfect machine: money, technology ... but every year we have to replace a guy on each team, practically, and that screws you up for a long time.
"We lost some (people) this year, so we're fighting right now to get back in the groove. We're running last year's combination and maybe we're polishing it a bit, but right now what we're trying to do is train a team and all three teams have a new employee."
Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Bike) also will be looking to defend their 2004 championships this season -- but both Schumacher and Anderson will have difficulty repeating their spectacular 2004 seasons.
Schumacher, who established the single-season record for most victories (10) in Top Fuel en route to his second career NHRA championship, said last year's accomplishments won't mean much when he rolls his dragster to the starting line Thursday afternoon for the opening round of qualifying.
"(Last season) was magical, without question," Schumacher said. "To go out and win the world championship and win 10 events to set the record was amazing, but this is a new season.
"Listen, we know we're going to be in for a dogfight once the season starts. But our performance (during pre-season testing) in Phoenix should be a message that we're going to give it all we have to defend our world title. If the other teams want that big check at the end of the season, they are going to have to earn it and take it from us."
Anderson rewrote the NHRA and Pro Stock record books with one of the most dominant seasons in the sport's 53-year history. In winning 15 of the 23 national events in 2004, Anderson established numerous NHRA single-season records, including most victories (15), most final rounds (19), most rounds won (76) and most No. 1 qualifying awards (16).
Anderson, the two-time defending NHRA Pro Stock champion, said he is motivated by fear as the 2005 season opens.
"I'm very confident that we're at the top of our game," said Anderson, who drives for team owner Ken Black of Las Vegas. "I'm a little scared, but I get a little scared at this time every year because you don't know what the competition has done in the last month or two.
"Everybody has elevated their game and from some of the preseason testing I've seen already, several teams have made some gains. We're going to have to be better if we're going to repeat any of the things we did last year. I'm very confident that we can, yet at the same time I'm still concerned -- but fear is a great motivator and I have that right now."
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