8/13/07

Well, I guess we can all stop worrying.

How does John do it? The first part of the season was such a demoralizing mix of disappointment, tragedy, utter defeat, and downright despair, and now, John and the guys are absolutely the hottest item in the class—if not the sport!

Four final rounds in the last five races, back-to-back wins in Sonoma and Brainerd, and a massive jump in only a handful of races to second place in the points. If this were fiction, nobody would believe it!

The message that this sends out to the other teams in the class can’t be overlooked. This is not what they wanted to see, and although the numerous Funny Car drivers who were asked their opinions on John’s major struggles to begin the season unanimously responded by saying, “You can never count John Force out”, in their hearts you KNOW they were hoping he’d be an easy mark throughout the season. Hey, can you blame them?

Ashley, however, is a different story. Her DNQ in Brainerd just about ended her chances to move forward in the Countdown. The team really wanted to see her go into the next phase of this year’s playoff-style championship chase but she has now slipped down to 14th in the standings and the distance is just too great to make up in one race. That’s a bummer.

Meanwhile, Robert didn’t lose any ground when he lost to John in the semi-finals. He’s a solid player for the Countdown to Four that will begin in Indianapolis in a few weeks on Labor Day weekend and nobody has to tell JFR that the time for inconsistency, miscues, or missed setups has long passed. After Maple Grove next week, the points structure is basically reset and the eight eligible drivers who move forward will be winnowed down to four when the tour gets to Las Vegas in October. One screw up and a team could find itself off the board, which is exactly why the new Countdown format has been so widely debated and argued since it was initiated last February.

But John’s recent hot streak has been so much fun to watch and if you saw the ESPN2 coverage of the race over the weekend, you saw John at his best when giving one of his legendary top end interviews. Such has not been the case for most of the season and a lot of the upbeat appearances John has made on TV have been due to the successes of Robert or Ashley. Now, John can thank himself for being able to really lighten up on his own behalf.

For me, the next few weeks are going to be unusually hectic. I’ll be heading to Monterey, California on Tuesday to co-host a new ESPN series that’s being shot at the fabulous Russo & Steele Collector Car Auction as part of the annual Monterey Historic Races and Pebble Beach Concours just north of San Francisco. Then, when I return I’m immediately heading back to the airport to catch a flight to Brussels, Belgium for the next Champ Car World Series event for ESPN in Zolder. From there, it’s off to Holland for another CCWS event in Assen, before finally coming home for just a short break before the next race in Surfer’s Paradise in Australia. Suddenly it’s occurred to me that my schedule is beginning to look like John’s!

Regardless, after the race in Reading next week, I’ll be filing my next edition of “In the Groove”, so if you have a chance, I hope you’ll stop back by here then.

In the meantime, buckle up and drive safely! (Oh, and stop worrying!)