Force crash brings safety to the forefront

NORWALK — The memories are painful. But they always serve a bigger purpose. In the immediate moments after he watched the violent crash, Bill Bader Jr. couldn't help but be reminded of where it all started. The owner of Summit Motorsports Park, like many, was upset when he saw the face of drag racing, John Force, endure an ugly crash at the finish line of the Virginia Nationals on June 23 in Richmond, Va. After a huge engine explosion, Force's car slammed into a side wall on the driver's side of the car, causing another explosion, before tumbling over on its side, then back upright. His parachutes were damaged and did not deploy. Force, 75, is the winningest driver in the history of U.S. motorsports with 157 tour victories. He remains in a neuro intensive care unit in Virginia. The JFR Racing team issued an update on Sunday that noted he showed the first significant signs of improvement. Not only are Bader and Force close friends, but the timing and severity of the crash took him back to the days leading up to the second-ever NHRA national event in Norwalk in 2008. "The first thing I thought of when I saw it was Scott," Bader said. At the NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J. on June 21, 2008, Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta was killed during the final round of qualifying. His car was also traveling more than 300 mph when his engine exploded near the finish line. Two days later, with the sport reeling, the NHRA was on its way to Norwalk for the Summit Racing Nationals. And Bader had, well in advance, scheduled a meeting with Scott's father, Connie Kalitta, who was also a 10-time tour winner and two-time IHRA season champion. The longtime crew chief was also the NHRA's first-ever lifetime achievement award winner. "I called Connie that morning and wanted to reschedule," Bader recalled. "And he said in so many words that it wasn't happening, and to get over there. So I did, and we handled the business we needed to handle and then he asked me a favor if I would organize a celebration of life for Scott, which of course we would and did. "But I remember that Thursday night like it was yesterday. So yeah, I thought of Scott right away when it happened." When a big crash happens in any of the major auto racing events, safety concerns are always brought to the forefront. When the crash involves someone of Force's stature as the most popular — and successful — driver of all-time, that reaction has been even stronger over the last seven days. Speaking to Carla Gebhart on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, reigning Funny Car world champion and ESPY Best Driver finalist Matt Hagan didn't hold back on his concerns. "There are some safety things that are going on that I feel like need to be changed on these cars so that it doesn't happen again like that," Hagan said. "It's just the wrong way to go in my opinion. It takes all that energy and puts it on the driver." Hagan said it's easy to look back and have an opinion on Force's crash. "But if those parachutes come out and the body goes away, then the fire goes away and the car is going straight," the four-time world champion said. "He had a couple things there that didn't go his way, and I feel like we really need to address that as a sport to see what we can do to make this safer for our drivers. "That's just so much energy down there at the finish line when you blow one up, and I've done it several times," Hagan added. "When they go boom, it's a lot of energy down there for the driver to take on. I've been a voice of being against that rule for a long time, but sometimes it takes things like this to go back and reevaluate this." Bader said the NHRA does everything within its power to make the sport safe. "We've got the quickest and fastest accelerating vehicles on the planet going 330 mph in 1,000 feet," he said. "At every dragstrip around this country, we make millions of runs a year without incident. I think the sport is very safe, but can it be safer? Yeah. How? I have no idea, because it's still dangerous. "Force is sitting there in a car with a 11,000 horsepower bomb between his legs, and it's subject to the whims of a mechanical device," Bader added. "It was that piece of equipment's time to fail, and you just hope at that point that all of the things are in place to keep you safe, and I believe they are." The longtime track operator said the crash is the ugly side to an incredibly safe sport. "No one thinks it's going to happen to them, because if they did, they'd never go down the race track," Bader said. "But they feel comfortable and take every precaution. "You've got the best and the brightest here on site, and you put the odds in your favor as best you can. But unfortunately, it happens. And this one really breaks my heart." The crash in Virginia also brought Bader Jr. back to his father, former Summit Motorsports Park track owner Bill Bader Sr. He had a long, close friendship with Force. It was just two years ago (June 26, 2022) near the starting line during final eliminations when Bader Jr. told Force that his father died at age 79 in an accident near his home in northern Idaho. Bader Jr. cannot recall a time when Force wasn't at Norwalk for either the NHRA Summit Nationals or the Night Under Fire exhibition, held yearly in August. "He's part of the DNA and the fabric of this race track," Bader said of Force. "And to not have him here will be ... it will hurt my heart. It will be different. My dad died two years ago on Sunday of eliminations, and now every year I think of that. But I also think of what he'd say when things happen like this. "And I know what he'd say. It would be, "For God sakes, why are we still talking about this? You have a job to do, go do your job.' And John would say, 'Hey kid, go put on the greatest show of the year.' That's how I am going to approach it. We have our work cut out for us, for sure, but we'll make John proud."