Force-Pedregon Drama: Reasonable Gripe Or Sour Grapes?

At the US Nationals in Indianapolis on Labor Day Monday, history was made on two occasions: Tony Schumacher became just the second Top Fuel driver to win the US Nationals eight times, tying him with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, and Ashley Force-Hood became only the third Pro woman to win at Indy.  Unfortunately, this was somewhat overshadowed by the drama between John Force Racing and the Pedregon brothers.

Robert Hight, one of JFR's four drivers - and John's son-in-law - was on the outside of the Funny Car top 10 looking in as the NHRA adopts a NASCAR-style Countdown to the Championship this year, just points behind Cruz Pedregon, last year's champ.  While Hight was quick all weekend, when the semi-finals came down to Hight versus his boss, Cruz predicted Force would merely lay back and let Hight win - a move that would make Hight the fourth JFR car in the top 10, but knock Cruz out.  For the race, Force blew his reaction time and smoked his tires, with the race going to Hight.  Cruz was, of course, immediately interviewed and referred to Force as a "cheater."  Cruz's brother - and former JFR driver - Tony Pedregon was up next, running against and being soundly beaten by Force-Hood in the other semi.  As Force went to celebrate his two teams making it to the finals, Tony Pedregon and Force had a confrontation, with more accusations flying.

The race was reviewed by NHRA officials, who found no evidence of the semi-final race being staged for a guaranteed Hight win.  Force, normally animated as it is, was intensely furious during subsequent interviews, calling the incident a case of sour grapes after Tony "got his a** kicked" by his daughter.

So, reasonable gripe, or sour grapes?  Well, it looks bad because of the way the semi-finals set up - if Hight were running against anyone not on his team, this would be a non-issue.  But as all racing fans know, bad luck happens, and if Cruz Pedregon had a faster car or made one more round earlier in the season, or if he was able to beat his brother Tony a few weeks earlier, the whole scenario would be different now.

So, sour grapes or not, Cruz Pedregon, defending Funny Car champion, has no shot at the championship this year, and John Force Racing has four (Force, Force-Hood, Mike Neff, and Hight).

Let the games begin...