Did anyone else notice Force trying to blow off the Don yesterday? (1 Viewer)

[Paul]

One of these 2 owners is not very well-liked by the drag racing community/fraternity. Wanna guess which one?

After reading the responses here it's clear which one, John. Jimmy Prock is well liked in the pits, when he told his side of the story that painted John in a negative light people have aligned their allegiances accordingly.

 

[Dragracer]

John did what most other business' do. When someone comes to you with their resignation you get rid of them on the spot. In Prock's side of the story he didn't mention whether he and John had discussed his leaving prior to him giving John his resignation.
What John did was no different than any other sport - baseball, Nascar, football and all the others. Teams move people on a daily basis without any notice. Obviously Prock talked to the 'DON' and had a job before he told John he was leaving. I would have let him go immediately just as John did.
Nothing against Prock, he is a great tuner and is a loss for Force and a gain for the 'DON'.

As far a Coil, don't really want to go there. There are many, many issues that caused the relationship to fall apart and the bottom line is Force owned the business and not Coil.

If 'DON' happens to be nicer in the pits, and that's debatable, it could be because he has absolutely no money/sponsor issues and and doesn't have the same pressures that John has.

 

[Paul]

If 'DON' happens to be nicer in the pits, and that's debatable, it could be because he has absolutely no money/sponsor issues and and doesn't have the same pressures that John has.

You just hit on something there. John's car still doesn't have a paying sponsor for roughly half the races and you see that when the refrigerator white car is rolling up to the line. John has said his Chevy deal is a fraction of what Ford was giving him (he had a sweet deal with Ford) and his Peak/Monster deal isn't what Castrol was paying on a per race basis. The man is obviously stressed out with that part and on top of that 2 of his FC's are on the verge of not making the Countdown.

 

[.]

Hmmmm.... I lose my top crew to the opposition, and they in turn run roughshod over the entire pro fuel classes.... Yeah- I'm kinda bitter....

He only lost his crew was because of himself. Is his crew supposed to stick around and work for free?

http://competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/prock-it-was-force’s-fault-i-ended-up-schumacher’s

 

[DrRocket]

Geez, guys. Get a grip.
You're all taking this waaaay too personal.
I read post after post complaing about "PC" behaviour. You all carp about "too nice" behaviour. You all wish for the old days when Al Hoffman and John were eyeballing each other. You all wish for "Dougzilla" attitudes. You all complain there aren't any "rivalries" any more.
Then, when the two major forces in this sport are caught on camera essentially giving each other a piece of their mind, (at least that's the way I saw it.) you all get your panties bunched up and come here whining and complaining that John's not being a "nice guy" anymore.
Make up your minds.
Sheesh.

 

[cephus]

JFR getting a dose of reality like some of the rest of us who wanna race ,but no deep pockets ,,terry we don't know the conversations of force and coil some of those late nites verbal contracts will hold up in court some of force's latest actions make u wander of wat coil was promised

 

[stitcherbob]

I enjoy my drag racing.
I am a Force fan....followed him all the way from the beginning. Every heart-breaking loss to the heavy hitters in FC , all the fires, match races, struggles, etc. to reach the pinnacle of his sport and go from dirt poor racer to multi championship winning race team. All built by John and his teams over the years. Every person from Coil down to the lowest member laying in hot oil tending to the bottom end had a hand in building that team. Many stayed a long time. Some became actual family to John. And I'm sure the ones who left were missed when they were gone....even if John didn't want to admit it. Just like in a bitter divorce...nobody wants to be thought of as being on the losing end of things. The ones who left and kept quiet were the ones I respect.

Most big-time team owners today didn't drive or don't drive anymore, and have the means to buy whatever is necessary to win. Add and subtract team members as needed. Hire the best up and coming drivers. Toss them out on their kiester when they don't "perform". Court sponsors in big meetings while the teams are criss-crossing the nation. Snap up disgruntled crewchiefs that are seeking higher paychecks, never mind how many times they "smoked the tires" or made a wrong lane choice for another team.

Used to be that drag racing was a family sport...even if the crews weren't related to each other they lived together on the road and often gave their time as volunteers. For the love of the sport (and it is also addictive like a drug... I understand that ...)

John is cut from the same cloth of Hoffman, Wilkerson, and dozens of barnstormers that worked their way up onto our TV screens and became drag racing heros.

I enjoy my drag racing.....even though it only goes to 1000 ft now.
I just don't enjoy bashing the ones who have made it their life to excel in it no matter what

 

[tx_trojan]

When I started to read this thread, I thought I accidentally hit my 'Keeping up with the Kardashians' app!

You don't think John and Don know there is an ESPN camera on them at all times Saturday and Sunday??!? Don't be so damn naive! And even if it is a legit beef, who the hell cares??!?

 

[PDQ]

who knows where john was looking he had sun glasses on and it looked to me that don had his hand out but way down by his side and are you sure john didn't grab his hand as he was walking buy but was covered up by dons back. he probably won't come on and say one way or the other but don does follow this site. he is a stand up guy and probably wants to leave things where they are. as to forces statement about don wanting to ruin him I think john put is mouth in motion before his brain caught up. he has said many times that he and don are freinds

 

[murdock]

Maybe John hasn't forgotten what Don said over the PA system on Sunday at Bristol.

 

[Nunz]

IMO this whole Force/Don deal got blown way out of proportion after John's "he wants to ruin me" comment. I believe that was John expressing how bad they want to beat each other. Then the media ran with it. These guys are competitors, they compete for wins, sponsors, and talent. But I'm sure they realize they need each other out there, and I would bet they have a ton of respect for each other. At the end of the day, they're just two guys, sometime they may seem like the coolest, classiest people around. Other times they may seem like total jerks to someone, depending on the circumstances. Like most of us.

 

[qtermile14]

May be if he treated his people better like Don does he would still have some of those employees! I would pay $100 for a book written by Austin Coil for his time he was with Force!

I think you have it backwards. Don is the owner that drops tuners at the drop of the hat. Remember Rob Wendland being released just after the 2014 preseason testing, even after winning several races in 2013. I thought preseason testing was for trying new things that may fail. If John treated his tuners like Don does, Dean Antonelli would have been gone a long time ago. Remember, after Eric Medlan's death, when that team was not running most of the season, John kept the crew.

 

[Wombat]

Just because you see someone on TV doesn't mean you know them, I personally Know Force and yes his Mouth has a mind of its own and His passion for what he does get loose sometimes, but he has always been a stand up guy and treats his employees like family and when they leave it hurts him like losing family. to Expect him to be happy when he loses key people to his biggest rival is ridiculous, and dont you think both he and Shoe know that by continuing the "Feud" they are both getting camera time and press, remember NASCAR owes a lot of their initial Buzz to a Televised Fistfight during the 1979 Daytona 500

 

[T.Smith]

I think you have it backwards. Don is the owner that drops tuners at the drop of the hat. Remember Rob Wendland being released just after the 2014 preseason testing, even after winning several races in 2013. I thought preseason testing was for trying new things that may fail.

That wasn't the problem.

 

[johnny]

Both have had their A-hole moments. Who hasn't.




Humans I guess.

 

[DrRocket]

Both have had their A-hole moments. Who hasn't.

I've had a few of those myself. Just ask my wife!

 

[Nunz]

That pretty much sums up what I was trying to convey in my post. Lol it really is that simple.

 

[Nunz]

First of all, these are great shots, but look at 5 or 6 down. Seems like we needn't worry about John & Don getting along.

http://dragracecentral.com/DRCStory.asp?ID=301996&NewHash=NHRA-SUMMIT#indextop

 

[Huge]

First of all, these are great shots, but look at 5 or 6 down. Seems like we needn't worry about John & Don getting along.

http://dragracecentral.com/DRCStory.asp?ID=301996&NewHash=NHRA-SUMMIT#indextop

Yep, on both accounts. But, it was fun to read all the comments on here.

 

[StockersRock]

Yep, on both accounts. But, it was fun to read all the comments on here.

Awwwww, c'mon Eugene... You know that must be a body bump before they get ready to trade blows...