GLITCHES BANISHED, DE JORIA VAULTS ‘FROM ZERO TO HERO’ IN FUNNY CAR

Written by Susan Wade, photo by Roger Richards    Sat, 2021-05-15 13:55

 

Alexis De Joria’s opening Funny Car pass at the NHRA’s NGK NTK Four-Wide Nationals wasn’t especially pretty.

 

But for the ROKiT Bandero Premium Tequila Toyota Camry driver, it was enough to put her atop the qualifying order Friday evening at zMAX Dragway. And it was way more than enough to erase the memories of glitches that beset her at the previous race.

De Joria covered the 1,000 foot-course at Concord, N.C., in 3.930 seconds at 301.74 mph.

Mike McIntire, in his Mac Attack Toyota Camry, was the only other racer among the 16 entrants to make it down the track in competitive style. He took the tentative No. 2 spot with a 4.019-second elapsed time, but his 313.15-mph speed was fastest in the class so far, with the final two qualifying sessions set for Saturday.

“That last race, at Atlanta, my god, we couldn’t get off the starting line,” she said, relieved the issues that caused her to have problems both in qualifying and on race day are fixed.

“And here we are, the only team that made it down the track, and we’re the provisional No. 1 qualifier with a 3.93. That feels incredibly good – from zero to hero!” De Joria said.

“It was a good run, was getting a little shifty downtrack. They said it dropped a cylinder, which means the pan pressure got really high and the car shut off,” she said.

At least it happened during qualifying, when the team was satisfied to take it easier on the equipment. “Especially during qualifying, we’re trying to save parts,” she said. “That’ll change on race day, obviously. But for now, we’re just trying to play it safe and make sure we get down the track without any issues.”

She said, “It feels good. The guys always give me a good car. It’s just a matter of getting it down there and getting some win lights. We’ve got to go rounds. That’s something that our team desperately needs right now. We get great points during qualifying. It’d be nice to get points during eliminations on Sunday.”  

An uncharacteristic 14th-place start at Atlanta two weeks ago has been the only blemish on her nine-race qualifying stretch that dates back to September 2020. At all of the other events in that span, she started no worse than fifth. This year she qualified second at Gainesville and third at Las Vegas.

What happened at Atlanta occurred with the back-up car. And when the crew attached the body and took it to the starting line, it had the required three-inch clearance above the racing surface. But on the burnout, it happened to “settle” and was lower to the track. That caused her to be timed out. Racers got just two qualifying attempts at Atlanta, and De Joria’s engine dropped a cylinder on the first launch. In the second and final session, she was timed out. It appeared to be corrected by race-day morning, but the car had a mind of its own and misbehaved again as she prepared to race JR Todd. But again she was timed out.

De Joria’s mantra is “I can’t really put into words what Del and Nicky [crew chiefs Worsham and Boninfante] mean to our program. Every time I strap in, I know I have a race car that can go low or get a round-win.” Her faith in them is perfectly placed, for clearly, the problem was in the past Friday night.

And that was not only a treat for De Joria and her team but also for her 93-year-old grandmother, who is following this weekend’s event via social media. Between races, De Joria got to spend some time with her grandmother and her family in Florida.

“I don’t usually give shout-outs,” De Joria said, “but my grandmother is very special to me. She did just turn 93, and I got to spend four days with her in Florida, with her and my family. And it was really incredible. I’m just so grateful to have her in my life. That [performance / shout-out] was something I told her I was going to do, so she’s going to be watching and I’m excited for her to see that.”  

De Joria, who’s seeking her sixth victory, said she really enjoys the four-wide racing format: “There is nothing like sitting on the starting line with a Funny Car on either side of you. When we are all doing burnouts before a run, it is an amazing sound, and you feel the ground move. Four nitro Funny Cars or Top Fuel dragsters racing at the same time is one of the coolest things we get to do.

“The first couple of rounds of a four-wide race are wild, because you just have to be either the first or second race car to the finish line to go to the next round,” she said. “If you smoke the tires, you really have to take a chance about getting back on the throttle, because someone else could be in trouble, too. Getting off the starting line clean and building some momentum downtrack a lot of times is the key to victory at the four-wide.”

She said, “We had a new team last year, and it took some time to get squared away, but when we came together we were a very tough team. This sport is about passion and pushing it to the limit. It is the perfect sport for me, as well as my sponsors, ROKiT and Bandero Premium Tequila. When I get behind the wheel of this 330-mph Camry Funny Car, I have to be totally committed and ready for anything. I have an amazing team behind me, and I can’t imagine doing anything else. I have a feeling this is going to be a great year for us.”

Judging by her rebound Friday at zMAX Dragway, it will be.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: 
:::::: News ::::::