Racing Rewind: The First of Many

With Kenny Bernstein’s “Budweiser King” and a whole bunch of Canadian fans watching on in the background, John Force charges down the track while competing at the 1987 Molson NHRA Grandnational outside Montreal. Diehard fans will recognize it as the site of Force’s first of 157 NHRA national event victories in Funny Car. With Austin Coil calling the shots on the Castrol GTX/Jolly Rancher Oldsmobile, Force defeated Ed “The Ace” McCulloch in the final round to get his long-awaited first win. The TV production crew couldn’t get into Canada, so rather than Steve Evans and the Diamond P cameramen, Force was greeted at the top end by “three drunken Canadians” as the 16-time NHRA world champion described in a 2020 interview. 

[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #190, the State of Drag Issue, in September/ October of 2024.]

Photograph by Richard Shute/Auto Imagery
Sanair Super Speedway
Saint-Pie, Quebec, Canada

This story was originally published on October 24, 2024.

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