AP / ESPN2

John Force, right, and Kenny Bernstein are involved in a wreck at the NHRA O'Reilly Fall Nationals in Ennis last year.

When drag racing returns to Ennis this weekend it will also mean the return of John Force.

"You wake up, you get the real meaning of life and you don't realize it," Force says. "You're put into the hands of God and in the hands of your doctors and the care givers here."

Force survived a terrifying crash at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis last September

"Part of the car came kind of rushing down into the sand trap where we were at, but he wasn't even in that part," says his daughter, Ashley Force. "It was a scary few moments not quite knowing where to go, where to look. I've never seen a car cut in half like that before."

Force spent two months in the hospital and returns with a lot to be thankful for.

AP / ESPN2

John Force and Kenny Bernstein are involved in a wreck in Ennis last year.

"It was funny that when I got in the chopper it got real serious, because you could smell the fuel, you could hear the rotor blades, just the air, the whole deal," Force says. When that thing took me up, it brought me back. I could see everything but my toes sticking out. So it was quite an emotional moment for me."

This week Force, one of drag racing's biggest stars, went back to the site of his crash with Kenny Bernstein. They had just crossed the finish line at the Motorplex.

He met with the flight paramedic, a flight nurse and the pilot who picked him up that day.

"When we got on the scene John was still on the top," said flight paramedic Cliff Brooks. "He was conscious, but he wasn't with it a whole lot. And the first thing he asked me was 'did I win.'"

Force also returned to Baylor Medical Center to visit the doctors who put him back together nearly a year ago.

"He was a pleasure to take care of," says Dr. Alan Jones, Baylor's director of orthopedic trauma. "He wasn't easy to take care of, but he was at least entertaining and fun."

Five months after leaving the hospital, Force was racing again and winning in Topeka. It's another amazing moment for a man who was won more than 1,000 races.

"I should of been killed, but just by pure luck and the grace of God I'm standing here," Force said.