INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — John Force's flamboyant personality still shines brightly.
The memories of a horrific crash 14 months ago have started to fade away, and Force's charisma and million-dollar smile — two features that played a role in his success on the track and on television — remain in place.
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Drag racing car owner John Force discusses his team during an unveiling of the team's newest car, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Drag racing car owner John Force poses in front of a display of the funny cars that he has driven, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Drag racing car owner John Force poses next to his original funny car, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Drag racing car owner John Force, left and funny car driver Jack Beckman pose next to the team's newest car, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Drag racing car owner John Force, left, and funny car driver Jack Beckman pose next to the team's newest car, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
He didn't stay away long, either.
Force attended his first post-crash race in late October. He has been at most of this year's races, including last weekend for the one he calls “the grandaddy of races” — the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. He still meets regularly with team members, shows off cars and, of course, enjoys mingling with fans in a new role — the non-racing team owner of John Force Racing.
“I'm just really glad I'm standing. Walking is a little rough for me on the starting line,” he said last week at a shop owned by his son-in-law, IndyCar driver Graham Rahal. “Sometimes, I've got to hang onto a pole, but I'm getting through it.”
Just arriving at this moment is a milestone for Force, especially considering his long, arduous journey since a catastrophic engine failure sent him crashing into a concrete wall in Virginia at roughly 300 mph. The rebound sent him careening across the center line and into another wall.
He suffered a fractured sternum among other injuries, but it was the traumatic brain injury that forced the 76-year-old out of the car after winning 16 Funny Car titles and an NHRA-record 157 races. Force spent months working with specialized therapists on an outpatient basis in California as he tried to return to the sport that turned him and his family into national stars.
While he would, naturally, prefer driving, Force is following doctors' orders and is using the positive vibes from interacting with fans to help fuel his rehab.
“I love the fans,” Force said. “I ran other circuits but not like I've lived NHRA for the last 50, over 50, years. And I've got guys like (Jack) Beckman that taught my wife and my kids, they even snuck my name on the side of (Beckman's) car. But Beckman is a great talker, (Austin) Prock is a great talker, Brittany (Force) is, so we get the job done."
Those are the team's three regular drivers, and they've done well.
Prock and Beckman are first and second in the Funny Car points with six events remaining. Brittany Force, the latest of John Force's daughters to compete on drag strips, still ranks fifth in Top Fuel as she continues to race for her father.
But as difficult as the crash and recovery were on John Force, it was equally challenging for his 39-year-old daughter.
“Last year was really tough, just watching everything he went through and then we spent months in the hospital with him and then watching him return,” Brittany Force said. “His first race after his wreck was Las Vegas, which, ironically, Austin and I doubled up (winning) and that to me was just a higher power. His first race back, both his cars get into the winner's circle and it was my first win in two years to the date.”
Behind the scenes, Brittany Force says not much has changed. She says her father loves family time, being at the team shop, and talking racing.
“One of the biggest things he's taught me is how we interact with the fans, and that's why he's so loved by his fans,” she said. “That's how he's always been.”
No, Force won't be climbing into or out of a car. But he's likely to be at whatever stop is next on the NHRA schedule. It's who he is. And after everything he's endured over all these months, he figures that's a pretty good place to be.
“There's nothing they can do to make me better, all they can do is teach me the things I'm off with," he said. "But I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I don't get to drive my hot rod. They want me to warm it up, but with the problems I've got, I just, you know, do what the doctors tell me to do and I'm getting better.”
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Drag racing car owner John Force discusses his team during an unveiling of the team's newest car, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Drag racing car owner John Force poses in front of a display of the funny cars that he has driven, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Drag racing car owner John Force poses next to his original funny car, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Drag racing car owner John Force, left and funny car driver Jack Beckman pose next to the team's newest car, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Drag racing car owner John Force, left, and funny car driver Jack Beckman pose next to the team's newest car, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Zionsville, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss Iran's deadly protests at the request of the United States, even as President Donald Trump left unclear what actions he would take against the Islamic state.
Tehran appeared to make conciliatory statements in an effort to defuse the situation after Trump threatened to take action to stop further killing of protesters, including the execution of anyone detained in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
Iran’s crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The sound of gunfire faded Thursday in the capital, Tehran. The country closed its airspace to commercial flights for hours without explanation early Thursday and some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate. The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait also ordered its personnel to “temporary halt” travel to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.
Here is the latest:
Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group, said on Thursday that “criminal gangs” were responsible for the situation in Iran, accusing them of carrying out an “American-Israeli” scheme.
“Criminal gangs in Iran killed Iranian citizens, security forces and burned mosques,” he said without providing evidence. “What’s being committed by criminal gangs in Iran is horrific, bearing an American stamp as it includes slaughter and burning some people alive.”
He also said that the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Iran to create a crisis leading to the current issues in the country with the end goal of controlling Iran.
Yet he said the U.S. has “failed in Iran” and that Iranians “will not yield to America.”
The president of the European Union’s executive arm says the 27-member bloc is looking to strengthen sanctions against Iran as ordinary Iranians continue their protests against Iran’s theocratic government.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday following a meeting of the EU’s commissioners in Limassol, Cyprus that current sanctions against Iran are “weakening the regime.”
Von der Leyen said that the EU is looking to sanction individual Iranians —apart from those who belong to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard — who “are responsible for the atrocities.”
She added that the people of Iran who are “bravely fighting for a change” have the EU’s “full political support.”
Canada’s foreign minister says a Canadian citizen has died in Iran “at the hands of the Iranian authorities.”
“Peaceful protests by the Iranian people — asking that their voices be heard in the face of the Iranian regime’s repression and ongoing human rights violations — has led the regime to flagrantly disregard human life,” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted on social media Thursday.
“This violence must end. Canada condemns and calls for an immediate end to the Iranian regime’s violence,” she added.
Anand said consular officials are in contact with the victim’s family in Canada. She did not provide details.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced Thursday that a local staff member was killed and several others were wounded during the deadly protests in Iran over the weekend.
Amir Ali Latifi, an Iranian Red Crescent Society worker, was working in the country’s Gillan province on Jan. 10 when he was killed “in the line of duty,” the organization said in a statement.
“The IFRC is deeply concerned about the consequences of the ongoing unrest on the people of Iran and is closely monitoring the situation in coordination with the Iranian Red Crescent Society,” the statement continued.
U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed as “good news” reports that the death sentence has been lifted for an Iranian shopkeeper arrested in a violent crackdown on protests.
Relatives of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani had said he faced imminent execution.
Trump posed Thursday on his Truth Social site: “FoxNews: ‘Iranian protester will no longer be sentenced to death after President Trump’s warnings. Likewise others.’ This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!”
Iranian state media denied Soltani had been condemned to death. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
Trump sent tensions soaring this week by pledging that “help is on its way” to Iranian protesters and urging them to continue demonstrating against authorities in the Islamic Republic.
On Wednesday Trump signaled a possible de-escalation, saying he had been told that “the killing in Iran is stopping.”
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union’s main foreign policy chief said the G7 members were “gravely concerned” by the developments surrounding the protests, and that they “strongly oppose the intensification of the Iranian authorities’ brutal repression of the Iranian people.”
The statement, published on the EU’s website Thursday, said the G7 were “deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries” and condemned “the deliberate use of violence” by Iranian security forces against protesters.
The G7 members “remain prepared to impose additional restrictive measures if Iran continues to crack down on protests and dissent in violation of international human rights obligations,” the statement said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spoken with his counterpart in Iran, who said the situation was “now stable,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Abbas Araghchi said “he hoped China will play a greater role in regional peace and stability” during the talks, according to the statement from the ministry.
“China opposes imposing its will on other countries, and opposes a return to the ‘law of the jungle’,” Wang said.
“China believes that the Iranian government and people will unite, overcome difficulties, maintain national stability, and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests,” he added. “China hopes all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue. China is willing to play a constructive role in this regard.”
“We are against military intervention in Iran,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told journalists in Istanbul on Thursday. “Iran must address its own internal problems… They must address their problems with the region and in global terms through diplomacy so that certain structural problems that cause economic problems can be addressed.”
Ankara and Tehran enjoy warm relations despite often holding divergent interests in the region.
Fidan said the unrest in Iran was rooted in economic conditions caused by sanctions, rather than ideological opposition to the government.
Iranians have been largely absent from an annual pilgrimage to Baghdad, Iraq, to commemorate the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, one of the twelve Shiite imams.
Many Iranian pilgrims typically make the journey every year for the annual religious rituals.
Streets across Baghdad were crowded with pilgrims Thursday. Most had arrived on foot from central and southern provinces of Iraq, heading toward the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim in the Kadhimiya district in northern Baghdad,
Adel Zaidan, who owns a hotel near the shrine, said the number of Iranian visitors this year compared to previous years was very small. Other residents agreed.
“This visit is different from previous ones. It lacks the large numbers of Iranian pilgrims, especially in terms of providing food and accommodation,” said Haider Al-Obaidi.
Europe’s largest airline group said Thursday it would halt night flights to and from Tel Aviv and Jordan's capital Amman for five days, citing security concerns as fears grow that unrest in Iran could spiral into wider regional violence.
Lufthansa — which operates Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — said flights would run only during daytime hours from Thursday through Monday “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” It said the change would ensure its staff — which includes unionized cabin crews and pilots -- would not be required to stay overnight in the region.
The airline group also said its planes would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace, key corridors for air travel between the Middle East and Asia.
Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for several hours early Thursday without explanation.
A spokesperson for Israel’s Airport Authority, which oversees Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, said the airport was operating as usual.
Iranian state media has denied claims that a young man arrested during Iran’s recent protests was condemned to death. The statement from Iran’s judicial authorities on Thursday contradicted what it said were “opposition media abroad” which claimed the young man had been quickly sentenced to death during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in the country.
State television didn’t immediately give any details beyond his name, Erfan Soltani. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Thursday that his government was “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression” in Iran.
“We condemn the brutal crackdown being carried out by Iran’s security forces, including the killing of protesters,” Peters posted on X.
“Iranians have the right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression, and access to information – and that right is currently being brutally repressed,” he said.
Peters said his government had expressed serious concerns to the Iranian Embassy in Wellington.
Women cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A demonstrator lights a cigarette with a burning poster depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of Iran's anti-government protests, in Holon, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
