Graham Rahal and wife Courtney react to her sister Brittany's heartfelt message as dad John Force returns to NHRA site of his horrible crash

Last year, Graham Rahal's father-in-law, John Force, had suffered a massive crash at the NHRA Virginia Nationals. Reflecting on the horrific day, Brittany Force shared a post on Instagram, to which Rahal and his wife, Courtney Force, reacted on the Meta-owned platform.

Rahal married Force in 2015, which resulted in the two famous racing dynasties coming together. While the two families are well aware of the risks of racing, as both IndyCar and NHRA have claimed multiple lives over the years.

However, with safety protocols getting stringent over the years, this fear seemingly faded. But, the racing gods struck back at the NHRA Virginia Nationals as the 76-year-old's Funny Car suffered an engine explosion and crossed the center line before slamming into the guard rails on the rival's side.

John Force was then airlifted to a hospital in Richmond. Looking back on the torrid day ahead of his father's arrival at the same dragstrip, Brittany Force shared a post on Instagram:

Subsequently, Courtney Force penned a message on her Instagram story sharing her gratitude for the medical officials:

"The nurses and doctors at VCU were just incredible. Can't thank them all enough for what they did for our dad, one year ago."

Courtney Force's Instagram story on June 21 | Source: Instagram/@courtneyforce

Meanwhile, Graham Rahal reacted with a small, concise message to the post in the comment section:

"❤️❤️❤️."

Graham Rahal's comment on Brittany Force's Instagram post | Source: Instagram

John Force's crash at the tender age of 75 had shaken the Force and Rahal families.

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Graham Rahal once gave a glimpse into what had gone on behind the scenes after John Force's scary crash

Graham Rahal at the INDYCAR Bommarito Automotive Group 500 - Source: Getty

Crashes and incidents are a part of motorsports, but John Force's crash was something different. Moreover, since the moment the crash happened, Graham Rahal had a gut feeling that his father-in-law was not well.

Opening up about the crash in July last year, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver told motorsport.com:

"When I saw it, I immediately went to her and said, ‘hey, you should probably wake up. You should probably look and see what's going on here. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of crashes in NHRA."

"With Courtney's explosion in 2017 and Brittany Force had hers, and John has had a lot over the last five years or so, but you know when it's different. You can see it. We all saw it. It's hard because at that stage the reality was that we didn't know anything... But this is racing. As much as I hate to be tone deaf to it, because I'm not, these things happen. I can tell you that."

On the other hand, Rahal will start sixth for the IndyCar race at Road America.