In a stunning development, legendary nitro Funny Car driver John Force announced Wednesday his crew chief Jimmy Prock is no longer with the Castrol GTX team and John Force Racing.

“He (Prock) turned in a resignation (Oct. 21) for the end of the year,” Force said. “I met with my braintrust, Robert Hight and Mike Neff and the group and John Medlen, and I told Jimmy Prock I would accept his resignation, but I was accepting it now. I will take it right now. So as of right now, Jimmy Prock is no longer employed by John Force Racing. I know it is in the middle of the Countdown and you think I’m committing suicide, but I’m not. I race from the heart. I’m about principle. I’m about camaraderie. I’m about loyalty and if a man’s heart is not here with me, his job is to protect his family, and he has to do what he has to do and John Force has to do what he has to do. I have about a week, I’m addressing the employees if they are going to stay through the Countdown, if not I have a week to build a complete race team. These are good people. I have no complaints. They have done their jobs and I’m a big boy.”

In a stunning development, legendary nitro Funny Car driver John Force announced Wednesday his crew chief Jimmy Prock is no longer with the Castrol GTX team and John Force Racing.

“He (Prock) turned in a resignation (Oct. 21) for the end of the year,” Force said. “I met with my braintrust, Robert Hight and Mike Neff and the group and John Medlen, and I told Jimmy Prock I would accept his resignation, but I was accepting it now. I will take it right now. So as of right now, Jimmy Prock is no longer employed by John Force Racing. I know it is in the middle of the Countdown and you think I’m committing suicide, but I’m not. I race from the heart. I’m about principle. I’m about camaraderie. I’m about loyalty and if a man’s heart is not here with me, his job is to protect his family, and he has to do what he has to do and John Force has to do what he has to do. I have about a week, I’m addressing the employees if they are going to stay through the Countdown, if not I have a week to build a complete race team. These are good people. I have no complaints. They have done their jobs and I’m a big boy.”

In 2013, Prock took over tuning duties for Force after a midseason team swap orchestrated by the team owner that saw Prock leave long time driver Robert Hight. Prock tuned the winningest driver in NHRA history to five consecutive final rounds in the Countdown, including three wins in a row to clinch Force’s 16th Mello Yello Funny Car championship.
Presently, Force is in the midst of trying to win another title as he is second in the point standings – 36 points behind leader Matt Hagan with two races remaining at Las Vegas Oct. 30-Nov. 2 and Pomona, Calif., Nov. 13-16.

“After St. Louis (Sept. 26-28), I started hearing some rumors,” Force said. “I thought everything was OK, financially I have this thing back together. I don’t listen to rumors much, but it was bothering me. I got  calls early this week from a number of team owners, and one that was being straight up with me who said he was talking to some of my employees and I’m talking to your crew chiefs and I’m looking at whatever. I said hey, all's fair in love and war, you have to do what you have to do. I was a little surprised that we are in the middle of the Countdown, but whatever, it is called business and I’m a big boy and I understand it.”

That conversation led to Force talking with Prock.

“I said, Jimmy, you know where I come from,” Force said. “I need to know if you are with me or you are not. We danced around for a few days and finally I said I need to know because I have sponsor contracts that have been signed and contracts that are on the table. I’m selling them this powerhouse race team of four teams and you and Mike Neff lead my charge and I need to know where I stand. Jimmy said I’m probably going to leave at the end of the year. I need to know for sure, and he said well if I have to tell you basically I need a change. I said I respect that. I said what about the team. I know the team had been talking with others.”

Force, however, would not name any other specific team members who may have departed his Funny Car team.

“My team is the only team that has kind of been disbanded,” Force said. “My other teams, Mike Neff (Hight’s crew chief), everybody is on that team and Courtney (Force’s) team is very strong and my Top Fuel dragster, everything is strong. It was my team. They have to do what they have to do. I spoke with them, if they are going to leave like Jimmy I would appreciate to know and some of the kids said they plan on leaving. They don’t know exactly where they are at yet, and I thanked them for the honesty. If you leave John Force Racing, you get every penny you earned, that’s the way I do business. It hurts me. At the end the day, they will speak with me and tell me what they plan on doing and you will see it at Pomona. They will either be there or they will not. I hope they are there. I hope they stay through the Countdown, but I have sponsor contracts that I have to show that I’m building a team and your lead man like Jimmy Prock is most important and if he’s leaving I don’t have a lot to sell. If I lose I lose my team I don’t have a lot to sell. I may have to build a team fast, maybe I will keep some of them, maybe I will keep all of them. I hope I keep all of them.”

It’s no secret about Force’s sponsorship situation with the loss of backing from Ford and Castrol at season’s end, and he addressed that issue.

“Along the road here I had a little hiccup,” Force said. “I lost a couple of major sponsors Ford and Castrol and I want to make it clear, they have been nothing but good to me. I’m very strong with my partners like Auto Club, Traxxas, Mac Tools, Peak Antifreeze, so many that are with me and I’m moving ahead. My job is to put three Funny Car teams and one Top Fuel dragster team (together), and that is my plan and I’m going to stick to it. In the process, I’ve always been very open and very honest with my employees, told them where I stood. I want to be fair to them. My employees understood I may have to lose a few people and I may have to cut some wages and we’ve addressed that. We will have a major announcement at Las Vegas and possibly some announcements at SEMA as well as into the offseason, leading up to the Winternationals in 2015.”

Although Force knows he has a challenge in front of him, it is something he welcomes.

“I didn’t come to race to win championships,” Force said. “I never thought I had a chance. I was lucky. I dreamed of just winning a round. I race from the heart. It was never about championships, it is about what I love. It is about principle, loyalty and teamwork. If I can’t go after a championship and be surrounded by the people who want to be here, Jimmy Prock loves me, and I love him, but this is where he needs to be in his time of his life. I’m going to prove that no man is an island. I will take my brain trust, I will take my people, and we’ve always had back-ups and we will go into this fight. I’m not guaranteeing we are going to win a championship, but that’s not what it is all about. To me it is about being with people who fight the fight every day, and Jimmy did it for 15 to 16 years, God Bless the kid, I have no complaints. What I’m saying now is that I have to make a decision. I’m not racing for this championship, I’m racing for this championship in the next 20 years. Right now, I have to start building a team. If you know John Force, you know the people around me, this is when we get into the fight to prove who we are.”

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