It was late 2007 when John Force, in a race against Kenny Bernstein, barely survived a horrific crash at the Texas Motorplex.

Force's body was in shambles. His mind wasn't much better. Yet, 28 months later, John Force is as confident as he's ever been, at least in the public eye. He walks, he talks and he drives like he's still gunning for his first Funny Car title. He has the eye of the tiger and the hunger of an orca whale hunting seals.

Rehabilitation has not come easy for the 14-time champ. In the beginning, it was all about being able to walk again. Once he could walk, it was about being able to climb in and out of a race car. Once in the car, his exercise routine needed to be specialized to his routine inside the race car.

Trips to the gym were not without pain, both physically and mentally.

It was late 2007 when John Force, in a race against Kenny Bernstein, barely survived a horrific crash at the Texas Motorplex.

Force's body was in shambles. His mind wasn't much better. Yet, 28 months later, John Force is as confident as he's ever been, at least in the public eye. He walks, he talks and he drives like he's still gunning for his first Funny Car title. He has the eye of the tiger and the hunger of an orca whale hunting seals.

Rehabilitation has not come easy for the 14-time champ. In the beginning, it was all about being able to walk again. Once he could walk, it was about being able to climb in and out of a race car. Once in the car, his exercise routine needed to be specialized to his routine inside the race car.

Trips to the gym were not without pain, both physically and mentally.

“They always joke in the gym, “Fanatics”, where I work out,” Force said. “They say why do you do most of your exercises sitting down in a chair?

“I said, 'because I'm not trying to win a beauty contest here or a body builder deal.”

Not many would mistake Force for a beauty queen and if body builders were judged by their jaw muscles only, Force might have a chance at that title.

What Force has, is a very specific routine of exercises performed in very specific positions. Force does his exercises sitting down; in the same position he would take sitting in his race car.

“I'm doing this to (use the muscles) where I sit in the seat of my race car, to build the muscles. I can stand and do curls all day long, but when I pull a brake handle, it ain't a curl. It's a different muscle pull. And when I shove the clutch, you know it doesn't do any good to do certain leg presses, you gotta actually sit in the position that you drive the car. And then I work the throttle toe to make it quicker.”

In the beginning, Force exercised in the same fashion as the average gym rat. However, as he progressed it became clear his routine needed to be more specialized.

“The doctor asked me what I wanted; I said 'I want all of this to get back...to drive my car, not to run in a marathon'. And that's how they're training me, and I've been doing that two years and four months now. Last year I was building muscle, but now I'm comfortable in the gym.”

The measure of success will be how well a man about to turn 61 years of age performs this year. Force feels like he can win a title. He admits working in the gym, “It's been painful.”

Should Force win the Funny Car title in 2010, the 15th of his career, he can say the pain was worth the gain.

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