The Dale Jr. Download - DJD Classics - The John Force Download

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

Hang on tight as Dale Earnhardt Jr. talks to the legendary drag racer John Force in this out-of-control interview. The 16-time NHRA Champ talks about near-death experiences, his tireless energy, tragedies that saved lives, seeing Elvis at 1000 feet, kissing Dale Earnhardt's ring, the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa, and the way he overcomes his lifelong battle with depression. Dale Jr. also reveals genealogy secrets, talks Talladega, and some left behind Odd History. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey everybody, it's Dylan Hart Jr. And this week's DJD Classic episode is our conversation with the legend John Force. The 16th time NHRA champ talks all about near-death experiences, his tireless energy that's just infectious. Tragedies that save lives, seeing Elvis at 1,000 feet, and so much more. 10,9876, I'm here. Yours works. Hey, you know what I really want to talk about? Yeah.

That new baby girl, I just saw her photo because my daughter, Courtney and Graham, They always show me all the photos. Like, they really know you. And I tell everybody, I know Junior, like, we're buddies, we hang out. And I really don't know him. But I knew your dad real well. Yeah. But I know everything you do because I'm a big fan.

I'm a big follower. Yeah. No, she's great, man. She had her first birthday party. Her birthday's tomorrow. But we had the party on Saturday and got Amy's family. And Texas flew in. We had 45 adults and 22 kids.

Mike was there. And we had everybody in the pool. We hired a lifeguard, being responsible. I'm sitting there. I built this pool 10 years ago, and I would have never thought that it would be full of kids. So that was, you know, times have changed, and we all grown up. Took us a long time to get there, but we've grown up and matured. But she's amazing, man, changed my life.

I tried to remember. What is her name? I tried to memorize it. Ila Rose. And most beautiful, all babies are beautiful. Yeah, right. But it's pretty cool. She got her little.

looks for mama though right junior i think so i think so it's um i don't know man it's crazy she's uh she's a lot of fun every day they get i mean the first six months was real hard because you kind of feel the guy you know the man in a relationship feels like we can't there's nothing we can do we feel kind of useless in that sort of time frame but now that she's gotten older and yeah uh we can do a bit more we can help. But I'm pretty hands-on. Were you pretty hands-on as a dad? They get personalities and they grow up and it becomes a whole different life. But let me tell you, wait until you get to them grandkids. Now that's a long ways away. I know. But my granddaughter, Autumn, she's 13. She drives junior dragsters won her first race last year. And Jacob and Noah,

they're racing junior dragsters. They're five and six. But Noah won game ball for football last week and he held up, he's in home, and my wife's watching him, and Ashley was out here filming with her production company. And in the middle of it, it was so awesome. And I said, I'm going to win this four white here at ZMAX. I'm going to do it. And I'm going to get the game ball. And I wanted to call that out. And then last night he said, grandpa, you didn't get the game ball. You didn't do your part, right? No, but I didn't go to the Burns Center, so it was a pretty good weekend. Good for you. How many times have you been to the Burn Center. How many burns, how many times have you gotten injuries from those

crashes? In which town? Yeah, right? Oh my goodness. But I've been out here 100 years. I was out here before you all were born. You know what I'm saying? And I don't know why I'm doing it. I still ain't figured it out. I don't need the money. I mean, everybody needs money. But I mean, it's like I get to be with my kids. You know, Brittany's driving top fuel. And then Courtney married Graham Ray Hall, an Indy car driver. And they ran off with my driver, so I'm in her car right now, and it's pretty fast. Yeah.

If I wasn't so fat, this old race car. I got 100 pounds on Courtney, but it's really great being with her team, karate and Daniel Hood. My son-in-law runs that car. That's Ashley's husband. So, you know, it's just, we're just all family, and it's, I really love this place. This gets you in racing mode sitting here. You like it? Yeah, it's new for us.

So it's still kind of new for us, too. did it this year. So we knew you were coming. We need some drag racing memorabilia in diecasts in here. I got some. I'll send some. You will? And a bill will come right behind it. Still got to pay the bills, right? Just kidding. So if Isla comes in 15 or 16 years and says, Dad, I want to run for junior motorsports, I want to do this. What advice do you have for

him on how his response should be? Well, you never know where children, what your kids are going to do, grandkids, but you want to give them that opportunity someday if you can. You know, all my family races, I mean, we've never worked at McDonald's. I worked at Taco Bell in the early days and foster frees, but my kids don't know the normal life

and their husbands are all racers. And who knows what they're going to do, but you want to have that opportunity. But like I tell them, you want to get rich, better get NASCAR. Is that right? Is that right? That's what I tell them.

So, okay. I'm eating drag raisin. So my feeling right now, I mean, I was only one years old, but I'm hoping that she doesn't really want anything to do with racing. Did you ever have any feelings one way or another with your girls? Did you hope that maybe they didn't want to get into racing? When Ashley turned 16, I went out to Pomona. I had a few bucks, and I bought her a car. I'm with Chevrolet, so let me get this clear.

But I bought a Mustang, red convertible, and I thought, this is what she'll love. And I went home and gave it to her, and she goes, what's that? It was a 64-65 Mustang. And I said, what do you mean? What is that? That's a classic car. No, Dad, and she wanted a Chevrolet pickup truck. Yeah.

A girl. I said, okay, so we got her a truck, and that's how we went on down the road. So she loved cars. along came, you know, Brittany. They all loved the cars, of course they lived at the racetracks week after week. You know what I mean? And then along comes Courtney, and she really loved it.

And in the middle of it, they just go down the road, and then next are in Supercomps going 160, then they're in A fuel, going, you know, 260. Now they're going 3.30. And it just evolves. But do you live in that fear every day, that gutache? not just when they're crashing and on fire, but when they're losing out there.

Brittany lost yesterday in the advanced auto parts car, and I was sick over it, yet I had to get my head back into the race. I don't know where they're going to go. I wish they'd all be doctors. You know what I'm saying? Take care of me, which is coming here any day at my age. Yeah, I think that's the same way I feel is like, man,

I really, I just know the heartache and how hard racing can be on you emotionally and how hard it is on your family and stuff. And I'm like, man, I hope she doesn't want to ever go into that kind of stuff or get involved in it. She may. But the weird thing for me is that I've retired, kind of retired, and she'll never really experience my career because, you know, I quit racing full time.

But it'll be interesting to see if she still wants to know or wants to be a part of it. Oh, she'll know plenty. Yeah. Okay, all you got to do is turn on the TV. Yep. So you guys just got done racing at Charlotte this weekend, and I appreciate you staying over. I got your video, and I sent it out on social media.

I hope you don't mind because I wanted to tell everybody he's going to be on my show. Mike went to the race this weekend and never had been to a drag race before. Never been. He didn't get to go down to the tree. He had his little girls with him, and he couldn't make that work. But he got to see everything else. Yeah. And one of the things that – and I went to the – to the drag –

rags at Charlotte a year ago, a couple years ago. And one of the things that, you know, you guys do so well is accessibility. And Mike can talk about that, but literally, you know, the fans can get access like nowhere else. And it's incredible. And I know you guys, y'all work hard to sort of make yourselves accessible and connect with your fans. And has it always been like that? Yeah, that's what NHRA has to offer is every ticket's a pitch.

pass. You know, NHRA I love it. I'm hooked on it. It's tried to kill me a bunch of times. You know, the hot rod's not NHRA personally. They didn't try to kill me. They'd like to kill me too. The front office didn't. Okay, got it. But it is, you know, we know NASCAR's huge. We've watched it grow. It's amazing. And we're your little brother. We're trying to chase you guys. But it is something in the pits, hospitality. And, and, you know, I had a fan say, well, you can go to the races

and get run over by John Forcing a golf cart. And I'd like, that ain't funny. But I've nicked a few out there in my time. But no, it really is. It's quite a show.

The ground shakes when you're standing there, setting in the stands, you know, 10,000 horsepower, cars going 330. We never have to go around corners like y'all,

unless we're on fire. You know what I'm saying? And then we go around corners through walls. But it really is a great show. I really love it. But I love NASCAR. I love IndyCar. I love them all because I'm a car junkie.

Always have been. Yeah. It's just incredible to access. Like you say, man, you can basically get a pass and walk anywhere you want to go. And you guys build, so our hospitality is in our sport. We have the garage and we have the car in the garage and the truck and the team. And they're working on the car there. And then the hospitality is outside the track.

You guys do it all together. So like if I go over to your hospitality, I can see you, your car, your team working on the car, you guys warming the car up, all of it right there in the pits. And I like how consolidated it is and how friendly it is. You talked about going through walls, being on fire, and it got me thinking. Mike talked about this experience during his weekend. You guys break a lot of stuff. Even when you run good.

Even when you finish a run, y'all's motors and, you're, you know, particularly the motors, go through hell, like throughout a race weekend. So y'all change, they'll rebuild the engine between every run. Let's rephrase that. I know I never answer a question. I never answered a while ago. But the point is my checkbook goes through hell. Okay?

And I'm telling you, they tear them down, they put them back together, and they start them up. And I've watched them, people in hospitality just tip over from the smell of nitro. Oh, yeah. And they're just in there like that. You know, they're wanting to watch it, trying to eat their food. You know what I'm saying? But it is quite a show. And then watch them, take the cars out, run them.

And then they come right back and they're sitting right there watching you tear them apart, put them together. It's kind of a different style than NASCAR and any car. But they all have their personalities. And it's pretty cool to watch. I went in a bay one time. I had a sponsor said, I've got to force, I got to get a picture with Dale. He was a Leonard. And I said, okay, we'll go over and get a picture. You pay him millions of dollars. He said, oh, no, I can't just go over there. So I didn't know Dale either. I said,

the guy was sponsored me. So I said, I got to go there. So I walked over and your dad had pulled into the garage. And I'm standing there and I said, you know, he had his helmet on. I said, Dale, I said, I'm John Forres. I want a championship. And he goes, yeah, I know you are. And I said, I don't know how to ask this, but if I'm a guy, I'm not. I don't know how to ask this, but if I I don't get you a picture. You just stand up and get a picture with this guy. I'm going to get fired. Okay, the guy's got his girlfriend with him, and he wants to impress her.

And I really need you. And he took off his helmet, and he looked at me, and he goes, let's make him sweat. And that's when I knew. That was the first time I ever spoke to your dad, and I realized that he was just a real guy. Like he was just like us, but he knew the drill. And I had so many good times, you know, with those guys. I didn't ever get to know them, but it was pretty cool. Yeah, I think that there was a common respect between you and dad.

I mean, he's the John Forrest and NASCAR. You're kind of the Daler and Heart of Drag Racing 16 time champion. I mean, if you win one more, like, I mean, when is enough championships? I guess there aren't enough. There's no such thing as too many championships, but 16? Yeah, well, I want to eat. I want to keep eating. And I like them chivalets I got at home.

home and my wife won't let me come home. She loves me. She just don't like me. But I live on the road. It is my home. You know, I go through the airport. In Dallas, I know everybody. That's where I get my hair cut, my shoes shined, and get my coffee. It's just a way of life. I don't know anything else. It's really kind of sad. I mean, I got a nice place up in Lake Tahoe. We get there twice a year. You know, the gardeners are there more than me. And I got a nice home, but I can't get to it. So, but my home is, I grew up in a trailer house with five brothers and sisters. And, you know, my kids didn't know what a TV, you know, one of them little tables you put in front of the TV. Yeah.

Hell were those calls them sold. I forgot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. TV dinners. Yeah. They didn't have any idea of what that was, you know, and they're all now big tables.

They went in my trailer house, I kept my mom's trailer house when she passed, and they went in there and they looked at that. Oh, and I'm sorry to hear about your mom. Yes, sir. But you know what? How I look at it? Now they can really help us and take care of us from heaven. That's make things perfect. That's right.

You kept the house that you grew up in? Yeah, the trailer house. And we finally had to cut it up because it just got bug ravished and everything. But my kids went in there and started crying. It was documented on TV. And they were bawling their eyes. I'm like, this is where you live? Nobody gets.

Well, you become, you know, you get up and you got your girlfriend's picture on. the dash of your car. My first car ever was a 54 Chevy. You know what I'm saying? When I drove for Ford, I used to say it was a 54 Ford. No, but I started with Chevrolet. That's where I came from. I don't get this right.

Campbell will be kicking my butt late today. But, you know, I really, I started in a Chevrolet. I won championships. Then I went to Ford and then Chevrolet took me back. But along the way, you know, your car is your football, in the back seat, your girlfriend's picture, your Playboy magazine under the seat. Can I say that on the shirt? Yeah, sure.

Okay. So in the middle of it, we traveled to the logging camps, and my dad was a logger, and we go back to haul cattle in the summer, you know, in the winter in California. So I live in the biggest trailer court in the world with all my friends and racing just a car is what you do. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And somehow that just becomes part of your life.

You don't know. I don't know where I'm going in the next deal. Right. I keep crashing. I can't take much more. Hey, I read your unbelievable. I thought it was. I thought it was.

No, no, I really, I got an education. And you know what? I really, you know, tried to figure out. I thought it'd be all about racing. Right. You know, but it was really all about the things that happened to race car drivers. And people don't get it. But they got it when I read it, because I've, I've been doing this for a hundred years before you were

And I look at this and I said, oh God, I never realized so many things. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I called up my shrink. I said, I need to be committed today. I'm over this thing. But you learn so much from that what you go through, what we go through. And fans don't need to know.

Get a chance by the book. I'm not trying to plug the book. Sure. Go ahead. We don't stop you. It was great. Thank you. I got it.

I took it. My daughter said. Courtney joked Every morning, Dad, we went to Tahiti. I don't do vacations. I'm like Trump. I ain't getting into politics here. What I'm saying, if I go to an island, I want to build a racetrack.

He wanted to build a hotel. And we went to Tahiti this year, and it was painful for me. But my grandkids were there, but I got up every day. And I went down and I started reading the book because I needed something to do. And, man, my daughters will tell you,

I got hooked on it. it. And it was, I went back, I went back and started underlining things so I could remember, you know, how things happened. And it was just really cool. And my daughters, they make a joke like, you know, because I have insomnia. When I go to read, I've been working on the Bible for 50 years, and I'm almost done. But I get in there and I fall asleep. But I never fell asleep during your book. And I read it. It probably took me every day. I'd spend a couple hours and I'd sit by the pool. They got to picture me in the pool with the book. They did. We saw it. In the pool. Oh, they did.

We saw it. Yeah. They tweet everything. That's, you're really good at that, Jr. Thanks. I'm saying, Junior, because that's what it said on the bill, and I said, where's Dale Earnhardt? Where's the junior? Where's the, yeah? But it was really cool reading it and the education that I got.

And it don't matter if you're a race car driver, truck driver, or a cook. You need to read this book, America, because it will teach you things that will help you in life go down. And it took me a complete different road than I imagined it to be. Like expand on that. What did you expect it to be?

And then what did you take away from that book then? Well, I just thought it would be all racing. I thought it was going to be about junior racing and all the stuff. And all of a sudden it started talking about things that happen, things you learn, you know, and what you went through. I don't want to get into all that. You know what I mean? But it's amazing that you get back in that car. and your adrenaline will drive you where you have no fear.

Yeah. We'd run off a cliff if they'd let us. You know what I'm saying? Because that's what we do. And then one day you wake up and you go, no, that ain't what we do. You know, I always tell, don't worry. They got music they play on the starting line. It's either Jesus take the wheel.

You know, and the other one was take this job and shove it. They played at every race when I got ready to start my car. and then Jesus take the wheel and now they got one, I don't want no rocking chair. And the problem is half the fans in the stands say, never heard these songs. Who is this guy?

But, you know, you get caught up in like, you know, I'm something special. I'll live forever. And tell you, I've laid in them hospitals, broken legs and arms, and laying there in this, you hear the doctor saying, well, if he ain't going to die from old age,

he's going to die from this. And you think, what do you mean dying? What are you talking about? We're Superman. This shit, no. But then you wake up, and that's why in your book, man, it woke me up. Man, I start thinking, you know, this is serious stuff. And I've been playing this game.

Like coming here today, this ain't me. I'm a different personality. I'm going on an art show. I'm putting on my nose, and I'm coming here, and I'm going to have some fun. This isn't you. You're saying there's no way. I think that we are seeing the real job. We're going to let you get in here in a minute.

Would you want to get in our show, me and Dale's show? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you guys jump in. Honestly, I think this is the John Forst download, to be honest. No, but I love it. But, boy, when I read that book, I said, okay, wait a minute here. Let's think about this about, you know, what's, I always said, the monster's in the front seat. He'll blow up and he'll get you.

But I never believed it. You know what I mean? And boy, he got me a bunch of times. Now I think about that monster. Now I say to my crew chief, hey, how is you? morning. Are you feeling good? And he goes, I don't know how I'm feeling, but he hit the fire bottles at 200 feet. Okay. So none of those times you ever thought about maybe hanging it up? Every day now since I read the book. Oh, no. Oh, Lordy. No. That's not what you're supposed to leave

with the book. No, but I love it and I do it. But I, you know, there's reasons why I stay in the sport. Okay. And I've never said this before, but I'll say it because I'm, hopped up on coffee. But we lost a young driver, Eric Medlin. Right. And three months later, the cars had gone through a transition of starting to lose. We lost Coletta. We lost a number of drivers.

And it was all about put another engine in. We can do this. You know, and, you know, we're warriors. But that's all, that ain't the truth. That ain't the way the world really works. And I thought, I crashed. and should have killed me. Same thing.

Harmonics and oscillation. Chassis's breaking apart, flying in the air. My daughter got it together in. She won the round ahead of me. And she went over and said, Dad ain't in the car. Where's the motor in the front half? And I was back stuck on a guardrail.

And in the middle of all of it, you started realizing things can go ugly here. And you're not Superman. You know what I mean? And you get through it. And anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. I don't want to get in. It's good.

It's good. It's good stuff. But I looked at Eric and I thought, there must be a reason for me that why would the good Lord take a beautiful kid like him and keep a guy like me? There must be a reason. And things change when we lost your dad. That broke my heart. And I remember when you watched the funeral, you thought it was a president. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? The car is packed in, you know, and because they loved. him like they love you. That's just the way it is. And in the middle of all of it, there must have been a reason for me to build safety. Now I got chassis shops and all this stuff in Indian motor programs. And it ain't me. I ain't smart to build nothing. But it's working with the military, working with NASA, working with the pro organization, learning from NASCAR and trying to take things. You know, you look at the neck restraints and a lot of stuff that come out from the loss of your dad. A negative became a positive that have saved so many. But then I thought I must have a

reason. And part of that is to help grow our sport. I want to grow it. Because I, people go, you know, I didn't build this sport. I learned from the Don Pradombs and the garlets and the Sherleys and the Raymond Beatles and the Bernstein's. And I said, I learned from them. They taught me how to drive. They taught me how to interview, how to find money. You know what I mean? How to get drunk? They taught me all that, see. But then along the way, now there's a, middle generation that I went through of the of the Baysmore's the Hoffman's those guys and now I'm into the third group of these young kids coming up and they they're great drivers they can win they're all beat me up every week my son-in-law set another record Robert Hyde he won the only guy to ever beat me four times in a row okay but it was and I love him to death he's just great he's president of my company but in the middle of it I want to help these young kids see where it's going to go so there needs reason for me to stand around. My daughter said, get in my dragster. I don't know anything about a dragster. I never drove one. I stay in a funny car. So I know that thing. And if there's

anything I can do to help the sport, you know what I mean? That's what I'm going to do. Try to help them and educate these young kids and build our sport because we're in a tough economy. It's nobody wants to buy one race car anymore. You've got to sell them to three different people. Corporate America's tough. The world's changing. Yeah. Well, people love you because of, you know, obviously because you win, but people love you because of who you are and the energy and the personality. What drivers coming up today, I mean, eventually you're going to hang it up. You're almost 70 years old. What drivers do you see in the sport today are going to be the personalities that will feel your shoes? I mean, they've got to be, we've got to talk about

some big shoes to feel. I know you're not going to be bragging on yourself, but personalities are critical in sport, particularly in motorsport. Who are the drivers that you think can feel your shoes and the ones that's going to turn the fans on? I'm doing okay in the points that the last couple of years I've been struggling. I think they all filled my shoes already. But I love these kids. And yeah, we have arguments, we have fights, things that go down. But they really love what they do and they want to be the best.

But there's already the stars, you know, naturally Robert Haidt, my guys won championships. winning championships helps. It builds at the fan base. You know, everything that you do, helping selling sponsor products. I know I ain't pitched one sponsor here, and I don't know if I'm allowed to. I'm being real careful.

But what I'm saying is that, don't worry, I'm wearing my uniform. Yeah, right. Okay, so he's got a TV camera. You get the cameras. But, you know, you take a Ron Capps. He's a champion. Like Robert Haidt, he's a champion.

Ashley that drove funny car for me, never become the champion, but become a huge name and one of the biggest sellers in products. It's just built in, but, you know, she had the fourth name. She drove a funny car like her dad, a lot of that. Courtney built her name, came up the ranks, unbelievable winning races. Brittany's already won a championship, so certain, but there's so many like Matt Hagen, you know what I mean, he's won. Beckman, Caps, naturally.

The Petrogon brothers, one's in the TV box. He says, I'm having a life, I'm making money, I'm still a big star, and I ain't trying to kill myself every day. Okay. I mean, he went to TV as well. He knows all that. Yeah, but some of us still, they'll never give me a show. I don't know. We give you a show.

I don't know. I think you're wrong about that. I'll say all the things will scare them to death. No. But I'm really lucky. I've got sponsors like Peek picked me up in advanced auto parts and auto club and these guys, Chevrolete. You know what I mean? At my age, you know what I mean? And I mean, they were telling me to quit when I turned 50.

Then when I turned 60, oh, okay, this got to be over. And no, I'll go another year. And now I'm going on 100. I'm embarrassed to say my age anymore. And next year, next week, I'm going to be 100 in Atlanta. But I don't know where to go. I'm just kind of lost out there. You know, you guys with NASCAR going in the TV box, Gordon went,

all of that has a way. I don't have a place to go. No. And HRA probably had enough of me. They want to run me off. But I love what I do. I'm trying to help. But new stars are growing.

And, you know, Torrance, the kid that won the championship, J.R. Todd. These guys come out of the box and they say things. And people go, oh, they're rude. They're crazy. And no, they're not. They're beautiful. They're speaking out from the heart. Because you've got to talk from the heart.

And if you don't, it all just becomes fake. And that's how I get in trouble. That's why my attorney, we sat down to do a show one day, and my attorney said, okay, we're going to film you for three hours because we were going to put it out there to have a talk show with John Forrest. Build a studio, everything in my shop in California, you know, with couches like Jay Leno, the whole deal, right? And after me doing two hours of tape and I thought, I'm on a roll today.

And my attorney said, okay, we need to, this is a bad idea. Really? Yeah. you got into politics, you got into comedy, you cuss more and a trooper. You know what I'm saying? And he said, no, you're going to say something here and you're going to get shot. Yeah. And so we just kind of said, that's the end of that.

Well, you had your own reality show and it was fantastic. Yeah. Driving force, that was so good. Did you like that? Yeah, it was fun. I got to spend a lot of time with my kids. Yeah. But you know, what happens is because of budgets and we made pretty good money.

but because of budgets they started scripting shows. And pretty soon they're going, I can't believe you're yelling at your daughter like that. No, that's me yelling at the dog. He just pooped in the front yard. And they would take the dog scene and they'd put me with my kids. And my kids were very emotional.

And then we were filming at Gainesville when we lost Eric. And I felt like I should have been on the starting line. You know, we were testing on Monday, but I'm out there making movies. And I thought, that's it. We stopped the show right there, and it's time to go down another road. And they want us to go back. They talk to us.

But racing is such an overload. Don't have a life. I go fishing with my grandsons, and they go, you don't know how to fish, do you happen? You don't know nothing but a race car. Yeah, you don't have any hobbies, right? You don't have any hobbies. I tried golfing once. I'll never forget I was on a golf course.

They come over. I hit the ball from the top. tea and it went to the right. Wrong way. No, Tiger Woods couldn't have done that. And it bounced off the golf cart and the starter Wally Parks of NHRA. Him and his wife were sitting there. He didn't even see the

ball. Bang! Oh, it just missed him. They said, get force. And that was with Winston in the old days, down of Rockingham. So they said, you drive the beer cart. So me and Bob Fisher, my buddy, we got on a beer car, we drove it all day. We were so drunk. And I don't drink anymore. I actually quit about nine months. And my last crash

doctor said, you need to stop drinking and start thinking about this stuff. Okay, so in the middle of it, in the middle of it, so we went swimming in a big old fine, and a guy come by on a tractor and said, get out of that water, there's moccasins in there. I'm from California. Like you think you're at Disneyland everywhere you go. Almost got eight by a gator down in Florida a couple weeks ago because I don't live in the real world. California's all, it's all fake.

You know what I mean? Everything you see is, if it's a gator, it's put there on a rail. So did that answer your question about hobbies? You ended up with almost getting eaten by a gator. There you go. That's good. That's good.

Oh, no, that's the true deal. No, no, I have no doubt. I was in a restaurant once in Florida, me and my brother Louis, and we looked out to win, and we go, look, there's a gator walking across the back of the restaurant. So we all ran around, ran there, and a guy went out and said, are you nuts? I said, well, how could they let a gator just walk around here and then tell us that we're afraid? You know what I mean?

No, they said, you better be afraid. Yeah, yeah. So, hey, that might be exciting. If I'm going to go down, if it ain't a race car, I want to tango with a great white. Hey, I surfed as a kid, and let me, sharks are all around you. We never thought about none of that stuff.

In 1974, when I went to Australia with my funny car, I'll let you guys get in here in a minute. I'm really sorry, but I went down there, I saw a great white shark. Oh, cool. Yeah, at Barrier Reef. Yeah. And I'm telling you, the Jaws movie wasn't too far off.

Oh, really? Yeah. And... Was you in the water? Oh, man. I'll tell you what. I used to joke before I was sponsoring with Chevrolet. You know, I think could have ate a Volksmaid.

Of course, now I say a Chevrolet. But, I mean, geez, they're really big, you know. And I saw E.T. that year. So, but since I quit. Not a shark movie. No, the movie, E.T. Okay. No, I got it.

But since the, uh... You guys never even heard of these movies. I'm trying to correlate E.T. with sharks. Those are movies in 74 that came out. Okay, said, now I got it. And the exorcist. I got it. Oh, man, I got real problems.

74 was a good year for movies. I sat in my bedroom hugging my teddy bear, waiting for the exorcism to come in. So, no, that's a lot. You know, that's what we do. You used to do movie reviews, didn't you? Wait, we're now. God's talking to me and it's a woman.

That's right. It's a woman. It's Leah. It's your wife. Your wife is asking. Leah's our God. Leah's back there. So he did movie reviews?

Yeah, you used to do movie reviews. Why did this stop? This is good. Man, hi girl. Oh, you went, you moved. Not that I don't love racing and I've made plenty of money, but you moved up. Will. Hey.

Yeah. Got out of drag races and went to NASCAR, her big brother. Yep. Listen, I mean, over the weekend, I was out there with Leah, and she was just as much a celebrity as anybody else out there. But I also asked her because we had such a good time. I said, man, you left this to come to us? I wouldn't have done that.

This was too much fun. But anyways, that was, you know, speaking of Leah, she had, and you've been talking about having to hang out with all these kids, and, you know, you got them racing for you. And she has a thing. that she does with us where she tries to give us millennial words and see if we know what they mean. And I think John needs to be the one to educate us on millennials because, I mean, he's around them, right? Is that what we should do? Yeah, I feel like, you know, we'll find out if his daughters

ever taught him anything. Okay, let's hear. What do you got? Oh, don't wait a minute. I just came from a hospital and they gave me a test. Really? And they showed me this horse with a horn on its head. And they said, what is that? I said, It's a horse with a horn on a test. I couldn't think of the word unicorn. I think they flunk me. They said, you can't flunk these tests. You can't pass them.

You know what I'm talking about. Yeah, the impact test. And I said, wait a minute. What is that? You're going to flung me because I don't know what a unicorn is because I had a blank spot? Anyway, I had a bunch of blank spots. Give us a word. Let's hear it.

Me and Dale don't know these words. All right. So the millennialos use this term called ghost. They ghost someone. Do you know what that would mean? When someone ghost someone. Now see, like those tests I took, I could get real smart and try to figure out what they mean. And then you outthink it.

And you don't answer the question. And they said, won't you just answer the questions? And I said, yeah, but I'm trying to figure out what you want, you know, so I can pass. And they said, you don't flunk or pass here. I said, well, what am I doing here? I already know I'm nuts. Why am I sitting here with you guys? Okay, what is a ghost?

but I remember the movie with Demi Moore. There you go. Is that what the millennials mean? No, when you ghost someone, it means you, like, completely disappear after hanging out with them and, like, you show them interests, and then you just, like, stop talking to them. Okay.

Oh, that makes sense. That's what it means when you ghost someone. All right. Well, that's what we used to do in the bar in Rockingham in the old days. After you got drunk, you didn't remember anybody. You ghosted them. You ghosted.

But I don't drink anymore. I quit. What else you got? Anything else? When you have the tea, what does that mean? When you have the T, T, T, E, A. Oh, when you have the T? When you have the T.

Yeah. Do you know what this means? When you have the tea? Yeah, when you have the T, do you know what that means? Wait a man, it's starting to feel like a porn show here. I ain't going, I know what it meant in my day. I ain't going down this road. I don't even, yeah, I don't know what that would mean.

It means we have the gossip. Oh, oh, like, so you have a tea with each other. Yeah, you see that gift with like Kermit where he's drinking. The tea? Yeah, like he's got the gossip. Oh, my God. I take a tea leaves and... I can't keep up... No, I didn't know that either. No, that's interesting.

So when you go to the track in Atlanta... That's what that means. The Kermit, Drame the tea gift is... I didn't know that the whole time. It's like, you know, he's got the tea. He's got the gossip. Okay. Never heard that ever in my life. Look, I'm getting... I read your book.

I got educated and I'm sitting right here. Go to Atlanta this week and go to Robert Hyde or to Brittany and just use a millennial word and see if they can... Follow along. Ask him if you got the tea. Yeah, ask him if they got the tea. Never heard it. All right.

Got any more, Leah? Yeah, I got one more. Do you know what a dip dot is? No. Yeah, dipping dots. Yeah. We had some yesterday at the under the John Forst grandstand, as a matter of fact. Not quite the same.

Dip dot is somebody who's not being very smart. They might be, you know, an idiot. Really? Somebody. He's acting like an idiot. Yeah. So you're a dip dot? You're a dip dot. I'm a diff and dot.

I like that. You got to admit, Bruton Smith did spend some money. Yeah. And then he built Four White out there in Vegas. And we packed them in out there. It was just unbelievable. And it is mass confusion trying to figure out a start line. Crew chiefs running back and forth because there ain't enough time to watch the car ahead of you in reading lanes.

You know, I was going to ask you that because, you know, again, I was experiencing. it for the first time and I was just, it was so awesome, but I was also talking to fans in the grand stands. And they would say, if you like this, you need to come back in October when it's back to, you know, the way it ought to be, the two lane. And so what is your take on that? Yeah, but you guys have, you know, you have ovals, you have road courses, you have a mixture. Let's, wait a minute. I know exactly what that T means. Don't be throwing that at me. No, what do you think? Wait, where T.

No, this is a family show here. But don't be getting me to walk up to somebody and say that. And they will look at me and say, let me tell you something. All these country folk out here, you know what I'm saying? They know exactly what we're talking about. Just call them a dipping dog. They're saying they're just trying to make old force, go back and say something really stupid. Just call them a dipend dot.

You'll be safe. But okay, so the two lane and the four-lane, it's just another type of, you're cool with it. like it because it gives a variety. Is that what you're saying? What was the question? About two lanes versus four lanes because I know that a lot of the drag racing, you know, the purests in the grandstands. And like, Matthew, you're one. And you were explaining stuff. I think it's a great spectacle, but I prefer traditional one I want. It's the first time like I've ever sat in the grandstand. You know, I worked in this sport and I hadn't seen the race from that perspective. And as somebody who knows these cars and knows the racers very well, it was extremely hard for me to follow.

I appreciate that they're trying to do something different, and they did pack the place in there. But I'd be interested to see, you know, the standard normal drag race as a fan. Who in that room is Dirty Mo? What is that? I'm probably the... Matthew. Okay. Of the two in there.

Definitely not heard. Bruton Smith invested his money, him and Marcus. They built the four-wide. I think originally it was that if you had an oil down, the show could keep moving, run it to the other lane. But I think in the back they wanted a spectacle. They wanted something different. And they throw it in and they packed them in Vegas. They packed them at these shows over the year.

But it's getting tougher to get fans. They can see everything on TV. They can see everything on a phone. The world has changed. You know what I mean? It has really changed. I mean, content is a word I never knew what it meant five years ago. And now everything.

We're going down to film a deal, you know, to plug sponsors, to put up social media. And you're the best at it, Dale. you do it all the time. I'm amazed, but I just got rid of my flip-flop phone. You know what I'm saying? And I'll talk for 10 minutes now. I'll go, John, it only plays for six seconds.

And what are you doing? Well, I can't say what I want to say. And then I can't take those words back that you say when you say something stupid. And I do that all the time. But, you know, my daughter goes, okay, dad, let's shoot something for advance right here. Look up at this phone. I said, okay, world, we're coming. We're doing content.

She put her hands down and she said, what are you doing? I said, I want to tell them what they want us to do in advance. They want us to do content. And she goes, yeah, you're supposed to do content and not say it's content. It's supposed to really be happening. Well, honey, you and I are standing here holding this phone over our head. Think how stupid we look that people think we just happen to be standing here with a phone hanging out there. But it's the world we live in.

It's all changed. I mean, you got to look at what's going on. in the world. When I was a kid, we went to a pharmaceutical, and my mom and a doctor would say, the guy there running the place, well, here's what you need for a headache. You know what I mean? And then along came the K-marts and the Walmarts, and they had everything. You know what I mean? And now comes the Amazon's. The world's changing. All the little Monpaw stores are drying up. A lot of the K-mart's are drying up. The world is changing, and we got to adapt. And that's what we got to do with our sport. You know what I mean? Because pretty soon, no one will want to own a car.

Well, don't tell Chevrolet that, but people are looking at Uber's. They can go, you know what I mean? And we got to re-educate them. Bring them to the races. Get them back in the fight. You know, so that's what I'm trying to do. I agree with you. But let me just tell you something. You're still doing it right. And that is because I want to show you something. We got to get you. All those things are right. But, you know, yesterday, I take my daughters over to you. You You got a big crowd. That was your daughter. And you still, you don't remember.

Did I meet you yesterday? I didn't say anything. I just thanked you for the picture. Did we get his reaction on film? What, no. Boy, he thought I didn't recognize him. Did we get him? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm saying, but you also did this. I had two daughters. And you were strapping in a car. You were in that staging lane, and you waved at my little daughter. And from the rest of the weekend, they were asking, when is John Forst race? When is John Forst race? And when you race and you made the finals, they were ecstatic. And then when you race in the finals, they were still trying to process, because up into them, the top two advance.

They're like, you know, does he still advance? I'm like, that was the last race. And they're like, well, they put him in anyways because he's John Force. It was just that picture. And I told Dale last night, I said, this wasn't hard to get. He had a crowd, but this is in between your round two and your round three. You got your team out there turning over the motor. That's still what it's about to me.

I think that the content and all those things that happen, you still got to do this, and you connected with them, and they're John Forced fans forever. But that, you know, I learned in the early days, the first time Fred Wagonall from Action took me to a race. He took me to Daytona. And I remember walking up there,

and I saw Dale Earnart, as much as he was, all about cars, always took the time for the fans. Richard Petty, standing with a line of people. You know what I mean? Rusty Wallace, these guys were just like, you know, they're gods. You know what I mean?

And there's only one God. We know that. But they were, in that world, it was unbelievable. And I learned from that. It's all about it. And I'll have people come up, hey, when you sign this picture? And the guy's standing there, and he's holding his baby. And I go, boy, the kid was used to be blonde.

And he goes, no, that was me. My dad was holding me. Now I got grandpa's coming. Oh, wow. What do you mean I held you as a kid? I don't want to hear this. You know, oh, man. But I've been out here a long time.

And, you know, and I still want to help my sport. I love NHRA and don't think we don't have our fights and our battles. But I believe that's why God put me on this earth. Must be a reason. You know what I'm saying? I mean, he must have a plan or this don't make any sense at all. where I'm going because I don't have a clue. And here I am.

Hey everybody, this is Dellen Hart Jr. And in honor of National Day of Giving, I wanted to highlight one of the many ways our partnership with Helmonds came to life this year. Our friends at Helmonds made a generous $150,000 donation to the Dale Jr. Foundation to support the fight to end food insecurity and hunger during the upcoming holiday season. We can't thank them enough for this incredible contribution.

This donation has been used to do. directly support organizations like Feed-N-C and Blessings in a Backpack. It's helping families in need across our local communities and across the country. With the support of partners like Helmonds, we're able to make a positive impact in people's lives this holiday season. That means a lot to all of us. If you'd like to join us in Helmonds in our fight to end hunger, please visit Blessings in a Backpack.org or Feed-N-C.org. You can also get involved in your own local community. You have an Elvis mural in your office.

And you left tickets to Elvis at a race? Or do you still do that? I grew up. I was all about, I was country music, but I was a California boy. My mom was born and broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She's off Indian Reservation. And my sister, do you just make this up? No, Cindy, I don't.

But it's what I believe. And going down the road, what was the question? Elvis Presley. Oh. But I grew up because I'm an Oki, you know what I mean? And I grew up in my little town in Bell Gardens. Everybody in that town was from Arkansas and Oklahoma. You know what I'm saying?

And so, you know, I love music, but the Beach Boys were big. The Beatles came along in the 60s. You know what I mean? I mean, I didn't shake Kennedy's wife, but I was with a group. I mean, Kennedy's wife. Kennedy, not John F., because he, you know, we lost him when I was in ninth grade. But in 10th grade in high school, I went up to East L.A. Junior College. And Bobby did a parade down through the town.

And all, we parked on a street illegally. We all ran in our Chevroletes. And they all ran up there. And the girls all shook his hand. And then he went downtown and he ended up, was assassinated. But how did I get on that? I don't know. Is that any one?

Elvis, but I did Elvis Presley. You know, I did songs when I was in fifth grade. I'd go on the stage. I had long hair. I didn't have sideburns. Yeah, I'm in and I got no hair on my body. So anyway, but I did Elvis impersonations. Really?

And I come in second in a show one time. But yeah, I just was a big fan of Elvis. So when I got to put my car in Graceland with Rusty Wallace, it was the coolest deal. And to go to Graceland. and I just followed him. But then the Beatles, and of course, then it just all evolved. But I'm still at this day.

I'm still saying Elvis. But you left tickets for Elvis at a race. Yep, wanted him to come. And I bought one of the last tickets. A fan actually got it. I bought one at auction, but a fan was going up to Maine or somewhere, a big Elvis deal up there in the north. And he had a ticket because Elvis was passed.

And he gave me the ticket. and I got it in my museum. And it's just stuff that matters to me. I got Marilyn Monroe, you know, on my wall and John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. I'm just a collector of stuff like that. I have had, I've got an Elvis room in my house, the whole room. So I'm a big Elvis fan too. When I was little, when I was a little boy and dad was off racing.

He's still a little boy. I know. Yeah. My dad would race. Sometimes I'd go stay with my, his mom, my mama. and Martha, huge Elvis fan, and she played Elvis all the time. So I became a, and she had figurines, you know, the little wine bottles, head pops off and all that. She had a house full of Elvis stuff.

And so I became an Elvis fan, and I've always had a room in my house that's dedicated to Elvis. And so I wanted to know more about your fandom for Elvis and leaving tickets. Was he, had he been, had he passed away, or are you leaving the tickets after he passed away, thinking that he was still alive? I saw Elvis at a thousand foot at Memphis when I was on fire. And let me tell you something. I crawled out on my hands and knees. I thought I was dead. And I remember I was praying to God, like, let me stand.

Let me get up out of this thing. I'll go back to church. I'll quit. I'll finish the Bible. That was 40 years ago. And I crawled out of there. And I stood up, my TV guy said, what did you see? But my brain snapped right out of that fear mode, just like you guys do.

And I went, I saw Elvis at a thousand foot. And they made a book out of it. And I never got a fanny from that. Somebody wrote a book. I saw Elvis at a thousand feet. But you just grow up with people that you love. I was never a Beatles fan, even though, you know, I loved some of their songs. You know, Giddigan's Bible, everything religious I read.

Did you ever see? Did you ever see Elvis play? No, never did. Of all the, two people, well, three people I want to meet one day. Seriously? Okay. I want to meet your daddy again. I want to meet Elvis and Jesus.

Yeah. Okay. That's three good ones. Somebody trying to beat that list. What was your favorite, what was your favorite, I guess, version of Elvis? Was it? I loved his gospel.

Me too. The music that he sang. And, you know, I'll still go into a crowd of people and I'm trying to get them up. And you've got this big crowd. You've done it. And some days you go, I've got to find my. myself, you know, you know, you talked about a lot of things in a book. That, you're very truthful in the book when you talked about, you know, I'd go places

sometimes and it was just overload, you know, the masses of people with your fan base. I can't even imagine it. But, but you said, and then at the end, but now I realize how much it really meant to me. You know what I'm saying? That you were stepping out of the seat and what those people meant at that time in the press room and with the drivers and stuff. and you're still here so you're still doing it and the fans still got you yeah who's got a i ain't got no complaints he's still here so in the in the middle of it um uh you know i'd walk

into a crowd i did a show once um in i can't even remember where but it was snowing and i went into this deal and there was a giant line and your dad was standing on the stage okay and uh i thought oh my god and i looked over and there was two drunken canadian standing in mind. And I thought, I got to go over there with two people and my sponsor are all there looking. And I got over there and, okay, started. And somebody flotted.

I said, thank you. Thank you very much. You know, trying to give the old Elvis, trying to get a little attention because everybody wanted your dad just like you when you're out there. And so I'm standing there. And then all of a sudden your dad goes,

force. And I never even knew him. He said, get over here. And so I went on and he goes, okay, everybody. John Forts is here. And everybody started applauding. And my sponsor,

Wow, they all know you. They didn't have a clue who I was. But your dad saw that moment that he really cared. That's why I knew he had a big heart. He was going to take this little guy that nobody cared about, but he knew I needed that sponsor. And he was bringing me over there and put me in his line, and we signed autographs.

And that is a picture I have in my museum today. Really? That I got down on the stage, and I kissed his ring. And it was the most awesome deal. And I've got the photograph of me down on my knees, kissing your dad's ring. and he's laughing like, get up, stupid. You know what I mean?

But when I was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Driver of the Year, I was the first drag racer to ever get it. Your dad comes through with his entourage. Everybody was dressed in black. I heard about this. Walked in like, oh, man, even security would not question him. You know what I mean? And you don't realize that now you're the same way, Jr.,

that with what you're, you know, we look, but that's the era and what you accomplished like your dad that's so amazing. And even Don Perdom said to me the other day, he's still my hero. Don Ferdone was out there. NHR. He's got rules. Can't be on a start line throwing sponsors off. No, don't throw the sponsor off.

And in the middle of it, somebody had questioned Don Ferdoneb. Do you have a pass to be up here? Oh, God. Oh, man. Oh, wow. Don Ferdombe. You don't, it's like talking to Jesus. You don't question.

Right. Or like an earner. You don't question the citizens. situation. And I went over and I said, that's Don Ferdone. Ferdone said, hold on it for us, stand here. He wanted to hear this guy because he was going to have this security guy thrown off the start because you don't talk to Don Ferdon. He's still my hero. I'm still chasing him. I'm still trying to walk like him. These guys are my heroes. Garlets, they don't understand where I came from. That was all about them. I lived it. You know, my wife says, I think you love them all more

me but you do you know what I'm saying because they were a way of life just to want to be like them and hear the chair of the crowd and I'm still trying I'll get there someday you know that happened to Richard Petty once when they he was going into the track have you heard this story in one of the gate guards said they needed a credential in his response it was a few years ago and he said this is my credential I get TV cameras that'll say to me John, would you take off your glasses? And I said, first of all, would you ask Richard Petty to take off his glasses? Right.

Why are you asking me? What am I dog meat here? That's awesome. So, you know, everybody knows that you're a 16-time chance. I'm ready to start the questions now. That was warm up. You just going to start. I mean, you've done it all.

You've won some of your races, but a lot of people don't know, especially younger fans, that it took you eight years to win your first Fondycar win. Yeah, now I'm trying to win 150. Right. And I said, oh, man, how many, I've been to a couple finals, three this year, I think. And I thought, I hope it ain't like the bridesmaid. It's going to take me nine finals to finally win the race. Because I never won races for 10 years.

You know, my daughters all come along, actually in the first year, Courtney, Brittany, I don't get it. A female, you just get in these cars like you think you know what you're doing. And they don't even understand what's just, I remember going to, driving school with Chevrolet and all the drivers were lined up, some of the NASCAR guys, and Ashley was up in a front car years ago when she first started. And the guy come back to me and he goes, your daughter's crying. And man, I immediately, okay, some NASCAR guy said something.

I don't care how big day. They all tried to beat me up in that baseball game in Charlotte one year. Oh, what was that guy's name, Richie Little or something? That range car driver. Somebody. Chad Little? Chad Little. Richard Little.

Chad Little. Richard Littal Rockson. Chad Little. Going to beat me up because I was catching and I was heckling everybody. And I, you know, me big mouth. They all come out of the dugout was going to beat me up. Really? Yeah.

And I ended up hitting a home run in that game. My adrenaline was so wired up. I was the next to bat and knocked it out of the park, never had a home run of my whole life. And then I did it. Okay, what were we talking about? I forgot. See, I hit my head.

I can't remember. or not. It took, like going how long it took you to win. Yeah, going through the first eight years your career without a win in the finals

and, you know, obviously you've became this one of the greatest of all time. And I guess during that eight years, like, what was, was it frustrating trying to figure out like how to get to where you are today?

You dream of an interview when you win. Austin Coil was with me. I give him credit. People say, you're the winning this guy in history. No, Austin Coil, my crew chief, was the one in the sky in history. I went along for the ride.

I did my job, but he was a guy that, and now we're going after 150. You know what I'm saying? But you don't even want to think about it. You don't want to get it in your head because what's it going to do? Okay, it's over after you've been sick for 10 races, worrying about it. And now I thought I was here this week. I was doing everything to fudge that old Christmas tree.

These kids are just killing me on the lights. And so what are we talking about? Man, I did it in my head. What are we talking about? You're right on track. You're trying to win 150. No. Yeah, so.

And the kids are beating you at the tree. Oh, man, they're killing me up there. And I get in the trailer and I go, oh, man, okay, just walk out there and get some of that monster energy and take a drink of it and get wound up. And I said, yeah, and then you're going to have a heart attack running around. It's great stuff. But I'm a wired up guy already. But I drank it when I needed it fires me up, right?

But it was great sponsor. I know it's your series sponsor, and they sponsored my daughter for a number of years. I want to go back there. Just really great people. But in the middle of it, where are we in the middle of? Jay's, okay, more coffee. I'm losing it. Have you always had this much energy?

Your whole life. Did you say virginity? No. I lost my virginity a long time ago. I can't hear either. I'm going deaf. Have you always had this? this much energy.

Yeah, but I've always been, you know, when I was a kid, I had to go in and a truck stop, and, you know, in football games, you know, I had to always hustle, and he had to tell a story. And they told me my grandpa was hung at the hanging tree in Oklahoma, and I'm sticking to that story. What do you get hung from? Stealing horses, I thought that'd be cool. No, tell him lies. You know, I always joke, and I can't joke about this, but I used to say,

the two, because in our town, Nixon is very famous in Yorba Linda. They got museums there in his house he grew up in and all this stuff. And I always tell them the two biggest vote to come out of Yorba Lennon, President Nixon and John Forrest. That's my true. But I always been high energy. When you were a little kid? Yeah. But I'm a coffee freak.

And my doctor says, you got to stop. You know, how long do you think your old heart's going to go down this road? Don't care. I do care, though. See, when I joke about it, I really do care. Sure you do. I want to be with my grandkids. That's what I want, and my daughters go, are you over us, Dad?

You know what I'm saying? And I told Courtney, I'm over you since you ran off with Ray Hall. I mean, I spent all this money making you a superstar. And the next day she says, Dad, I'm getting married. And the only thing I'll trade trophies for is them grandkids. And it changes your life because they just love you all the time. And it ain't like, oh, you can pass them back. you know, when it's over.

And the problem is we were so busy chasing our dreams and trying to put shoes on her feet that you don't raise your kids. And that is sad. And now I always said, NHRA took my kids away from me. But now they're back. They're back with me racing until Ray Hall took off with one. So, Ray Hall, I love you. And I love his daddy.

Yeah. You know, I said, I was there when you won the Indy 500 in the Budweiser car. and then Robert Hype, my son, along he's the most truthful guy in the world. He goes, for us, you weren't there when he won the Indy 500. I said, well, why do I believe that? And he goes, because you were racing that weekend. I know the schedules, and you weren't at the Indy 500.

And I just, hey, you know one night I'm doing the Long Beach Grand Prix, right? Yeah. So I went to drive in school with Tony George and a bunch of the movie stars, and I was entertaining a lot of the movie stars, right? and Crystal Bernard. Remember she had the show wings and all those kind of shows. And anyway.

This is a celebrity race. You're in a celebrity race at Long Beach for the Indie car weekend. So they took me down there and all the celebrities got on the stage and started telling jokes, but everybody was drunk at the party and pretty soon they started getting rude.

And we had all these foreigners there from the Grand Prix from other countries. But great people. They were great people, right? They said, for some of these people are getting a little out of hand, and we don't know if these people can handle it because, you know, there's certain rules. You don't dance with their wives. You don't, you know, so first thing I'm thinking, wait a minute, I've been drinking too.

You want to throw me on the stage? I said, this ain't good timing. So, you know, I went up there and I told them, you know, I'm famous for certain things, right? and I'm looking for trying to come out with some stuff. You know, bad jokes like I rear-ended Crystal Bernard in practice. Well, that wasn't funny. You know, so you can believe that. But I actually said it.

And then I made the all-time, Mario Andretti, you know, like you guys, a god. So I said, I remember going into the bar, okay, and I looked across and I saw Mario talking with a couple of his guys. You know what I mean? So when I was on the stage, I said, you know, yeah, last night. Me and Mario were in the bar last night. And having drinks. And so I thought that's pretty cool.

Everybody's a fly, and they thought, oh, was Mario right? And I remember walking out to the curb. And these two big gorillas walked up to me, said, Mr. Forrest? I said, yes, sir. And they said, we're with Mario Andretti. And I said, yeah. and they said, we'd appreciate, you weren't in the bar with him last night? I said, I never said I was with him.

I embellished, I never lie. What I said was, I was in the bar. Me and Mario. But you insinuated you was with him. Oh, no, not if you hear what I said. I'm smarter than that. But I was in the bar with him. And not with him, though, I said, I got it the first time.

And they said, well, next time we're going to break your arms and legs, don't do it. more. They didn't use those words, but they made it clear. And then years later, when I met him and got to know him, you know what I mean? And then it was all in fun, but you just don't talk about people that you don't know from that world. So, but I could come down here. I think it was Junior Johnson's house, because I sang the song, you know, Thunder Road, you know, Lightning was his engine and Thunder was his road. It's a famous movie. And the kids today, you know, I'm telling Sarah, our PR lady coming over here, she's looking to me like, don't give him any more coffee,

whip me right into a Dunkin' Donuts, give me a half a donut, let's go to work. But that is the world, there was a question leading up to that. There was. I don't remember this point. Finish that. Hey, a scenario here, a hypothetical, and you finish it on how you think it would end. If a NASCAR driver, a drag racer and an IndyCar racer went into a bar, dot, dot, dot.

How does that end? Fizz fight. You ain't going to get away, especially a NASCAR guy. Indycar guy, they might kiss you, but they'll slug you before it's over. Oh, let me, I know them guys. They are different personalities. I went to a show once, and I had to do a show, and I'm standing with my guy, and I said, what's wrong with this picture?

And I look over at this line, and they're all lined up to get these IndyCar drivers. I won't even say names to get their autograph. And everybody in line They got little umbrellas And the girls in high heels And I look over at my deal I said it looks like a homeless Situation

It looks like you're all trying to get in a bar Those are my fan base And that's the way it was But let me tell you something The Mindy car guys Man like NASCAR guys You're all physically Look at me

I got a big old tub on me From drinking tea And I don't even drink beer I still got one Look like a truck driver And I love you truck drivers I am a truck driver but what I'm saying is

better get a plug for freight liner while I'm sitting here but in the middle of it they just you guys you live in a gym and I do since my crash I go to the gym

you know my wife will say you've been five days in a row you're going to wear yourself out I go their number one for depression I fight depression okay I never read his book but I read all about Robbie Williams

when that little problem thing went down because that kind of stuff worries me because I've had depression since I was a kid. Wow. You know what I'm saying? And I fight it every day. But I get up and if I get up in the morning and I go, something's wrong.

The sky is falling. And I run straight to the gym. I go straight to coffee. You know what I mean? For about a month I told my wife, something's wrong with me. I can't get up. And she goes, well, I don't know what's any different.

I said, well, you change brand of coffee? She goes, no, I went to decaf. And I said, don't ever do that to me again. Don't ever do that. So, you know, people try to calm me down. But I get in the gym, I get on a treadmill, and then my depression goes away, and then I'm happy again. All you got to do is be happy. Drink monster energy, I'm a happy camper.

Wow. I can do anything. That's interesting. Yeah. And I'm going to go out of this building, and I'm going to lay down on the grass and have heart attack because my heart's about to quit. No, we do that. Wouldn't that be something if I went down on the gym? on the children's show.

No. We can be famous. Don't do that. Hey, when you were talking about the celebrity race, did anybody ever ask you to run IROC when IROC was running? Yeah, I was going to be in it. And then Pontiac fired me, right in the middle of it. I'd won the championship.

They heard rumors. I was going somewhere else, and I wasn't. It was just a rumor. And I'm pretty loyal. I stay where I'm at. They got to fire me before I leave. You know what I'm saying? But I grew up in a Chevrolete.

My mom drove. a Buick Wildcat. It's the first car I ever drove in a drag race. And I actually went on a date and ended up at Lions Drag Strip. And to impress a girl, I went out and drove and won a trophy. And then I won my second trophy in a corvette. And I had a

high school. I drove fuel allards, front engine dragsters. Nobody knows that. You know, where I came from. But what was the question? I did it again. Yeah. I was wondering if you'd ever... They took me out of Iraq and everyone said they said you were going in Iraq. Well, first of all, they probably put me out there

They said, you realize, force, be careful. When I went Bakers driving school, and they had some celebrities there that was with the media. They said, no, force, when you go out here, be careful. Because these drivers are real valuable, and we don't want you to crash somebody. And I thought, well, what am I, dog meat? I went up with Polaroid years ago to Boston to do a show. And they said, they're going to be with two of the most famous basketball players, the Celtics. I think it was Larry Bird or Jeff Bird or somebody.

And you're going to be with this. The other guy. Jeff Burton. No, not Burton, Bird. Yeah, Larry Bird. You're going to be with the basketball player, and there was two big rivalries going on, and you're going to take pictures.

I thought, well, this. Am I in trouble? See, she laughed. She had enough of this. She's back there. She's back there. They said, hey, here's what we're going to do. You're going to be out front of a Kmart.

So I thought, okay. And I used to stand in front of Kmart's at 10 in the morning until 8 at night. That's how we did sponsorship. in the early days, right? So here I am, here I am in front of this place, and I'm standing out front, and the fans are lined up a mile to get their pictures with Polaroid.

One of them little cameras spits out a picture. And right in the middle of it, I'm waiting, I'm going to meet these basketball players on the end. And they came up with two cardboard stand-ups. And put them next to me. And the fans went right by me and stood next to them, took their picture. And I thought, okay, but that wasn't the bad part.

The bad part was when it started to rain. And they said, get all these stars inside and they grabbed the two mannequins and took them inside and left me standing in the ring and I said something's wrong with this picture here

and they said no them cardboard standups are really can't get them wet they're really valuable and that's been my life and I'm still on the low end of the totem pole that's not true that's not true

but at least now I know about the I rock answer yeah I never got to go but did you ever want to do laps oh I did it like you know turn left all those things? They told me that when I ran her

Buddy Baker, I'll never forget this I rode with Buddy Baker from the racetrack in Charlotte, I think, to his driving school, or maybe it was in Rockingham. Yeah, the driving school would be at Rockingham. Yeah, Rockingham and I went from where he was. He drove me in a pickup

truck, and then I met his dad. Now, I could be wrong. I could be talking about the complete wrong family. But I remember one of them media guys burn up one of his cars. And I saw the old man going across the racetrack, and he was furious. Like you abused our car, and they yell them and screaming. I thought they were going to fight.

NASCAR guys will fight on a drop of the hat. And so, well, Indy car guys, I ain't taking nothing. But at least they'll kiss you before they slug you. I like that. I'm just heckling you guys because my son-in-law is out there, and I want to piss him off. Ray Hall loves me. He just don't know it yet. Oh, yeah?

He just don't know. You guys get along pretty good. Oh, boy. He's a different animal. And I remember when she crashed, our family stayed at Lake Tahoe. And he was flying home and she had a bad crash. But I was getting ready to sign advanced auto parts to get that contract signed. So we turned her to the hospital like MRIs are doing all these head tests.

She's okay, no broken bones. So I walked in there and I said, Doc, first of all, no one knows this. But I said, how is she really? Oh, she's fine. She'll be okay. And just needs a little rest because of my baby. I love her. You know what I mean?

I'd give my liver tomorrow. I think maybe it had too much butt along the way. So in the middle of this, I went in to the hospital room. I said, okay, they're going to get you out. And I said, we're in Seattle. The media's outside. Your fans are lined up. They were really worried about the girl.

And I said, okay, here's what we got to do here, Courtney. And then Graham had flown to a race, and he sent his jet back to get her. You know what it's like to be, John Forrest, you're finally feeling you're somebody, and I finally got moved up to business class from C-27, on Southwest, and you're sitting there, and you look over and my wife goes, hey, there's Brittany, Courtney,

and I look out the window, and there's her and Ray Hall coming out in the private jet, and they're waving at me, and I'm thinking, and I upgraded. Okay, so anyway, he sends his jet back to get her, and I said, okay, look, you've got to walk out of this hospital. If you go out in a wheelchair,

We load you in a car. They're going to say that something's wrong with you, and this contract is being signed as we speak. And Courtney, whatever you say, Dad, she is a trooper, like all my girls. And she got right up, and she walked outside. And it was a little hard on her. I could tell. I didn't realize it, but I thought she was okay.

I walked out all. I'm telling big old eyes and stuff. Somebody give me a beer. And I quit drinking. The doctor said I had to. They said, that mind will never, your brain floats around the water up there. and you can't keep it full of alcohol. Okay.

And now I'm just a mess. No. No, I don't believe that. I need a drink right now. Okay. So in the middle of this, in the middle of she walked out. So when I get to Lake Toll her crew chief was Ashley's husband, Danny Hood. And everyone's moping around.

And finally, no one would speak up because our family knows we're racers. And Danny walked down and said, if someone ain't going to tell you you're a fool, well, you are. And you made your daughter get. up and walk out that door. And it was our one little three days in Tahoe, you know, we get next to Christmas, right? And I was really embarrassed because I realized what I'd done. And Ray all never said a word. That's her job. I get it. Because that's how his dad would be, get that money. And I went and got my car and I cried all the way, I'll go cry now because I love my kids more

than anything. And you think you love that baby? You ain't had a chance to fall in love with that baby. It's coming. Oh, yeah. It will run your life. It will run your life. I beat up school teachers. I've done everything. Don't mess with my kids.

And I want them to be taught. I want them to learn. I tell my crew chiefs, you be tough on them. You drive them. You push them. And the girls, what are we talking about? I don't even remember. What are we talking about show?

I know. It was about Graham and Courtney. Yeah. And just Graham, how Graham fits into it. So I've actually got to know Graham because, me and him both were sponsored by National Guard at one point, so we did a few appearances together, and a huge fan of yours.

Then I got to be a fan of your girls as they were racing and doing well. Graham's a great guy, a lot of fun to hang out with. I don't know him like you know him, but I enjoy him. I think he's great. And it's a unique pairing because of, you know, she's a racer, he's a racer, she's crashing,

he's got to be there for her, he's crashing. All the things that you go through in motorsports is a, as a, driver and emotions and stuff, them having to support each other going through those emotions. It must have been pretty difficult at times, but I think now she's, so what's she doing now? She's not driving. She's under contract with advanced auto parts, but they've got a lot of deals. He's got a great agency that takes care of him, so they're working a lot of stuff because she's

a driver, he's a driver. But they lived on the road. They never got a chance. Bought a new home on side of a mountain in Yorba Linden. They just got married. They're going to start a family? Well, y'all ain't allowed to talk about that. I'll allow to talk about it.

Oh, man, I get in trouble. You can't talk about it. I can't. But I think that was his plan years back. Yeah. And she wants to have kids. Yeah. But I don't talk about it because the fans are like, why'd she quit?

Is she pregnant? Yeah, right. I'm selfishly hoping that she races again one day. Do you think she ever will? I know she loves it. I know that she's under contract. She'll work in Indy car. She'll do drag race and stuff.

have her in the booth because she's a big star out there. Right. But she had to make her move just like Ashley. You know what I'm saying? I got those two grandsons now. And women have a window. And Courtney's just a kid. But, you know, Graham has his plan.

And he's into car businesses with his dad. He's got his own shop in Indy where he does carve wheels, mufflers, all this kind of stuff. And he really is a smart guy. and he lives on the phone. And that was one of the things I never lived on a phone. I ran to a pay phone the other day. My phone went debt and I forgot how to make it work. Like people don't use pay phones anymore.

What has happened to America? It's different. But I ran there and I was like, wait, I used to do this. I had numbers and couldn't figure it out. I know it. So anyway, the world has changed. And if we don't adapt, we'll be a dinosaur. too late for me.

No. I'm already a dinosaur, but I'm going out swinging. Do you have anybody's phone number memorized? And don't, don't get me wrong when I, when I joked about IndyCar guys they'll kiss you.

But they're all beautiful. They are. You know, like NASCAR, they all got physiques. Like, what happened to drag racers? And don't get me wrong, Ron Caps, Hagan looks like the hawk.

You know what I'm saying? And, you know, we started, I don't know when he started, But I went in the gym one day and he don't look like he looks now. And I went in the gym and he was working out and I was working out. Well, about 10 years has passed, I still look the same. And he's like, body beautiful. He's a big dude.

Yeah. Somebody set me in front of a pay phone and said, call somebody. I'd be at F. I don't have anybody's number memorized anymore. I remember when I was, you know, 15 didn't have, you know, wasn't using a cell phone all the time. You had people's numbers memorized. Yeah. And now I couldn't even tell you what my wife's cell phone number is.

is. Do you? Do you remember phone numbers? No, the truth is. So you wrote that pay phone. Did you have a number in your mind? Totally long. I used to rehearse. I used to rehearse. I mean, I could sit and talk about the last 20 checks I wrote and what the number was on them. And now, I don't deal in money. I went by a Bank of America the other day and I said, I used to live in the parking lot to run in at the last moment and cover a check that was going to bounce. And I lived that life. I knew everything about, and now it's all changed where people just run all that for me. And I run out of the office, somebody gives me a script and I go. But same thing with phone numbers. I knew everybody's phone number. And now it's like, I struggle. You know, you know them tests? Okay. John Forrest,

what hospital are you in? One of them. I said, I don't have a clue. You really don't. No. Someone gave me a schedule. Somebody drove me there and dropped me off, going, the hospital, go up to elevator three, and going, okay, and it wasn't important to me to know the hospital. They didn't get it. And I am scatterbrained. I'm nuts. I can't remember half the time.

But I was always that way. You know, and my mother dropped me on my head. It's in my baby book when I was three months old. You know what I mean? It's in my baby book. She was drinking and partying and dropped her kid. Okay. It happens.

So what I'm saying is, and I love my mom. I pray to her every day. I talk, you know what's funny? when my mom and dad, that's why I said, you know, mama's looking down on you, take care of you. I used to say, you know, I got to go over to see my mom and dad. I still haven't covered the checks they gave me. I got to pay them back and I got to go see them.

And now I talk to them every day, every day. You know what I mean? Because they're right there with you if that's the way you believe. And that is how I believe. And if I'm wrong and I get to heaven or ain't no heaven or just a big old rock there burning, I'll say, well, so what really matters? but I'd be at the Furley Gays and say, you know what? You never believed?

No, I didn't. I tried to find you for 100 years, and I couldn't. I ain't going to get into that religion. And you never spoke to me. And I talk to you all the time, but I ain't taking that chance. That's right. That's right. Insurance.

So you joined Twitter about, what, a year ago? I don't know. Yeah, but people do it. Sarah does it for me, and she tried to clean it up. My kids do it for me all the time because I'm not good at the that. Probably the worst thing ever happened me is I discovered porn hub. And I talk about an addiction. I got to get rid of it. I got to get rid of it. Okay, sorry. I'm sorry. You can cut that. No. Oh my God. Oh my goodness. My age. People always ask me all the time like, what was your

dad think about Twitter and Instagram or computer? I think I just learned my answer. I'm standing behind my race car trailer, and I see these five boxes, and one's got a woodpecker in it, another one's got something. And I said, what the hell is that on the back of my trailer? And they said, well, that's all the, whatever they're calling. Social media stuff. Social media that's on your phone. Well, how do you?

Then I spend two days trying to find out this certain thing, Instagram or something. I don't know what it was. And then Kelly, the girl runs my office in India. I said, Kelly, I can't find, and she goes, that's because you don't have it. Right. Well, how do you figure this stuff out? How do you learn how to run a phone? You ever going and say, I'd like to have directions on a phone?

You know what I mean? And they don't tell you. Well, how do you learn? Just do it. But my grand, I can't turn on my TV at home. You know what I'm saying? And I keep going back to apologize and I was trying to, all you NASCAR indie car guys out there that I love, I want to tell you, I'm just trying to heckle Graham, because he runs.

really means a lot to me. Yeah. And wherever they go, I know he'll take care of her, and that's important to me. I ain't going to be around long, but what I'm saying is he really is a good guy. And his dad is really a good guy. And so, and his partners that he's got, you know, Ray Hall and Letterman, no, I meant Letterman and Lannigan and those guys are just, they're really good people. And you know, your sponsors become your partners.

Sure. and a lot of people don't think it. They think, we just do it for the money. You know what I mean? But pretty soon, you know the families. You watch their children grow up. You wait till that baby. She's only a year old.

Wait till they start getting that personality. Wait until they say, Dadda. Oh, you'll have to run. I'm trying to get her to say it. You'll run and say, I practice every day. She hasn't got it yet. You'll run and hide and cry. It'll make you weak.

And it becomes, and now my grandkids come along because I miss so much. And now my grandkids, I just, I wait for that phone. And I tell my wife, okay, now you send me pictures right. Okay, how do I find them? John, push the button on the far right, and they'll pop up. And that's how I live. And I don't know why. I just never learned it.

But see, I'm so caught up in the world I live in running all the time. Sarah will tell you, all the way over here, I told her we're, and I don't know, she's just a kid. She's 20 years old or something. But where did NASCAR come from? We're driving down all these streets. And I started telling her about Thunder Road. She never heard of the movie. And I said, yeah, I did a deal.

And you look at Junior Johnson and their dads and stuff, they ran alcohol. You know what I mean? In the back roads and they hopped up their shivis and their fords. And they did all that. And then they outran the cops. And that's how they made a living. And pretty soon they become good. They went on racetracks and stars were born.

And that really is how I believe it was created. Of course, I live by the Ten Commandments with Charleston. I watched it the other night. And then they had a real show about religious during Easter Sunday and all that stuff. And in the middle of it, I thought, well, that ain't the way, because they're telling it real, how it happened. That ain't the way he parted the red sea. He opened up to Pacific Ocean, it knows a little old waterway that he waded across.

I said, no, you're screwing up everything I believed about how this thing works. The burning rock. I've been searching for it my whole life, and I'm going to find it and jump right in it. And Austin Coil would say to me, force, you ever looked out the front windchill open your eyes when it's on fire? That's the burning rock.

It's trying to tell you something, and you ain't listening. Goodness gracious. Okay. When's y'all's next race? We're heading. I'm staying on the road. That's why I'm so. Robert Heights stuck with me. We're in a car. We're going to go to Atlanta on the way. But I got to come here and spend the days out of the race. You're driving to Atlanta? Yeah, we're going to drive. What's John, what do you like as a passenger in a car riding down the road? Terrible. Everybody hates me. Ask Sarah. She's ready to quit right now. Because I get into, I talk for hours. Talking. And my family, my family say the most painful thing is watching John in a drive. through, you know, because I hate it when you're going and say, I'd like to have a hamburger plane, please.

Would you like tomatoes? Well, because in certain restaurants, I think Wendy's charges you for tomatoes. I don't know if they do or not, unless you're, but certain things cost you cheese and all that. And I said, what part don't you get about plane? You know? And my wife goes, why do you want to fight with them? They're just doing their job.

You know what I'm saying? So where's your next race? You ask that We're going to Atlanta And we're doing a big thing for Coca-Cola with Mellow Yellow This weekend This weekend Commerce Georgia

Oh yeah I race every week I used to match race every week It just got to where You couldn't run on these schedules And the teams When did you quit match racing? I still match race

I still love We go to Bill Bader's night under fire Pack them in every year Really? Yep Two race cars I race with my daughters One week This year it'll be with Robert

Robert, he'll have a car. I drive everything I can. I'm trying to stay in the game. Hey, I'm 100 years old. I raced when cars had, it's folk to wooden wheels. So how many weekends will you work? Well, I used to do it.

Well, I work every weekend. Right. In a car. I'm sitting in the parking lot and the priest at the Catholic, and I thought I was Catholic. I just found out I'm not. Okay. No.

No. I would love to ask about that, but I want to make sure we get the questions you're answering. No, but I was born Lutheran. So was I. Well, I was Lutheran and went to church. Mom was, I remember my brother Louis said, my brother Louis, crazy Louis, with me all weekend here at Charlotte. And he cried when I didn't win. I said, Louis, we know the drill.

We've done all this stuff, you know. but I remember when they were passing the money down the little basket to put the money in we used to make change and my mom caught my brother Louis making change they would take money out of the plate well no

we'd always say we'd put in 10 but we'd take out of 20 and my mother caught him and boy I remember beating him up right in the church parking lot but then when I got married my wife was Catholic my kids are all educated I went to college till noon. I went to play football and then my dad said, well, you're getting married. Did I tell you that?

I said, I am. And anyway, married this beautiful girl that I'd grown up with. And we had we had Adra. And then I was driving a truck. I was an 18-wheeler. You know I was doing a show in and I was a teamster. Okay. And oh, life was so good. And I ain't against teamster. I'm all for it. But sometimes companies get so big, they did it to give you everything in the old days, medical for your kids, a vacation, and with pay, and hours where you wouldn't be overworked. The companies were kind of the bad guys. And then it switched, and the unions become the bad guys. It started, so I'm standing out in front of Garrett Freight lines, and the president walked out and said, well, we're done. Me and Louis, we were driving truck as in the 60s, 68 or 69, and I was 18 and I was a teenster.

and you've got to be 21 to be a teamster, but they snuck me in. So here I am standing there. Yeah, I was there when they buried Hoff. He's underneath the New York Stadium. Oh, come on. Oh, he's still there. Yeah.

So what I'm saying is, in the middle of it, they said, I said, Louis, what are we now? And he said, well, now we're not Teamsters. We're independent truckers. So without thinking years later, I go to do this big show in Kansas City, the National Truckers Association, this big O deal.

And I'm a teamster, and I ain't even thinking, I'm up on the stage and I got 5,000 people. Truck drivers are wives, and I'm entertaining. But nobody's laughing. God damn, this is a tough crowd.

I like tough crowds. But what I don't realize everything I'm relating to is I'm a trucker, but I'm a teamster. And they're independent truckers. They ain't teamsters. That's a war there.

You know what I'm saying? That's right. And so I'm going on and on. And my brother Louis goes, he's sitting right in the front row, and he goes, what's he doing on his lips? And he's saying, no, team streams. He even said Hoffa. When he said Hoffa, I said, I get it.

And I said, so here we were standing in front of Garrett Freight lines. We're all union guys. And we all got fired. Trash cans were burning with fire and all that. We're all fired. And I said, and everyone's looking like, well, what happened? Well, I looked at my brother Louis and I said, what does that mean? And Louis said, we're independent truckers.

And the crowd stood up. I got a standing ovation. In the last minute, veiled out of that. Bailed out of that like you wouldn't believe. Dale, they answer your question. They race 24 times a year. Plus his match races, right? But not as many in the old days we used to race like you guys did in the early days in your dad.

We were running Monday nights, Wednesday nights. Oh, multiple times. Just to eat. Wow. You know, and that's the way it was. But now the world's changed. Corporate America's come in, and we've got to watch corporate America. It's getting tougher, but we try to cut better deals.

And I wish I would have backed up when I talked about the miniccar guys. I love all of you. I'm sorry. But they know I love them because I got a lot of friends over there. Yeah. Well, man, we... Except for Mario. We are glad.

Okay, okay. That time you're walking to go. Wait, wait. Okay, I'm warmed up now. You're ready to do this show. We're glad you came, man. We are hoping that you'll come back. We know that we know you got a busy schedule.

And we're going to be pulling for you in Atlanta to get $150 and having a great season. Yeah. Thank you for staying over too. Pretty, yeah. Did I stay over? No. I thought you were cutting me off there. Last night.

You spent the night. Last night. Last night. You know, you didn't need to be here in North Carolina today, and you stayed for us. And that means a lot. No, this is important to be on your show because I'm building my fan base. A lot of my fan base is in the graveyard. I go by and see them in every town I go to.

But there's a whole new world out there, and they're coming, and the people love your show. And I'm just really honored, honored to be a part of it. And I saw the picture for the first time. They showed me babies before, and I don't even think about it. But my daughter, Brittany, pulled it up on her phone and said, here, because Courtney sent them all to her. And she says, look at this baby. And it was just beautiful. And that is the most important thing in your life.

And you think you know that now, and you're doing everything, but you won't know it until they get that personality. And they start talking. And then when they say, I love you, Daddy, and Mama, now I'm going to cry right here on your show. Because that is really, that all we are is an extension of our children. You know what I mean? We'll change sponsors. We'll move on. Life will change.

We'll be superstars. Whatever. But in the end, it's our children. And that's why I'm staying by my kids. To the very end, I call out it's Courtney's race car here. And because that really matters to me. Courtney's the love of my life. So's Adra.

So's Ashley. And so's Brittany. And Brittany out there, I did this whole deal, Brittany. Okay, I designed a new t-shirt, and we're calling you the last samurai. You're the last force that's left. You saw that movie with Tom Cruise?

And she goes, dad, you know, what about my sisters? You're acting like they're all gone by calling me the last samurai. Okay, I didn't think about it. And then I went on and replied what some reporter wrote in a paper at Houston. I said, this girl wears NHRA championship ring, not a wedding ring. Oh, did I get beat up for that? She said, Dad, I have 40 proposals to get married because you said it on one show. So the listeners, we love you out there.

Thank you for being on our show, the John Forrest Jr. Now, I get one shot. That's right. And you know what was funny? True story. Then I'll shut up. And you cut all this. Don't matter.

Coming out of the hotel, a guy said that to me. That's the name of your show. and he called it out to me. I'm going to watch you today on Dowell. Awesome. And he said it going by, what hell is he talking about? Oh, yeah, I'm going to a show.

Like, I don't know how you get the word out, but just a guy walking by in the hotel. We get the word. Yeah. We get the word out because we have a great guess. Yeah. And that little woodpecker. That little woodpecker.

I never cussed. I did good. You did it. I did all the way through this show. I'm trying to keep my job at Chevrolet. Will you come back? Oh, yeah. I'm going to wait out here until you call me back in.

I love this facility. It's beautiful. Thank you. And what you've built and just honor to be here with both of you. Thank you. And the Earnhardt name I go back with a million years because I loved your dad. And I have my heroes. Richard Petty, you know, Rusty.

I come from that school of people that, oh, we had fun. And there's stories that I'd love to tell, but they tell them on me, so I'm shutting up. All right, John. Thank you. Thanks for coming, man. Honor's mine. Yes, sir. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.