Legendary crew chief Austin Coil, who tuned John Force to 15 of a record 16 NHRA Funny Car championships and over 130 national event wins, will be among 10 individuals to be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America\u2019s Class of 2024 on Tuesday night in Daytona Beach, Fla.<\/p>\n
After leading Frank Hawley to two NHRA Funny Car championships in the \u201cChi-Town Hustler\u201d in 1982 and 1983, Coil joined forces with the up-and-coming Force. And for more than three decades, they became the most dominant driver-crew chief combination in drag racing history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a real honor,\u201d Coil said of his induction. \u201cI really was surprised when I came to find out that I had gotten this award and I\u2019m just tickled pink.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Coil isn\u2019t accepting his induction solely for himself. There was a huge family at JFR that helped him and Force achieve the success they attained over the decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, it takes a lot of people to make a car win a lot,\u201d Coil said. \u201cThe driver is important and the crew chief is important, but everybody is important.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy co-crew chief throughout most of these wins was Bernie Fedderly and he seems to get so little credit. It\u2019s a terrible shame because I guarantee if it wasn\u2019t for Bernie\u2019s help, a lot of those win lights wouldn\u2019t have come on. \u2026 And there also was our car chief through most of those wins, Dean Antonelli.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it was Force\u2019s talent behind the wheel that led to the team\u2019s wins and titles, it was Coil\u2019s talent under the hood that laid the foundation for Force\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe taught me so much not just about driving a car, but also about business,\u201d Force said of Coil. \u201cHe rode in the truck with me in the early days. There were times when I couldn\u2019t make payroll, he didn\u2019t have any money either. But he\u2019d help me make payroll to keep the team going. He was a special individual.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the now 78-year-old Coil will be unable to attend the induction in-person (he has sent along a taped interview that will be played), but Force will humbly accept the honor on behalf of his longtime friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, they talk about the GOAT (Greatest of All Time). Coil is the real GOAT to me, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to say when I get up there,\u201d Force said. \u201cIf anyone deserves to be called GOAT, it ain\u2019t me, it\u2019s him. He made John Force. I was there all along, I get all the credit, but it was his magic.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoil was someone who made me believe. You only build that with trust in time. They may try to call me the GOAT, but if that\u2019s true, Austin Coil is the guy that created the GOAT.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with Coil, nine other luminaries from the world of motorsports will also be inducted: six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon (Open Wheel); seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (Stock Cars); late actor, IndyCar team co-owner and amateur racer Paul Newman (At Large); Jim Downing and Dr. Robert Hubbard (Technology); Bud Ekins (Motorcycles); John Surtees (Sports Cars); and Earl B. Gilmore and Phil Walters (aka \u201cTed Tappett\u201d), both in the Historic category.<\/p>\n
The post Force Applauds Austin Coil\u2019s Induction Into Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Legendary crew chief Austin Coil, who tuned John Force to 15 of a record 16 NHRA Funny Car championships and over 130 national event wins, will be among 10 individuals to be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America\u2019s Class of 2024 on Tuesday night in Daytona Beach, Fla. After leading Frank Hawley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}