J.R. Todd Says NHRA Crash with John Force that Wasn't His Fault Cost Crew Plenty

• John Force’s crash in qualifying at the Lucas Oil Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., on Saturday started a string of misfortune for J.R. Todd.
  

• The Kalitta Motorsports driver and 2018 Funny Car champion was a helpless passenger when Force's car draped its parachutes over Todd’s car, dragging him toward the right wall.

• Both drivers exited their cars on their own power, and neither was injured.
  

J.R. Todd arrived in Southern California for the NHRA Lucas Oil Winternationals at Pomona with a brand-new DHL Toyota Supra and a strong sense he could earn a first victory since the March 2021 Gatornationals. He did have one bright spot this weekend: claiming a spot in the top half of Sunday’s starting lineup. But that’s about where his good luck ran out.

On that productive run, his chances and his Supra chassis and body were collateral damage in John Force’s run-amok pass. Force’s crash started a string of misfortune for the Kalitta Motorsports driver and 2018 Funny Car champion.

Force collected him in his own wild ride, crossing the center line after the finish stripe. Force barged into Todd’s lane behind Todd, zoomed up on Todd’s left between Todd and the guard wall, then passed in front of Todd and draped his parachutes over Todd’s car, dragging him toward the right wall. Force hit the wall and tore up the front of his Peak Chevy Camaro.

Todd said it was “just a normal run. I was trucking down through there pretty good, get the ’chutes out before the finish line like normal—like you’re pretty much taught as a young driver. And that time I feel like I paid the price for doing it. At first, I thought maybe he just got into my ’chutes or something, but next thing I know, I see him on my left side and we’re in the left lane. You’re not supposed to be there. After that, just sort of hanging on and steering away from him, steering away from the wall, and trying to get on the brake to get the thing stopped.

“But when the ’chutes are tangled up like that, you’re just along for the ride,” Todd said. “It’s a helpless feeling. You’re not really in control at that point when the other guy is wrapped in your ’chutes or his ’chutes are wrapped around your car. He [Force] was dragging us along for the ride. It sucks. I don’t like tearing up stuff, especially when it’s out of my control.”

Both drivers exited their cars on their own power, and neither was injured.

“It’s really unfortunate, because it was a brand new car for us, beautiful car and worked really well,” Todd said.” There’s nothing wrong with our car that we pulled out for Q3, but just new body and new car . . . I hate creating extra work for the guys, especially something silly like that.”

That was disappointing enough. But after Todd’s team brought out the back-up car for the final qualifying session, Tim Wilkerson in the opposite lane clipped the timing cone, and neither driver received an elapsed time. So Todd was fortunate enough to snag the No. 5 starting position.

Todd had more trouble in the first round of eliminations Sunday. With a safe lead against Alex Laughlin, Todd rode out an engine explosion that shattered the back-up body and damaging the chassis as he lost the round to Laughlin.

“If you knew a weekend like this was coming, you’d rather stay home,” Todd said Sunday. “More than anything, I just hate all the work that’s been created for all my guys – especially right before an off weekend. With all the work the DHL team’s been doing up to this point, my guys needed that off week badly. Now they have a ton more work to get done before we go to Las Vegas.

“The DHL Toyota Supra was running OK early, and I didn’t see Alex Laughlin next to me. The next thing I knew, after it got down the track quite a ways, it started spinning the tires. I learned in the Gainesville (Fla.) final that when it starts spinning like that, you got to get out of the throttle as soon as possible. Sure enough, it happened in the first round today, and we saw what can happen. Nowadays, the way we run these things, as soon as it spins the tires, you’ve got to get off the throttle. I was too late doing that.”

Todd said, “Looking back on it, I wish I could go back and lift sooner. If you do that, you’ll lose the round, but we would have come back with a race car and body instead a lot of extra work for these guys.

“We’ll see where we are this week with cars and parts. If I need to go to the shop in Ypsilanti (Mich.) or Brownsburg (Ind.) to deliver parts and pieces, I’ll do whatever the DHL team needs. I just want to do anything I can to contribute on my end to get us ready for Las Vegas,” he said.