While Ashley was getting the media attention for the win John was walking, no limping, around looking dazed and confused. When asked to comment he seemed less than pleased or interested with Ashley accomplishment. He started mumbling about what could have gone wrong with his car. And finally when prodded he started to speak, in the most unexcited way, about this exciting milestone for drag racing. He recited the litany of, 'great day for women in racing, mentioned Shirley etc.' But sure did not have his heart in what he was saying. The whole thing seemed not only odd but in a way sad. Like he knew his time in the spot light was begining to come to an end. Or was he just pissed that he lost. Was anyone else picking up this feeling or am I way off????

That is actually very interesting and in an odd way comforting to me. I say that because my first thought when I heard he smoked the tires at the hit was....Did he "let" her win??? Now with this reaction to his loss, I am more at ease with her win and in a sense, see John returning to his very competitive ways.....

I think John wanted her to win, just not that way. I know if it was me the first thing I would have thought is that everyone would think it was a dive and the internet(and media) would have went crazy. Maybe that was crossing his mind. I think if Ashley would have won 4.83 to 4.85, John would have gone crazy on the top end and would have needed oxygen so he wouldn't pass out.

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Stock4405
Superstock4342

I think their are many factors.

he was also looking for a milestone so it would have been an important win for him also

It would have been his first win since the crash

trying to stay out of the limelight to give Ashley her time to shine

the man has not won all the rounds, races and championships by accident. He's a competitor and hates to lose.

The manner in which the race happened. Ideally I think he would have liked full pulls by both of them. He could hear the whispers of dive even then.

Remember what the camera shows isn't always the whole story. On sportcenter this morning when they showed coverage it had them hugging and looking happy

Sure it could be a little passing of the torch bittersweet moment as well

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I don't think you're way off. But ol' John was trodding unbroken ground. I'm a dad and I was thinking at the time I watched John's reaction, how would I handle it? It's so hard to say. Man, in the past 2 seasons what this man has gone through. And what courage he has. I doubt you're being critical, just inquisitive, And that's ok.

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If any of you don't think that was a dive I got a bunch of land for sale in sweden real cheap.

The whole mic'd up bit, asking if there was any chance of smoking the tires at the hit, and then that moron Paul Page stating after the run that Force did mention some concern about it.

I have no problem with Force letting her get her first win but don't insult us with this made for T.V. drama crap. That ruined what was a very good T.V. show and race. This was by far the best race of the year with close runs and no nitrogate coverage.

If anybody thinks John tried to win that race, then I'd like to know what you've been smoking...

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thank you you hit the nail on the head. there were so many close rounds of nitro racing yesterday it really was a great race until they jumped the shark

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"A Friday night run in a Funny Car is just really intense" - Whit Bazemore

John's run looked strangely reminiscent of some of Tony P's "efforts" while part of team Force---and I certainly agree about the miked part before the run--just seemed awful convenient to me--wish they would just have had an honest race--it was a win-win deal--Ashley wins, its big news, John wins and it's his 1000th and big news--with apologies to those who believe otherwise, I was really saddened to see what could have been a really interesting final tainted by a thinly disguised tank job IMHO

Perhaps he did and then again perhaps he didn't. Let's think about this for a minute..A Force car won..A person named Force won....Force's sponsors got the publicity and guess what..the sun came up in the east this morning. Hummm doesn't seem to make a bit of difference what the first name was does it? So how or better yet why is it important to anyone?

The bottom line is that if Ashley won the race, regardless of both cars performance, it would have been considered a "tank job".

You gotta admit it though, her car has been mighty consistent this year.

My favorite Force dive was against Cruz in '92 when he hit the wall twice during a pedal fest in Dallas while still trying to make it look like he wanted to win!!

Yeah that was one of the all-time classics. I doubt he could ever repeat a performance like that.

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I also think Del's "scripted" dive against Ashley, by purposely leaving the valve covers loose and having to be shut off on the starting line, and Chuck's feigned anger over the whole matter, advancing Ashley another round, was also soooooooo totally transparent.

Not to mention Medlen's not wanting to change lanes against John right afterwords.........Knowingly handing the win to John in a lane everyone knows was just full of good, ol' crude that NHRA left there to glisten in the sunlight?

What do they all think...........we're STUPID??

REX

I think the fix was in from the start. I mean come on, let's re-cap.

Rd 1 Del shuts off, an obvious gimme

Rd 2 Head drives out of the groove, made it look good.

Rd 3 Capps has his worst light of the day and smokes the tires (in the good lane)

Final John smokes um at the bump

It's not the final that looks fishey to me, it's the first and the semis that seem strange. And if it had been John in the other lane on either of those runs you guys would swear they were playing games. Am I right?

John needed the win more than Ashley did, he is down in the points, he is coming off a DQ, he is tryin for 1000 round wins. He wanted it as bad as she did

Ashley's team did a great job all day, they won twice in each lane and they deserved to win. Four clean runs (the belt broke in the second round) and a trophy. They have been to three straight finals, and they won fair and square.

Alan

I don't know what to think. I'm cool with Ashley winning or I would have been cool with John winning too.
Some of these posts are making me laugh because when I got to work I asked my dad if he watched (like we ever miss a race) and he said "yeah I watched that dive job." I was like do you really think so? I then said you know Force was talking to Fedderly about the lanes over the radio and he said yeah I know that was all part of the set up!
Who will ever know, but it was worth a chuckle