CONCORD, N.C. — Funny Car legend John Force left Dallas’ Baylor University Medical Center and the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation and went home to Yorba Linda, Calif., 16 days after entering physical therapy and 27 days after suffering the worst accident of his 30-year drag-racing career Sept. 23 at Texas Motorplex.
He will receive further physical therapy for a compound fracture of the left ankle, broken right foot, broken and mangled fingers on his right hand, ligament and tendon damage to the right knee, and a badly dislocated left wrist.
Force said his goal is to return to competition next season.
He also said he plans to attend at least one day of this weekend’s ACDelco NHRA Nationals at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Son-in-law Robert Hight, in the Force-owned Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang,  is one of four drivers starting the Countdown to One sprint to the championship. Force’s daughter, Ashley (Hight’s sister-in-law), will return to action for the first time since her father’s wreck, with a Mustang modified with safety additions.
“I can’t wait to get back to the races. That’ll be the best therapy,” Force said.
Dr. Amy Wilson, medical director for BIR, and Melissa Simon, Force’s primary physical therapist, said Force still has a lot of work ahead of him. Because he has been instructed not to put weight on his left ankle for another month, he is confined to a wheelchair or a walker.
“Getting home will be a big step,” Force said. “I can’t say enough about the care they’ve given me at Baylor. I couldn’t have been in better hands, but going home tells me that I’m making real progress. I want to apologize to the fans. I know I said I was going to drive at Richmond, but that was mainly the drugs talking. I know now that I’m not going to drive the rest of this year. It’s still hard, the physical therapy, but I have a goal, and that’s what gets me up and going every morning.”
He said he asked his brother, Walker, to find a suitable physical-therapy group in Orange County with whom he could continue his progress. “I told him I want to work with some young people who’ll push me. That’s what I need to do to get back in my race car, and nothing’s more important to me right now than that.
“If everything goes well, I’ll come back to Dallas in four to six weeks for them to remove the pins from my (left) hand.”
In the meantime, Funny Car veteran Phil Burkart, Jr. drove Force’s Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang in open testing last week at Las Vegas. Force said the journeyman from upstate New York “was the best fit for us. He’s about my size, he’s experienced, and he was available.”