Austin Coil smiled when longtime driver John Force thundered to the second quickest elapsed time in 1,000-foot drag racing history during qualifying for the NHRA Springnationals in Houston, Tex.

Then he barked as only an old dog with a renewed bite could

“There was a couple of old dogs on the porch and didn’t want to get off, me and Bernie, and then when the young pup came in barking and running around,” Coil proclaimed. “When he started grabbing our food, it made us old guys get up. He made us realize we still had some fire left in us.”

Austin Coil smiled when longtime driver John Force thundered to the second quickest elapsed time in 1,000-foot drag racing history during qualifying for the NHRA Springnationals in Houston, Tex.

Then he barked as only an old dog with a renewed bite could

“There was a couple of old dogs on the porch and didn’t want to get off, me and Bernie, and then when the young pup came in barking and running around,” Coil proclaimed. “When he started grabbing our food, it made us old guys get up. He made us realize we still had some fire left in us.”

And their lead dog, Force, at 60 years old, that’s 420 in dog years, stands on the cusp of his 133rd No. 1 qualifier thanks largely in part to a provisional world record at 4.021.

“Coil and Bernie really opened their arms to Neff,” said Force. “I knew the chemistry would be there. I trusted Austin for it to be there. Coil told me that we can tend to get in a rut and sometimes you need change. I didn’t make as radical of change as Obama did without getting into politics.

“My dad used to tell me, ‘if there are no oranges on the ground, then shake the tree, and you’ll get lots of them. I kept shaking the tree and moving people around. Robert won the championship and Ashley always had a good car.

“Then I shook our tree and so far, so good. We’ve seen this happen. You get hot and then you get slow. We’re not in the hot season, let’s see how these two old dogs and the puppy run in the heat of summer. That’s gonna be critical.”

Force credits Funny Car legend Tom McEwen for shaking up his orange tree.

“I was a pretty good race car driver for a lot of years,” Force admitted. “Even when I was terrible, I still thought I was great until Tom McEwen told me I didn’t know how bad I looked. I was in the cellar of the points and he pointed out that I let a girl outrun me. He told me I owed the fans and I screamed out that I was doing all I could.

“He looked at me and said, ‘No you’re not.”

“He pointed out that I had lost my focus and the old buzzard was looking over the chicks – Robert and Ashley. Took an old master to wake me up again. He told me at the last race of the season and I came out swinging in Pomona. When I can’t do it anymore, I will get out of the seat, and you’ll have to drag me out of the seat.”

In the end, the pup gave the old driving dog Force his assurance the Funny Car would make a full pull, the kind of pull capable of making an old dog look youthful.

“Neff told me he’d give me eight cylinders and a smooth clutch transition,” Force said. “He told me to keep it in the groove, which I know how to do. I haven’t forgotten everything.”

Force certainly hasn’t forgotten how to bite as the competition learned Friday night.