Sixteen-time Funny Car champion John Force has a tendency to overthink a situation.

While this might come as a shock, throwing out the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs was one of those rare instances where Force was not in his usual hyperactive schtick. 

Force, whose high school athletic prowess included being a quarterback on a winless team, rared back, and threw a strike, right down the middle. 

Just a walk in the ballpark; well, Wrigley Field. 

"I’ve thrown out pitches before, Frisco 20 years ago," Force said. 

Force had been given advice beforehand from Tom Hurvis, founder of Old World Industries, the parent company for primary sponsor Peak. 

"Hurvis looks at me and says, ‘Whatever you do, don’t throw it in the dirt," Force recalled. "He goes, ‘And don’t let them let you come up real close and throw."

Force cleared the mechanism in his head and flung the baseball as hard as he could. 

"I went out there, and I just thought, ‘Turn the switch off Force, or you’ll throw this thing 100 miles in the wrong direction," Force said. "But [the catcher] said to me, ’Don’t throw it slowly. If it’s slow, I can’t help you. You throw it high; I can jump 10 feet and get it. Just get it somewhere near me but don’t throw it in the dirt."

"And I wound up, and I threw as hard as I could throw it. And that son of a bitch went right down there; I couldn’t believe it. 

"It wasn’t no 100 mile per hour speedball, but he caught it. He comes running out there. I went over there, and I grabbed his hand. And he goes, ‘What are you doing?" 

"I held his hand up because I knew the crowd was going to love it."

Not the first time Force has rolled with an absurd action, but the catcher followed his lead, all the while shaking his head. 

Force might not have overthought the pitching process, but everything else he was just himself, starting with the special commemorative jersey the Cubs provided him with aptly numbered 16, after the number of championships he's won. 

Force couldn't immediately see the connection. 

"I had number 16, I turned around and said [to the catcher], ‘Hey tell me who number 16 is on the Cubs so when I see him I can know his name." 

"And they go, ‘That’s you.' 16 time, they made me a Cubs shirt."

Then Force began overthinking the souvenirs. Starting with his commemorative baseball.

"Jacob goes, ‘Grandpa, what are you doing with that ball?" Force recalled. "And I said, ‘I’m giving it to you’. And then Noah’s looking, so I got Noah a John Force bobblehead this week. So I give him the ball. I didn’t walk five feet away from, him and Robert goes, ‘Force, you need to give that ball to Hurvis. He’s a big fan."

"I was like, ‘God, why didn’t you say something?"

"So I go back to Jacob, and everyone’s getting ready to go to the suites, and I said, ‘Jacob, do you really want that ball?" 

Of course, his grandson wanted the ball. Force broke the news to Jacob, and the look on his face was enough to convince him he needed to find a different souvenir for Hurvis. 

"So when we got up in the suite, I told Hurvis the story, ‘I was going to get you the ball’, but I gave him my jersey," Force stated.