When Robert Hight beat John Force in the semifinals of the 55th annual U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park it vaulted Hight, over Matt Hagan and Cruz Pedregon, into the Countdown to 1 as the 10th place points finisher.

Hight’s victory also set off a firestorm between Tony Pedregon and Force because Hight’s win against his father-in-law and boss, knocked Cruz, Tony’s brother and defending NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car world champion, out of the Countdown. Force beat Cruz Pedregon in the second round.

Following Hight’s win, Force and Pedregon were shown getting into a verbal confrontation at the end of the track.

“He got in my face and I think he was trying to intimidate me, but I stand by what I say,” said Pedregon, who is leading the points chase. “I’m just a competitor out here and I’m trying to make a living. This is an emotional business that we’re in,” said Pedregon. “There are some ups and downs and there’s some adrenaline that takes place. Now, the bottom line is if I lay down for Cruz in Brainerd, he’s in the top 10. I race. I stand behind what really this sport is about. I made a comment and John wanted to know why I didn’t say anything to him. What good is that going to do me? That’s not going to accomplish anything. John knows what he does. John knows those decisions he makes. I don’t believe that everyone is that naive. I simply call it the way that I see it. I only say this, that it’s a shame that this sport that’s built on competition, I know that it has evolved into a business, but to me it’s still about the competition.” When Robert Hight beat John Force in the semifinals of the 55th annual U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park it vaulted Hight, over Matt Hagan and Cruz Pedregon, into the Countdown to 1 as the 10th place points finisher.

Hight’s victory also set off a firestorm between Tony Pedregon and Force because Hight’s win against his father-in-law and boss, knocked Cruz, Tony’s brother and defending NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car world champion, out of the Countdown. Force beat Cruz Pedregon in the second round.

Following Hight’s win, Force and Pedregon were shown getting into a verbal confrontation at the end of the track.

“He got in my face and I think he was trying to intimidate me, but I stand by what I say,” said Pedregon, who is leading the points chase. “I’m just a competitor out here and I’m trying to make a living. This is an emotional business that we’re in,” said Pedregon. “There are some ups and downs and there’s some adrenaline that takes place. Now, the bottom line is if I lay down for Cruz in Brainerd, he’s in the top 10. I race. I stand behind what really this sport is about. I made a comment and John wanted to know why I didn’t say anything to him. What good is that going to do me? That’s not going to accomplish anything. John knows what he does. John knows those decisions he makes. I don’t believe that everyone is that naive. I simply call it the way that I see it. I only say this, that it’s a shame that this sport that’s built on competition, I know that it has evolved into a business, but to me it’s still about the competition.”

If Force layed over to ensure Hight made the countdown, then Pedregon believes it strikes at the integrity of the sport.

“For a team owner to be able to make a call and say I got to allow my driver to win, I disagree with that, it’s that simple,” Pedregon said. “You guys need to go talk to John Force.”

Pedregon, however, continued his rant without hesitation.

“John wanted to know why I didn’t say anything to him about my comments that I make, because there’s no point in me saying anything to him,”  continued Pedregon, a two-time world champion. “I think that’s what he was getting at, but outside of that, the rest of it, I guess was just showboating or probably that frustration, It wasn’t about Ashley (Force-Hood) beating me. Ashley beat me. I’ve done this for a long time and they just overpowered it. Cruz smoked the tires against John and that’s not the point either. The point is that NHRA has a very, very tough job. I was asked earlier how do they fix it? I don’t know. I don’t claim to have an answer. I do know this and I leave it at this. This is a legitimate sport. When they’re making odds in Vegas. It’s a legitimate sport. This is not wrestling Okay? So if anybody wants to question how I know, just look back at where I come from.”

Tony Pedregon drove for John Force Racing from 1996-2003, winning the world championship in his final season with the team. Pedregon started his own team in 2004.

“I hope that Dan Olson is over looking at their data,” Pedregon said. “How does NHRA police it or track it? Man, they have a tough job. When they said that you could have four cars, they know that they were going to have this problem. They knew it. I realize that John and I are coming from two different places. John has the money. He’s got the cars. Thank goodness they don’t make me race two at a time. But, outside of that, I’m just trying to survive and be competitive.”

In fact, Olson, was over looking at the data.

“(Rich) Schreck looked at the car (at the top end), followed it back to the pits,” explained Graham, Light, Vice President of Operations. “Olsen, a former crew chief, understands these cars, looked at the tune up on the car and did not detect anything that would be conclusive evidence that they intentionally threw that race.

“We can't deal with the past,” said Light when asked to react to Pedregon's comments. “We can only deal with what we saw today. Obviously, this was a very critical race. It was whether or not (Hight) got into the Countdown and all we can do is look at the facts of that race. John got out of the groove. We see cars get out of the groove. John smoked the tires. We see cars smoke the tires. It's not proof positive that they intentionally did that. If you are going to overturn the results of a race you have to have absolute 100 percent positive proof.”

Pedregon, through his driving for Force, had inside knowledge of how decisions were made at JRF when he was there.

“I know what goes on over there, that’s it,” Pedregon said. “I’m just amazed that nobody has ever said it. Outside of that, John has been good to me. I love the man. I think that he’s just upset and might be a little frustrated that he knows that I know. I will stand my ground.”

When asked if he had conversations with Force about what to do when he had races with his JFR teammates, he responded honestly.

“(Those conversations) happened many times, but ask John,” Pedregon said. “John knows better than me. I could never figure out, why is everybody, and this is when I drove for Force, why is everybody asking me? Why don’t you go ask John because even when I was a driver for John, the media was my only hope. There were times I knew I didn’t have a chance. I had to make a few comments. I needed you guys (the media) to put the pressure on him because I worked for him, so you can imagine the position I was in.”

As to the verbal confrontation between Force and Pedregon at the top end, Light agreed the sport needs rivalries, but if action was needed based on the confrontation it would come later.

“We want them to show their emotion,” said Light. ?We want rivalries. We have it in all other sports. You need rivalries. We're dealing in a sport of emotion. Here we are at the U.S. Nationals, the biggest race of the year, the last race of the regular Countdown. We expect emotions are going to be high and I have no problem with that. If we get to a physical altercation (that's another issue).

For Light, the issue may well spill over into the final six races that make up the Countdown to 1 because Pedregon doesn’t believe the feud will stop once the teams leave Indy.

“It’s on to Charlotte,” Pedregon said. “This will continue, and unfortunately, I might make some more comments. I’m entitled to that. I called it before we went into that semifinal round. If I was a betting man, I would’ve put a lot of money on it. I don’t know how I can wire my bet into Vegas, because I would’ve taken whatever odds there where. It was going to happen one of these days. At some point, John had to know that this is going to come out because you can run, but you can not hide. Sorry man, John I love you. I love you. But, we’re competitive and I’m not saying anything that ain’t true.”

Pedregon also realizes that fans will have hard time grasping the fact that John Force has a chink in his armor.

“There are fans who are John Force fans and he can’t do anything wrong,” Pedregon said. “Who wants to protect that (the integrity of the sport)? Me, the little guy. The little guy is speaking out. Why these other guys ain’t saying nothin’, blows me away. It blows me away. I stand on my own. I’m the only one who says anything, and I’m the only one that’s ever said anything about that. So, if John wants to get in my face again, then I’m going to stand my ground. He got in my face. I didn’t get in his face.

At the time of this posting, John Force had yet to speak to the media. We were told he would come to the media center after the completion of the event. At this time, he is celebrating Ashley Force Hood's first ever U.S. Nationals win.

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