John Force Racing proudly displays the words "Next Generation" on every one of its transporters and merchandise trailers.
The passing of the Force family's championship torch may be playing out over the next few weeks as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series enters the final stages of the 2014 season, starting in Reading, Pa., with the NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway (Eliminations Sunday live at 11 am ET on ESPN3 and same-day at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2).
Team boss John Force is locked in a tight Funny Car championship battle with his 26-year-old daughter, Courtney, who has made drag racing history on a number of levels this year. Last weekend at Gateway Motorsport Park, Courtney became the first woman to win two consecutive NHRA Funny Car events; her tally of four wins this season is also a record for female Funny Car pilots, as is her career total of seven victories.
The win in St. Louis, which included a round win over her father in the semifinals, moved Courtney within 30 points of him as she chases the first championship crown of her career.
"I think the good news is at least our team is making the right moves at the right time, right here in the Countdown to the Championship," Courtney Force said following her Gateway triumph. "It was tough going up against dad. I didn't want to race him, but all I thought about was how he took me out in Charlotte and he didn't feel bad. So I thought, 'Alright, we're going for it!' and our Traxxas team got the win."
John Force, 65, is one of the most successful figures in drag racing history, with 16 Funny Car championships as a driver and two more as a team owner. Daughter Ashley Force Hood, 31, won four times in Funny Car, including twice at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. She also finished second in the Funny Car point standings in 2009, but stepped out of the car in 2011 to focus on raising a family.
Another daughter, Brittany, 28, qualified for the NHRA Countdown for the first time this year in the Top Fuel class. But right now it's Courtney who looks like championship material -- if she can best her legendary father down this three-race stretch, along with the likes of JFR teammate Robert Hight and the strong Don Schumacher Racing trio of Matt Hagan, Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr.
"We've gotten things turned around at the right time," Courtney Force said. "To have back-to-back wins in the middle of the Countdown and make a big move up into the points like that is just huge for us. We need to create a gap between us and everyone behind us, and we need to pass dad if we want to win this championship. That's what we have our eyes set on right now. Dad is tough to beat, and a lot of these drivers are.
"Everyone is still so close in the points that every weekend it could change up," she added. "I'm definitely going to savor this moment when dad and I are No. 1 and No. 2 in points."
The busiest championship battle is in the Top Fuel class, where the comfortable lead Tony Schumacher built for Don Schumacher Racing after a pair of wins to start the Countdown has been cut to 57 points by defending category champion Shawn Langdon. The top five drivers in Top Fuel are within 87 points, the only category in which the points gap in the top five is less than 100.
Langdon has only one win this season, but his consistency has kept him in the championship hunt. He's also the defending winner at Maple Grove.
"It's looking like the conditions could be really fast -- the weather looks good," Langdon said. "It looks like the air will be great, and if that happens, I see some low 3.70-second runs happening this weekend, maybe even a record. If that happens, it will be an exciting time for drivers and crew chiefs, and especially the fans, because we can really throw down and have some good racing.
"The Al-Anabi team found and fixed a couple of problems in the last couple of weeks and now I feel like we have a race car like we had at the end of last year when we won the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel championship," he added. "We have three races left in the season, and we are three rounds behind. Our motto is still 'we just need a chance.' "
Pro Stock features the smallest gap at the top of the standings, as Jason Line leads a hard charging Dave Connolly by 26 points.
Line made the finals at St. Louis, but lost to Connolly as Chevrolet Camaros run out of the Gray Racing stable have won the last four Pro Stock events. Connolly, Shane Gray and rookie Jonathan Gray all rank in the top five in the standings.
"We're getting breaks right now," Connolly said. "Everything is going our way right now. You ride the highs with the highs right now, because this is a very humbling sport and it can turn on you any time. We're just living in the moment and enjoying the wins as they come.
"Four wins in a row with three different drivers, that just tells you the depth of Gray Motorsports," he added.
Erica Enders-Stevens, who has matched Line and Allen Johnson with a class-leading four event wins this year, is 67 points behind Line.
Enders-Stevens was the No. 1 qualifier at Gateway, but lost to her former crew chief Connolly in the semifinals.
"I'm really excited, really confident," Enders-Stevens said. "Things are going to go down to the wire, and that's what makes Pro Stock all the more exciting. It's going to be a dogfight, and we're right in the mix.
"The weather looks awesome," she added. "It's going to be chilly and hopefully conducive for a national record. We've certainly got the car and the team to do so, and we'll be swinging for the fences."
Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson riders Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec continue to dominate the Pro Stock Motorcycle Countdown, with Hines holding a 57-point edge over Krawiec and 144 over Hector Arana Jr.