John Force jokes about all the spectacular fires he has had in his Funny Car career that began in 1978. But none burns as intensely as his desire to win. And neither heartache nor broken bones nor a stretch almost as bleak as his 12th-place 1984 season has extinguished it. 

Force, expecting to see three of his longstanding records end this weekend in his worst finish since 1984, found a glimmer of hope in his provisional No. 1 qualifying performance Friday.
 
His 4.060-second pass held up as low elapsed time through Saturday's first session. But daughter Ashley Force Hood dropped him to No. 2 in the final session -- by one mile an hour. She eclipsed his low E.T. with  4.059-second run at 310.20 mph. In the following pairing, he matched her time but clocked a 309.20 -- one mph slower -- as she led the field for the sixth time this year.

John Force jokes about all the spectacular fires he has had in his Funny Car career that began in 1978. But none burns as intensely as his desire to win. And neither heartache nor broken bones nor a stretch almost as bleak as his 12th-place 1984 season has extinguished it. 

Force, expecting to see three of his longstanding records end this weekend in his worst finish since 1984, found a glimmer of hope in his provisional No. 1 qualifying performance Friday.
 
His 4.060-second pass held up as low elapsed time through Saturday's first session. But daughter Ashley Force Hood dropped him to No. 2 in the final session -- by one mile an hour. She eclipsed his low E.T. with  4.059-second run at 310.20 mph. In the following pairing, he matched her time but clocked a 309.20 -- one mph slower -- as she led the field for the sixth time this year.
 
Never mind that Force won't earn a single point this weekend. A couple of weeks ago, he forfeited all the points he would have earned from this event to stay at Las Vegas and test for the 2010 season. (That fifth test session of 2009 pushed him one past the limit.) The point was that John Force gave a glimpse of his former formidable self.
 
He admitted that he had taken No. 1 qualifiers for granted. He has 131, second only in NHRA history to Pro Stock's Warren Johnson. But this one would have been his first of the season. He said Friday night he knew it wouldn't last. It almost did last. But it didn't matter -- John Force proved he still could do it, still could take command of the Funny Car field.
 
That doesn't erase the fact that Force will finish worse than he has in 25 years. He'll wind up no better than ninth, marking only the fourth time in 25 years he has not been a top-five driver. Sunday will answer whether he will extend his streaks for most consecutive seasons with a final round appearance (currently 24), most with a victory (stalled at 22) and most with a winning record (24 straight years).
 
Robert Hight, who has brought John Force Racing its 16th Funny Car championship, said he understands Force's mindset.
 
"You see after his crash how hard he worked to get back in there. It just shows how much he loves the sport. And why he's done so well and had so much success is because he lives it. He dreams it. This is all he knows, all he wants to know, all he thinks about. He doesn't want to think about retiring.
 
"But he also wants to be competitive," Hight said. "He hasn't had the car that he's used to having and expects to have. I know exactly where they're at, because we were there two-thirds of the year."

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