The John Force Racing empire is a spectacle in the NHRA world. Revolving around the hard work of 16-time NHRA champion John Force, the sports dynasty boasts 23 team championships over 30 years of competition. Yet such dizzying levels of excitement were hardly achieved under the supervision of John alone. Primary in the efforts was also Laurie Force, the iron woman behind the empire and John’s loving wife for so many decades.

Who is Laurie Force?

We know quite a bit about John Force’s history, and his wife’s story is closely interlinked. Force was born in Bell Gardens, California, and was a quarterback player in his high school’s football team. A teenage marriage led to the birth of his firstborn, Adria. In 1983, however, he joined drag racing full-time – and that is what led to his meeting Laurie Force, who soon became his second wife. And Laurie was a dedicated partner, acting as a pillar of support in John’s career.

What is Laurie Force’s height and age? 

Laurie Force is presently 74 years old. No information is available about her height.

How did John Force and Laurie Force meet?

According to a YouTube video posted by Headline Extension official, John Force met Laurie at a wedding in 1972. John was the best man, and Laurie was the maid of honor. They dated each other on and off before getting married in 1981. As aforementioned, their love was fueled by drag racing – and it bloomed into a beautiful marriage and a powerful empire.

What does Laurie Force do?

This post would not suffice to give a full tribute to Laurie Force’s contribution to her husband’s career and drag racing in general. When John Force was still struggling, she mixed race fuel, made bologna sandwiches, and kept the team rolling when the dollars ran low. This combined partnership soon allowed Force to break through, winning an NHRA event in 1987. The rest was history, with multiple accolades tumbling down their path. Notably, Force scored a remarkable 10 straight Funny Car titles from 1993 to 2002.

In a 2019 interview, John Force shared one of the various ways his wife has helped in his career. “Somehow she always managed me…I remember my first contract that I had sent to Wendy’s Hamburgers, one of the first major corporations in America, that I was trying to sign, and they sent it back and said, ‘We love you. We want you. But get someone that knows how to write this. That makes sense.’ And she took it from there. And we grew and grew, but it was her expertise.”

In 2016, Laurie Force was awarded the Pat Garlits Memorial Award by Mopar during a banquet at the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in Gainesville, Florida. The award honors the late wife of “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, who passed away in February 2014. She was honored for her dedication, passion, and service to not only her husband’s and daughter’s teams but also to drag racing as a whole.

Meet Laurie Force and John Force’s Children

Just as John Force flourished under Laurie Force’s impact, their children did the same. The couple shares three daughters, Brittany, Courtney, and Ashley, and both of them followed in their father’s footsteps. Ashley Force Hood, retired from racing, served as president of John Force Racing Entertainment. Brittany Force is a 2017 NHRA Drag Racing Series Top Fuel dragster champion. Courtney Force, who retired from racing in 2019, holds the title of the winningest female Funny Car Driver in NHRA history. She is married to IndyCar racer Graham Rahal.

While John Force taught his daughters the racecraft, Laurie literally got on track to help. She said in 2019, “I thought, ‘You know, maybe I will do this.’ Because I had the girls coming to me because they didn’t want to go to their dad because he wouldn’t understand, and they were pouring out the ‘and this happened and that and then the car…’ And I thought they are wasting their time telling me this, because I have nothing that I can compare it to. So I went out there and got licensed in Super Comp…I never raced, but I had that experience so that suddenly things…made sense to me.”

The contribution of Laurie Force has shaped not only the Force empire but also drag racing as a whole. We hope to see the family flourish in more ways in the future!