Imagine if you will, sixteen-time Funny Car champion John Force playing the role of fictional character Howard Beale in the 1976 movie Network.

Further imagine the iconic Force delivering the famous speech proclaiming the world’s ills and concluding with the film’s most quoted statement, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

Replace the movie talk of crime and other issues with Force bearing the brunt of criticisms which first appeared in a June 12 article in the Boston Herald with comments proclaiming Don Schumacher was out to ruin him.

Watch the famous scene, and you will get an idea of how Force felt on Saturday afternoon at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

Comments attributed to Don Schumacher in a June 20 article in the Johnson City Press provided the impetus for a Force-fed fire back. Force would like to clear the air, his statements of ruination were meant in the competitive state, not professionally.

And, as Force puts it, Schumacher should have known this when he read his comments to the Boston Herald.

“It’s fun for me to get in these verbal battles, but when I see something going in a direction which helps the sport – I like that,” Force said. “We want to grow the sport and make it exciting. But then when I hear something that is completely wrong by the other party – and I am not talking about Jimmy Prock, I don’t even want to say the man’s name any more. I don’t want it in my vocabulary.”

With one fell swoop, Force didn’t say it, but alluded he’s erased Don Schumacher’s name from his breakneck speed talking points.  

“My philosophy in life is the good guy always wins,” Force continued. “If you read the Bible in what happens in five, ten or 100 years, it could be 100 years, but it is the long run of what the picture is. I’ve been in this for the long run. And, I’m not done yet. The good guy wins … even in death, because history repeats itself. If a guy is a good guy, it will prove itself even after he’s dead. If a guy is a bad guy, it will be proven even if he’s still alive. The truth always comes out in the end. That is a fact.

“What is done to  somebody whether it’s by somebody else, whether it is a country, nation or someone else, it doesn’t matter in business. The truth always comes out.”

Truth be told, Force doesn’t have a problem speaking openly about his respect for Ron Capps, Jack Beckman or Matt Hagan. He wishes no ill-will to Jimmy Prock or John Medlen either. It’s just their boss’s name where he gets a case of lockjaw.

“Beckman said to me yesterday, ‘Force, you are going out giving away Hallmark cards.”

“I didn’t know what he meant but I thought about it. I talked to Hagan, Tommy Johnson, Beckman and Ron Capps … and I believe what Beckman meant is you don’t owe us an apology. The only thing I’m guilty of is I want everyone to love me. There’s only one person in this world I’ve given up on. I want to be liked by everybody.

“My words aren’t about those guys. I may call them Raptors sent by the boss, but don’t let them forget I’m the monster. I’ve outlived them all. I’ve watched them come and go. I’ve raced from the heart.

“I don’t want to hear it’s all about business.”

Business or no business, Force believes he’s the good guy in these media-reported verbal jabs, which he believes time will tell.

“Hell yeah I am,” Force said. “I believe in my heart and that don’t make me right. And maybe I am misinterpreting the whole thing and I am the bad guy. To watch words be twisted, and I know it for a fact, I had this problem before and I said I was done. Then for reasons I went back because I want to believe the best in everybody.

“I keep going back, shaking hands and hugging, and it comes right back and bites me. I’m still trying to have faith in people. I want to always believe everyone has a good side. When I read what I read this morning, I just had to say, ‘Are you kidding me?”

“I know the truth and you can say what you want about me. The Internet, half of it can bash me, I don’t care. The only thing that eats me is I want to be loved by everybody. It doesn’t seem to be working.”

With his statement, Force took on the role of Howard Beale.

“This is my last interview on this subject,” Force said adamantly. “I will tell everybody, it’s a waste of your tape. It ain’t even good stuff anymore. I’ve gotta focus on winning. That’s what I have to do.”

Clearly, Force is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.