Top-ranked National Hot Rod Association Funny Car driver John Force is 65 – retirement age in some businesses – but he doesn't think about stepping away from the 300 mile-per-hour sport, he tells Lee Cowan in an interview for CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH CHARLES OSGOOD to be broadcast Sept. 28 (9 a.m.) on the CBS Television Network and WUSA9.
Force has won more Funny Car championships than any other drag racer in history and is one of the sport's most popular drivers. He admits he should have considered stepping down 20 years ago, but adds he's still good at what he does behind the wheel.
'My office is right in the seat of that car,' Force tells Cowan. 'And once I get in there, an old guy like me gets young again. This fire suit makes me Superman. Not really, but I believe I am.'
Force tells Cowan he doesn't quit because the drag strip is where he wants to be, it's where he's most comfortable.
'I got a big old house I ought to set in,' Force says. 'Don't care about it. This is my house. This is where I live.'
Though he's spent years away from home traveling track to track on the NHRA circuit, Force is now surrounded by family. Three of his daughters – Courtney, Ashley and Brittany – became race car drivers. His son-in-law, Robert Hight, also races and is a teammate.
On the track, Force says, he does whatever it takes to win, even if he's racing his family.
'I'm so caught up in that cockpit of that car that sometimes I forget who I'm racing. Because that's what you have to do,' Force says. 'You've got to be on kill. That guy over there is got to be a monster, and you've got to hate him. And you've got to beat him. And if it's your daughter, you've got to hate her.'
Force says he's driven to win and, 'if I ever change that, I won't know how to win.'
For all the success he's had in the NHRA, Force has also seen tragedy. Friends have died in wrecks and he's been in been hurt, too. He prays before every race for his safety and for his daughters'.
'If I lost a girl, I can't even talk about it,' Force says. 'I don't allow myself to talk about it. If I lost a girl, I couldn't handle it.'
CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays, 9-10:30 a.m. on WUSA9.
