He was about to board an airplane Wednesday.
 
But Funny Car star John Force, the National Hot Rod Association’s most successful racer with 143 victories, buckled in first for an only-slightly turbulent trip via teleconference with reporters who asked some powerful and pervasive questions. Force’s usual candor and humor were just the ticket for the media, and before a smooth landing, everyone got a peek at what’s inside his corporate and personal luggage.
 
Here’s what the media attendants served up and how Force responded:
 
Will sparks fly between John Force and Tony Pedregon on the NHRA’s FOX TV broadcasts?
 
SHORT ANSWER: Maybe. If necessary.
 
JOHN FORCE: “I want to wish [newly retired driver and hired FOX-TV analyst] Tony Pedregon good luck. He won't need any. He'll do fine. He'll say what he wants to say, what he's feeling, and I think that's exciting. I think Tony is a good kid. He's honest. He's talented. He knows a race car just like [former ESPN commentator] Mike Dunn knew a race car. And Tony, you ain't going to put a plug in Tony. Tony is going to say what he wants to say, and if you don't like it, well, then get off the air. Nobody tells you you've got to be there.
 
“It was great to be back with Tony Pedregon [at a media event], even though we fight and we'll be fighting this year. I don't know who's the good or bad, but in the end we always say what we feel.
 
“I imagine he will [call people out for various behaviors], but the real truth is the truth is the truth, and sometimes you get in trouble. I was fined $10,000 when me and Tony got into it. You know, that's really what it's about. Like Tony, I heard his [conversation on the teleconference] and that he said, ‘If it's real, it's real.’ We're not the WWF. We're not out there, well, I shouldn't speak for the WWF. I know wrestling in the old days wasn't real. I used to watch it with my grandma. But what I'm saying is the truth is really the best. If you kind of orchestrate a deal to say certain things, it just don't work. The best thing  I wrote a whole bunch of notes here of what I wanted to say to make this all perfect, and I haven't used none of it, and maybe I don't always say the right thing, but I always speak from the heart.
 
“What I'm saying is I'm going to say what I feel, and if Tony says what he feels and I don't agree, maybe we'll argue about it and maybe we won't. At the end of the day, we've all got kids to raise, and yeah, things get heated up. I've gotten into it over the years with Lee Beard. I've got into it with [Whit] Bazemore, and Al Hofmann used to ride my back continually, and it was a full-blown aggravation that I lived with, and yet I had a lot of respect for the man, for all of them, what they do. But the real world is best. You know what I'm saying? And no one is going to put Tony in his place. No one put Mike Dunn in his place. So I think it's going to be fine. But I always say what I feel. Sometimes I tone it down. Sometimes I try to be politically correct. It don't work for me.”
 
What does the 16-time champion, who has seen just about everything in drag racing as the sport has evolved, think of the new live-TV arrangement and its effect on the team itself?
 
SHORT ANSWER: Peter Clifford made a smart move to switch the TV coverage to FOX Sports. He likes the FOX executives. Live TV is imperative, and the racers need to do their part by reducing the number of oildowns. He’d rather not deal with the quick turnaround times, but that’s part of the new dance.
 
JOHN FORCE: “I go by what sponsors like. They pay the bills. Auto Club, they're really excited about this, and so is Robert [Hight, teammate and president of John Force Racing]. Peter [NHRA president Clifford] has stepped up to the plate, he's making change, he's bringing in some new people to work with the others. Live TV is what it's all about. We always had a great product. I've said it before. But if that product can't be found at set times on TV, it ain't going to happen. Now, the racers have to take some responsibility that we have to stop the oildowns. We've got to make the show move ahead, and they're putting time levels on it, but we're working on the race cars to stop the things that we're doing in the chassis to maintain the oil if you have a motor explosion. But it's where we've got to do. We've got to put this live TV, our product, into a time frame, and that makes sense. No matter how great you are, if you've got to wait up until midnight to see you, you lose a big chunk of your crowd right there. Our loyal fans might stay up but the average American would go to sleep. Peter has made change. I met with a lot of the people from FOX, and Eric Shanks [president, COO and executive producer of FOX Sports] walked in.  I was impressed right out of the box: Here's a man, suit and tie, one of the No. 1 guys at FOX and he's standing there in tennis shoes. And I asked him why, and he said, ‘I move continually, and this is how I get my work done.’ And I've seen a lot of that in Hollywood TV producers and stuff. He loves what we have, and he's going to take it to the next level. Some of the stuff that I've seen and the things that Tony Pedregon has told me he's seen, I think Peter has made the right call. Proof is in the pudding, but we had to do something, and I think we've gone the right direction. I understand it all pretty good.
 
“[As for the quicker servicing time allowed], we don't like it. We need the time. But it's not our choice what to like. We want the opportunity to tie into new sponsorships. You know what I mean? And it's hard to do with a TV package like we had. Like I say, the product was great, the people putting it on was great, it was just the time frame. I don't understand that, but I know change was needed, and it's done, and we'll see where it goes. But you bet, the racers are all talking about it, look at what they can do. They understand this 100 percent.”
 
What does Alan Johnson have in common with Laurie Force . . . and what’s the deal with that Alan Johnson deal?
 
SHORT ANSWER: Neither talks to him much. Robert Hight monitors that arrangement for Brittany Force’s dragster. In football parlance, Force is the team owner, Hight the GM/Director of Player Personnel, Alan Johnson the coach, and crew chief Brian Husen the quarterback. They’re going for a Super Bowl ring.
 
JOHN FORCE: “Well, first of all, I'm excited about it. Austin Coil mentioned to me in a luncheon that “Funny Cars are where you came from, Force, and Mike Neff and you and this brain trust, you ought to focus, focus on the Funny Cars.” And Mike Neff made a call to A.J. and said, hey, you know, getting someone that's run dragsters, that's lived it and that's delivered in the Top Fuel category, and AJ has. So in the process, so far me and A.J. has got a relationship like me and my wife. She don't talk to me very much, and he doesn't talk to me at all. I really kind of leave it with Robert Hight. They've been putting it together, and Mike Neff, and it's working really well. They're set up in house over here, and I'm excited about it. But understand, I guess Brian Husen explained it the best. He says, ‘I run this Top Fuel car for you,’ and he said, ‘It kind of makes me the quarterback, if you look at Alan Johnson, it makes him the coach, and that's kind of–  I'm a football buff, so that works for me, so we're going to go down this road and see what happens.”
 
How will Force adjust his strategy, now that the NHRA won’t require a back-up run for a national elapsed-time record but also won’t award any points for a record?
 
SHORT ANSWER: The NHRA makes the rules and Force follows them. But he’ll be shooting for low E.T.s and top speeds, because the thrill of it turns him on.
 
JOHN FORCE: “Drag racers first of all, you try to run a car easy, you just hurt it. It doesn't know how to– it is what it is. What I'm saying is when they had points for low E.T. and they had money sometimes for low E.T., like the shootouts and all that, and then for top speed they never had it, we still ran top speed. I used to have to take Courtney and set her down: ‘Stop driving it out the back door. You know, there's no money in it, there's no points in it. What are you proving except you're going to set yourself on fire. What are you, nuts?’ And she'd tell me, ‘Because it's the thrill of it, Dad. It's awesome,’ because kids are fearless, and after you set them on fire a few times, they straighten up. So to make the change, I could go either way. I don't make the decisions with NHRA. I'll leave that to NHRA working with the PRO organization, whatever they come up with. Whatever they tell me to do at my age, I just go do. I don't have time to argue or fight about what's right or wrong. When they say that's the direction we're going, I'm going after it. But I guarantee you, we'll still be running those big speeds because that's what turns you on. It even does it to me, and I try to hold these girls back. Robert Hight, we all love the thrill of it, and the sponsors and the fans love to see it. They make the rules and I follow them.”
 
When will the Force team bring out these Chevy bodies he has been working on and talking about for months?
 
SHORT ANSWER: Vegas, likely.
 
JOHN FORCE: “They started almost a year ago working with Chevrolet, working with our people, to build the new 2016 Camaro SS. Excited about it. We were able to shed some weight. We were able to have a little bit narrower car, a few changes. It's going to be better. You always want to take it to the next level. I'm excited about it. I want to get out there in front of the fans with it. But we're talking, we were trying Gainesville, we may unveil it at Las Vegas, which that's a town that could be a big unveiling there for Chevrolet.”
 
 Will fans see long burnouts ever again?
 
SHORT ANSWER: Nah, probably not. It stinks, but that’s “progress.”
 
JOHN FORCE: “I wish there was a way we could do longer burnouts. It just isn't feasible. You know what I'm saying? There's so many things going to change that have changed the sport.
 
“I just signed E3 Spark Plugs, another deal. And we just talked about how can we get life out of stuff so we can do long burnouts. You run out of fuel, but the fans love the long burnouts. It's the worst question I have to answer to the fans, why we can't do that anymore. And I tried talking to Austin, how can we bring that back. Maybe we'll come up with something, but in the process got to keep the parts alive and got to win races, and that wins championships.
 
“I've been with Weld Wheels over 30 years, and we look at things that we can do, but there's only so much change that you can make. Change is good, and sometimes it's not.”
 
What’s the scoop on the Youngest Generation in the Force family?
 
SHORT ANSWER: Granddaughter Autumn Hight still races a Jr. Dragster. Grandson Jacob Hood digs race cars and the tools right now. But who knows? He might end up playing hockey. But if either wants to go drag racing, they know where to start.
 
JOHN FORCE: “First of all, my granddaughter is in a Junior Dragster, Autumn [Hight]. Jacob [Hood] is out back right now, learning how to run an air gun. He's only four years old, with his dad, Danny Hood, and working with the team. I went out there and I said, ‘Honey, I promise to take you to the movies and we can go see ‘Norm of the North.’ He goes, ‘Grandpa, I'm working on my race car.’ This comes from a four-year-old. I'll never tell him what to do. He may end up playing hockey. You know what I'm saying? They love that Chicago team up there, the Blackhawks. He might play baseball. You can't tell them what they're going to do. I never thought my girls would ever race. Never even imagined it, and so, you know, I'm excited about it, whatever he wants to do, but we're all just watching him grow up, and that's the best part of life. No real answer there where he's going. We just give him the opportunities if he wants it. That's why I've got to stick around in this game.”