When John Force won the 48th Mac Tools U.S. Nationals last Monday, he took a major step toward three remarkable achievements:

1. His 12th NHRA Funny Car Championship
2. His tenth consecutive championship and the first under the POWERade banner
3. The silencing of his critics who feel his three-car team gives him an unfair edge

Let the record show that Force's two teammates, Tony Pedregon and Gary Densham were done for the day when the second round ended. Sure, the combined data that the three cars accumulated up to that point was of some value to Force's tuning team of Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly.

But on raceday, the combined data collected by the two-car teams of Don "The Snake" Prudhomme (Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr.), Don Schumacher (Whit Bazemore and Scotty Cannon), or the category's other three-car team of Del Worsham, teammate Johnny Gray, and Cory Lee was a great deal more valuable.

And, most importantly, Force never faced one of his own cars on Monday.

Take a look at what Force overcame to win his fourth career U.S. Nationals title and you see an amazing combination of skill and luck -- the two ingredients which have been essential components in the Force championship legacy that began in 1990.

In the first round, Force was racing John Lawson, the likable former alcohol Funny Car driver whose car is tuned by 1984 F/C champion, Mark Oswald. In a matchup which clearly favored the 11-time champ, Lawson came within a whisker of beating Force, 4.953 to 4.938 with the margin of victory about a car-length.

Then came the second round in which another talented but comparatively unheralded driver, Bob Gilbertson, nearly dumped Force's Castrol GTX Mustang. Gilbertson had beaten Worsham in Round 1 and uncorked a phenomenal .403 reaction time against Force. It took Force 1,000 feet to catch and pass his opponent with a 4.90/321 to Gilbertson's 5.02/304.

"That kid just killed me on the tree," admitted Force after the race. "Coil just told me to tighten up my light in the next round or he's gonna fire me!"

But in the semifinals, Force again almost gave it away, this time to the Cruz Pedregon, a driver who epitomizes the legendary rivalries that have developed over the years with drag racing's winningest competitor. In the second round, Pedregon beat Gary Densham but suffered a serious fire that burned many of the critical components on Pedregon's Advance Auto Parts Pontiac.

Between rounds, Pedregon gave the impression that his team may be unable to complete repairs before the semis, hoping to give Force a false sense of security. But Pedregon got to the staging lanes before Force, then took an unusually long time going through his burnout procedure, again, hoping to give Team Castrol something to wonder about and perhaps distract Force at the starting line.

It almost worked. Pedregon beat Force off the line by over a tenth of a second but couldn't seal the deal when Pedregon smoked his tires downtrack and Force went past with a 4.95/318 to a 7.68/114.

In the final round against Tommy Johnson Jr., usually solid at the starting line and the driver in the other lane in the Houston final in April when Force won his 100th career national event, the difference in reaction times decided this one. After a dreadful .590 light in the semifinals, Force delivered his best light of eliminations, a .482, and beat Johnson on a holeshot, 5.02/280 to a quicker and faster 4.99/308.

Three cars? Two other national event-winning drivers on his payroll? Rounds given to him when he races Tony Pedregon or Densham? Absolutely none of those factors played the slightest role in Force's Indy win.

Four drivers all took their best shots and tried to outthink, outdrive or outpower Force. But in the end, the results were all too familiar.