Alexis DeJoria admits there was a time when she had a posture problem.

Not having a race car will do that to a driver. Just for clarity, DeJoria did have a good race car; it wasn’t doing what she and her championaship tuning duo of Del Worsham and Nicky Boninfante wanted it to do. It just wasn’t behaving right.

“I was probably walking an inch shorter than I am right now,” DeJoria admitted. “It’ll definitely wear on you.”

DeJoria had nine first round exits in 22 races during the 2022 season, and only six times did the 12-time national event finalist, six-time winner make it past the second round. And, it wasn’t all the car’s fault, as DeJoria will readily point out.

In five of those nine races, she lost either by foul start or a boundary violation. What the car wouldn’t do, DeJoria felt obligated to make up the difference.

“I could tell you I had some private crying moments over our performance last year and my performance,” DeJoria said. “So everything’s come together.”

It wasn’t as if DeJoria and her championship pedigree team had forgotten how to perform and win. There were other variables in play.

“Last year, we were doing a lot of trial-and-error runs," DeJoria said. “We had a new body that we had to assimilate to and then a new clutch set up. So it was a lot of really testing during the year, during the races. Some was good, some were bad. We had a chassis issue, too, so we were battling uphill.”

A funny thing happened on the way to a new season; her Toyota straightened up and started to fly right. At the season finale in Pomona, DeJoria parlayed a No. 6 qualifying effort into a semi-final finish. It was the best she had qualified since the Western Swing.

DeJoria has five round wins this season in three races, including a #2Fast2Tasty Shootout victory in Phoenix. To put it all in perspective, it took her eight races last season to get the same round wins. She sits third in points behind 2023 national event winners Matt Hagan and Ron Capps on the strength of two semi-finals and a quarter-final finish.

“I can tell you I’m standing up straighter every time I come out here,” DeJoria said enthusiastically. “So what the sport does to your ego and to your confidence, it’s like a rollercoaster ride. My heart and soul are connected to that race car. When we don’t run well, I don’t feel good. I’m not happy. When the car’s doing well, I’m happy; got a spring in my step. It’s just different. So huge confidence builder coming out of the gate this year.”

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Yes, when the race car isn’t happy, the Hot Rod Mommi isn’t happy, and it doesn’t take long for the family to find out. And the last thing anyone should have done is comment, “It’s just a hobby, not a big deal.”

“Yeah. “Oh, it’s just a hobby, right?” DeJoria responded. “No, it’s not a hobby. Not when you’re racing 22 weekends between February and November. This is my profession, this is my wheelhouse, and this is where I’m supposed to be. It’s just racing to everybody else, but to us, it’s competition. That’s our names on the line, that’s pressure, that’s performance and everything.

“You’ve got all these guys that have done all this work to the car, and they’re standing up there and just hoping and praying it does well. So you got to be on top of it, and we definitely are right now.

The self-motivation books and self-help prophets have a common theme, “Leave your job at the workplace. Don’t bring it home.”

“Good luck with that,” DeJoria added. “Does anybody do that?”

These days, DeJoria is bringing home a good vibe from the strip.

“I’m probably more outgoing and not so focused on the car and our performance and everything,” she said. “It kind of lightens the mood at home. My family’s a lot happier around me because I’m happier. But it all goes in hand; it really does. It’s hard not to take your work home when you’re doing it all the time, and you’re working on the weekends, coming home during the week when everybody’s working in their normal lives. It’s very different. So yeah, the vibe and the mood is a lot brighter.

“Winning is huge for all of our confidence, the team as well, because last year was really tough. It was rough, man. But we stuck together, and just, I kept telling the guys, I’m like, ‘Just know, we’re building for next year. 2023 is going to be our year. Just we got to get through this and the trials and tribulations and blood, sweat, and tears.”

And she wasn’t wrong either. Standing up straight reveals a lot of wisdom.

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