John Force’s solid 2014 season continued Friday evening at Pacific Raceways.

The 16-time world champion drove his Castrol Ford to a 4.085-second time at 308.07 mph to claim the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot at the Northwest Nationals.

John Force’s solid 2014 season continued Friday evening at Pacific Raceways.

The 16-time world champion drove his Castrol Ford to a 4.085-second time at 308.07 mph to claim the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot at the Northwest Nationals.

“It rattled a little bit, but it went,” Force said about his run on the improved race surface. “If they’re spending money on a race track, then they are investing good for the race teams. A bad race track hurts a lot of parts. So we do appreciate them investing.”

Force has nothing to prove on the race track, but he has been busy this season finding new sponsors since Castrol and Ford are leaving at season’s end.

“I’m chasing corporate America, and investing money to find it with agencies,” said Force, who came to the Northwest Nationals second in the poingts. “NHRA and ESPN has been real good to us. CBS is doing a one-hour special with our family. They’ve been filming back home for weeks and to get one hour on prime time Sunday morning will be great for our sport and great for our family. I’m also working to get back into reality TV, but one of the bumps holding me up is until we get our sponsorships locked in I can’t sign a reality show. If I wasn’t racing all they would have is an old man crying all the time and that aint no show. A lot of new deals hit just in the last few weeks. It is just like a race car. A race car doesn’t want to run and it goes for months and then it gets fast and that’s us right now with (crew chief) Jimmy Prock.”

A week ago at the Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals, Force advanced to the final round before losing to his daughter, Courtney.

The elder Force was quick to point no matter what on happens on the sponsorship front, his son-in-law Robert Hight, points leader, and Courtney will be racing nitro Funny Cars in 2015 and his daughter Brittany will be competing in a third season in Top Fuel.

“My daughter (Brittany) is going to race before me, I guarantee that,” John said. “I’ve set her on fire and I’ve crashed her in that Top Fuel car and she’s livin’ it. If anyone is going to sit out it’s going to be me and I don’t want to do that. I will race anything. I don’t care if it is a Pro Bike or an A-fueler. Anything that I can find the budget to be in.”

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