NEW YORK, NY -- John Force, who is driving for his Castrol GTX Racing Ford Mustang Team, will try to make the NHRA history by winning his 85th race this week in Englishtown, N.J. After attending Bryant Gumbel's Early Show on CBS, he sat down with NYAutoRacing.com and talked about the upcoming races and technical insight of drag racing.

KEVIN MA: Welcome to New York, John.

JOHN FORCE: Good to be here.

KM: John, first of all, can you identify the term "Funny Car" in drag racing?

JF: The series we run is the NHRA series. The types of cars we run are cars that race side by side down a quarter mile with the speed over 300mph for less than 5 seconds. The name 'Funny Car' originated because years ago, when somebody took their moms' cars down the drag strip, they moved the rear end forward, raised the front end, cut a hole on the windshield and put an exotic motor in there. When people looked at it they say, "Wow, that's funny!" and that's why we got this name. The car was actually categorized as "Fuel Coupe," because they run with exotic airplane fuel. However, since people say the cars look funny, eventually they called the Fuel Coupes, Funny Cars.

KM: Funny Cars have about 7000bhp, how do you feel like driving 300+ mph down the straight?

JF: Funny car is probably the hardest car to drive among drag racing categories. You have to wrestle the car down the straight with the steering. However, it doesn't bother me now. Going back 25 years ago when I first started, I asked myself "What am I doing here," with all the fire and smoke around. Now the cars have more horsepower, and we have a funny comparison in which two funny cars in one race can produce more horsepower then the entire field of NASCAR. The reason is, those cars are long-range cars, which are not made to make instant power.

KM: So how much downforce does a funny car have?

JF: We did put the car in wind tunnel but I can't give you the exact number for that. Actually, I have never been asked that. We were only talking about the improvement in the wind tunnel, which is about 1000 lbs on the rear end with minor changes. Downforce is critical to win a race with the top speed about 324mph, and a funny car has more downforce and less drag; that's the reason why the bigger, bulkier funny car can outrun the sleek looking dragster at times.

KM: In terms of aerodynamics, over the past 20 years, what are the differences from then and now?

JF: I remember 10 or 12 years ago I went about 250 mph, it had a shoe-box design, square boxy look as the car manufacturers wanted to keep the Funny Cars looking like their road cars. The new Ford Mustang we just designed has a quarter million dollar budget between Ford and Roush Racing; they are building the car right now as I hired Tim Gibson, an aerodynamist who worked with Lockheed in the past. There is no comparison [from then and now], the car would run for the first 200 feet, but when you get up to 250 mph the aerodynamics definitely improves, but I can't give you the exact percentage on that.

KM: What about technology in drag racing?

JF: Technology has gone up a 1000 percent! A race car used to cost you about $500,000 to $1,000,000, but we got $500,000 worth of computers on-board alone now [plus the cost of the race car]. The computers check the temperature of the cylinders, how high the front end is up in the air, etc. Since the driver can't tell you the setting while the car is running, it is important to have computers to give us the data for analysis, so we can use the data later in preparation for next race. In terms of the growth in technology, we've got lock-up clutches, which was designed for airplanes. My crew chief went for flying school just to learn the design of those. Computers don't let you change the setting during the race, but we can pre-program it for the optimal setting using computer data before the race.

KM: What's the guideline for NHRA to do the sanctioning?

JF: They have the community to make decisions on rules and regulations. There is no comparison from the cars running 100mph in the early 50's; now we run 300+ mph down the drag strip, so you can say the technology went up 300 percent. But we have corporate America, such as Castro and Ford Motor Company, collectable business, endorsements, they help to pay the cost of the ever improving technology and researches. The technology has gone from computers, lock-up clutches, more horsepower and bigger fuel pumps. We run two fuel pumps now, where we used to run one, rods and pistons, spark plug wires, stronger engine block, airflow over the head, supercharge manifold, etc.

KM: In terms of safety, what do you think about that?

JF: Safety has gone up tremendously, and I am one of the leading campaigners in terms of safety. I tend to ask my crew chief instead of fixing the car after a crash, let's make the car safer to keep the driver alive. Elements like we put a structure around the driver, direct fire over the driver's head, oxygen on-board so the driver can breathe, double header walls, roof hatch so drivers can get out from the roof if the side windows burn off. Push button fire triggers, little wheels under the car so if the big tires burn off, you can still steer the car with those.

KM: What if the parachute doesn't come up when you try to stop the car?

JF: Well, you steer like hell. You know if you jam the breaks too hard it will burn up your tires, it's just the matter of knowing your car. You learn like a fire pilot, learn to think, slow down you thinking process so you don't panic. The worst scenario is when you panic, you suck in the smoke and you feel your lungs are smoking. When I see fire, I just close my mouth and stop inhaling; now we've got air in the helmet, so it helps.

KM: What are the most memorable events in your racing career?

JF: There are good and bad. You have bad ones, especially when you lose a friend. Blaine Johnson, a great racer, was killed at Indy one year. About the good ones, my first championship in 1990, after 15 years of racing. A victory at Indy on Labor Day -- the Bud Shootout. Winning my 9th championship, passing Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty with most championships in racing. I also beat the dragster last year with my funny car, in which the dragster supposed to be faster.

KM: In terms of bad ones, such as Blaine Johnson's accident, how di you cope with drivers' injuries or deaths?

JF: You don't think about it. You only make yourself focus more to make the car safer. A lot of good things and bad things happen so you just learn how to deal with it.

KM: You've won nine championships already. How do you keep yourself focus in the business?

JF: I am going after my 85th win this week at Englishtown, N.J., that's the all-time record set by Bob Glidden from Ford Motor Company and it is going to be a NHRA record and a record in all sports. How many people can last a decade to win it? I've been real lucky that I have the right people, good sponsors like Castrol, MAG Tools as they all paid in. The most important thing is -- I like what I do.

KM: Any pressure for the big race this week?

JF: After all these years I am doing this, I had pressure probably the first fifteen years of my career, now that I've won and I know the fear of losing, your sub-conscious comes into play where you body asks whatever to change your mind. I've learned how to cope with it as I understand how to win and how to lose. Pressure doesn't affect me anymore because I have been racing for 25 years.

KM: Is it a big deal for you to win the 85th?

JF: Yes. The record was been there when I had my 60 wins and I never thought I could get to the 85th. However, I will get to the 85th, if not this week, I will get that this year and go after my 10th championship.

KM: How many years are you going to keep driving?

JF: I am 50 now so I will drive at least until 55. Age is not a problem -- in drag racing you only drive for 5 seconds. It's all about your reaction time, vision, how long your hearts willing to do it and being motivated.

KM: Finally. What's your prediction for this year and the years beyond?

JF: I am going to race and I am going to win the championship this year. However, I am not going to guarantee it because I understand there are ups and downs [for a racer]. I do it because I love being around people, entertaining people, and that's a good feeling for me and it's a fun job that I do. I have a 10-year plan for this and it's all planned out. I want to keep racing and I don't want to do other things, right to the end.