THE ERIC MEDLEN PROJECT

” OUT OF TRAGEDY, THE ERIC MEDLEN PROJECT
PROMISES A SAFER FUTURE FOR DRAG RACING”

BROWNSBURG, Ind. – The goal of The Eric Medlen Project at John Force Racing Inc., is twofold.

Housed in a 48,000 square foot building adjacent to the existing JFR shop facility it was created first to secure the legacy of its namesake, one of the most popular young drivers in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, and second to sustain the racing dynasty created by 14-time NHRA Funny Car Champion John Force.

“Our purpose is to show everyone that all of us at John Force Racing will never forget Eric Medlen and the impact he made on all of us,” Force said of the driver who succumbed to injuries suffered in a testing accident.  “Eric was a beloved member of the drag racing family, just like Dale Earnhardt was to NASCAR.”

The Eric Medlen Project (TEMP) ultimately will house a complete fabrication shop including chassis shop, paint shop and engine shop providing proprietary parts for JFR’s Ford Mustang Funny Cars and A/Fuel dragsters. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I am still working with (chassis builder) Murf McKinney, but one day we plan to evolve to doing everything in-house because that’s the best way to maintain quality control.”

In addition, TEMP will contain the high tech data acquisition and testing equipment needed to support the JFR safety initiative.

TEMP will be managed by John Medlen, who is relocating from Russellville, Ark., with his wife, Martha.  The elder Medlen, hired in 1996 to oversee the build-up of a second JFR Funny Car team, also will resume his duties as crew chief on a Ford Mustang driven by rookie Mike Neff.

“Seeing Eric’s dad so strong is what gets me through it,” Force said of the loss of the leader of his Next Generation of drivers. “He lives it every day.”

Drag racing’s most prolific winner with 125 victories including three this season, Force also credited Medlen with putting his career back on track after the accident,”

“He told me that my job was to lead this team and that I wasn’t doing that,” Force said. “He said Eric would have been disappointed in the way I was acting.  That got my mind right because I knew then that I had to give John Medlen the tools he needed to make sure that what happened to Eric didn’t happen to someone else.  The only way I knew to do that was to keep on racing.”

The thrust of TEMP will be the creation of the Funny Car of the Future (FCF), a concept vehicle that Force insists must be both “affordable and competitive.  John Medlen already has talked to engineers about what can and can’t be done,” Force said. “We’ve talked to people inside the sport, like Murf McKinney and people in IndyCar and NASCAR and Formula One.”

In the weeks after the accident, Force dictated immediate changes based on conversations with Dr.  John Melvin, a biomechanical research scientist with extensive crash safety experience.  The resulting improvements likely prevented injury to drivers Robert Hight and Ashley Force during subsequent accidents at Topeka, Kan., and Seattle Wash., respectively.

John Medlen, who is working closely with NHRA, SFI, Ford Motor Company and others on the safety initiatives, calls the spirit of cooperation he has seen thus far unprecedented.

“We’ve been given data that it would have taken years for us to develop on our own,” Medlen said. “It’s been a very humbling experience that shows the depth of the impact of Eric’s accident.”

“It’s a joint effort,” Force said, “ and whatever (safety) data is developed and whatever the conclusions are, we’ll share them with the entire racing community.  It’s not just my own children (daughters Ashley, 24, Brittany, 20, and Courtney, 18, all are racers), it’s for all the mothers and fathers and their children who are out here.

While the creation of the FCF will be a priority, The Eric Medlen Project will be competition-driven.  Using machine tools built by Giddings and Lewis and Fadal, TEMP this fall will deliver a Ford-branded fuel motor.

Eric Medlen never will be far away from the project that bears his name.  A life size bronze statue of the once aspiring rodeo cowboy occupies a prominent position beneath the flagpole outside the JFR complex and a room inside the shop is dedicated to the six-time winner, remembering his life in photos, displays and testimonials.

There are special sections devoted to Eric as a calf-roping cowboy, to him and his dad and to him and the drivers with whom he had a special bond: J.R. Todd, Morgan Lucas, Brandon Bernstein and Ashley Force the 24-year-old daughter of the champion.

The statue was cast by Storyland Studios in Lake Elsinore, Calif., the same company that created the statue of NHRA founder Wally Parks that stands in front of the NHRA Motorsports Museum.

-www.johnforceracing.com-