National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) legend John Force was involved in a horrific incident at a drag race in Virginia on Sunday.

Force was in his Funny Car riding down the track, like he had done thousands of times before, when his engine exploded, causing him to veer across the centerline and into the wall. His vehicle crossed back over the line and hit the guard wall again.

The NHRA put out a statement on the incident

“During the first round of Funny Car eliminations at the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals on Sunday at Virginia Motorsports Park, John Force’s Funny Car suffered an engine explosion at the finish line and then crossed the centerline, striking both guard walls before coming to a stop,” the organization said.

“Force was alert and was examined onsite by the NHRA Medical Team before being transported to a local medical facility for further evaluation.”

NHRA legend John Force speaks with members of the media before the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube NASCAR Cup Series race on March 3, 2024, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Jeff Speer/LVMS/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Race fans offered prayers for Force across social media.

Force, 75, is a 16-time NHRA champion and a 22-time champion as a racing team owner. He won 10 straight titles as a driver from 1993 to 2002.

Force won the 156th race of his career in April.

“I’m just facing the truth in life, that, you know, time’s running out, and I’m trying to hang on,” Force said of his career at the time. “This morning, I was talking about, ‘You know, maybe this is it, maybe I should just walk out the gate and go to the casino.’

John Force during third-round eliminations at the Thunder Valley Nationals on June 9, 2024, at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee. (David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“And then all of sudden you win and your weight and your personality just changes. Things went right, and I got the win, so I’m excited.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The Trump campaign says a recent fact-check report debunking the claim that then-President Trump spoke favorably of neo-Nazis in 2017 shows President Biden and his campaign had promoted a “lie” and called on them to not promote the “hoax” again.

Left-leaning fact-checking website Snopes published a piece Saturday debunking claims promoted by President Biden and some members of the media that following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people.” Biden has repeatedly cited the false claim, even saying it was the impetus for his 2020 White House run against Trump. 

Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital on Sunday that the Snopes fact check shows Biden and other “corrupt Democrats” promoted a “lie” and “hoax.” 

“The Charlottesville lie was another hoax perpetuated by the corrupt Democrats and their mouthpieces in the fake news media, just like the Hunter Biden laptop, the Russian collusion scandal and so many others, all in an attempt to smear President Trump. Joe Biden’s campaign must end any advertising that pushes this lie because President Trump has, once again, been proven right,” she said. 

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Snopes detailed in its fact check that Trump was clear he was not calling neo-Nazis “fine people” when he made the comment at a press conference that year.

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“While Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and White supremacists and said they should be ‘condemned totally.’ Therefore, we have rated this claim ‘False,’” Snopes wrote.

The fact check, which comes just days ahead of the first debate between Trump and Biden, now aligns with Trump’s longstanding argument that the remarks were taken out of context before they quickly spread on social media and were promoted by the left and members of the media. 

President Biden (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The protests in Charlottesville in 2017, which played out across two days in August 2017, included White nationalists descending on the city who were met by hundreds of counterprotesters. The protests devolved into violence, including three deaths and dozens of injuries stemming from a car plowing through people and other attacks.

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Protesters are shown during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017. (Evelyn Hockstein/For the Washington Post via Getty Images)

The protests were condemned by both Republicans and Democrats as a hateful display of bigotry, including Trump at the time, who said in a statement that such protests and violence have “no place in America.” 

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“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” Trump said in August that year. Trump added days later in a press conference that he condemned the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence” and came under fire from Democrats for his remarks that there was “blame on both sides” and “very fine people, on both sides.”

Biden cast the events in Charlottesville, and his framing of former President Trump’s response, as the incentive to run for the White House in 2020.

Former President Trump and President Biden (Getty Images)

“With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden said in 2019 when announcing his candidacy.

Biden has repeatedly pointed to Charlottesville as a moment of shame for the nation, including on the fourth anniversary, when the White House released a statement saying the rally was a “battle for the soul of America was laid bare for all to see.” 

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Earlier this year, Biden was slammed for having his own “Charlottesville moment” as anti-Israel protests spread on college campuses nationwide in the wake of Hamas’ attack on the nation in October, sparking an ongoing war.

“I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” Biden told reporters in April as the protests raged.

Critics of the president soon sounded off on social media that Biden’s comments echoed claims of what Trump said in 2017 about the Charlottesville riots.

Student protesters gather at their encampment on the Columbia University campus, April 29, 2024, in New York City. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

“This sure sounds like he’s ACTUALLY saying there are very fine people on both sides,” OutKick founder Clay Travis said.

The Federalist’s editor-in-chief, Mollie Hemingway, wrote, “President Biden says there are good people on both sides of October 7.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign for comment on the Snopes fact check and the Trump campaign’s response but did not immediately receive a response.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

A Florida mayor abruptly resigned after outlining a pattern of “corruptive behavior” throughout the small town’s government in an explosive letter to all its residents last Friday.

“What is going on with this small town is all wrong,” now-former Madeira Beach Mayor Jim Rostek told Fox 13 on Wednesday. “I am sorry that I have to walk away. It is for my health. Please keep up the fight. I will always try to have your back. Please continue to do what’s right.”

Rostek’s allegations pointed to City Manager Robin Ignacio Gomez and his “discretionary” and “discriminatory” code enforcement, per the June 14 letter reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

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“I am sorry to leave. But with a city manager as such, I cannot be or have any part of Gomez’s corrupt behavior, talking in circles, lies, preferential treatment of ‘some’ or discriminatory enforcement practices. As well as the everyday wasting of the tax-payers’ money and trying to justify it,” Rostek wrote. “In the end, some will go up to the pearly gates and some won’t. I will always do what is ethical and correct, others not so much.”

Gomez allegedly ignored Rostek’s requests to establish a life jacket policy, a smoking policy and a formal prohibition on cellphone usage for municipal employees who are operating city boats and vehicles, the resigning mayor claimed.

“I had a resident take pictures of the code enforcement boat, with people riding around on it doing their job, I guess, no life jackets on,” Rostek added. “The smoking policy … I see one or two of them smoking in city vehicles. There’s federal law about that stuff. He refuses to implement policy.”

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Madeira Beach, Florida, Mayor Jim Rostek described himself as a stickler for ethics and safety, and said that contending with the alleged mismanagement caused him recurring health issues. (Google Maps)

Rostek complained that he had seen city sanitation workers holding onto the back of a truck with one hand and texting with the other. 

“Gomez is very well-liked by employees because, in my mind, it’s ‘Camp Run Amok,’” he said. “We’re supposed to set an example for the public.”

Rostek also alleges that his former colleagues practiced technically legal but unethical financial techniques. They avoided commission approval on projects totaling over $30,000 by negotiating multiple line-item contracts at lesser amounts instead of issuing a Request for Proposals, he claims.

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Madeira Beach (Florida) City Manager Robin Gomez had his contract renewed until 2028 by the city’s commission this week. (City of Madeira Beach)

Attached to the June 14 email was a separation agreement between Gomez and the city of Clarkston, Georgia. The document, dated Sept. 7, 2021, outlines Gomez’s voluntary resignation as city manager there and states that he and city officials cannot discuss his career there with other parties. 

Rostek explained to Fox 13 that he is a stickler for ethics, safety and the city’s liability, and that his stress in contending with his former colleagues resulted in multiple health scares. 

“I told him, ‘talk is cheap,’” Rostek said. “I said, ‘you need to have policy to back up what you’ve told them, because when it comes time for a lawsuit, we’re not going to have any ammunition to substantiate,’” he told the outlet. “If you don’t get the small things right, what about the big things?”

“God only knows what else is going on,” he continued. “You don’t know what you don’t know until you start looking and digging deeper.”

Anne-Marie Brooks, a former District 4 commissioner for Madeira Beach, replaced Rostek after his resignation. (City of Madeira Beach)

In an email to Fox 13, Gomez denied Rostek’s assertions. 

“While entitled to his opinions, the city has provided answers and resolutions to the comments although not completely supported/agreed/understood by Mr. Rostek,” Gomez wrote. “It is unfortunate that the disagreements and misunderstandings of city processes and policies by Mr. Rostek led him to state/list claims of corruption, which are simply baseless and false.”

“We continue to perform our daily tasks and responsibilities pursuant to federal, state, county and city laws/ordinances/statutes in the most ethical manner,” he continued.

Anne-Marie Brooks, previously a city commissioner, has stepped up as Madeira Beach’s mayor in Rostek’s absence. 

Gomez wrote that city administrators would hold a special meeting to fill her now-vacant seat on the commission next week. 

Commissioners just voted to restore Gomez’s contract until 2028, according to TBN Weekly. 

Meanwhile, Rostek told Fox 13 that he hopes “someone at the state level makes contact with [him]” about the alleged corruption in the small town.