Alexis DeJoria

The 36th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals resulted in a second round exit for Alexis DeJoria, driver of the Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car.    The 4 time Funny Car winner started the 2016 season off slowly, before a chassis change turned their luck around with a Vegas win.

With strong and consistent performances since, the Patrón team entered Atlanta hoping to regain some ground in the NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car points standings.     They qualified in the No. 4 position with a 3.949 second E.T at 318.69 mph.

We did pretty well in qualifying here in Atlanta at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals,” said Alexis on her qualifying position. “We made it down the track three times out of four and qualified fourth. We are headed into Sunday feeling pretty pumped and hopefully we can collect some more round wins tomorrow.”

This placed her against No. 13 qualified Dave Richards for the opening round of Eliminations on Sunday.   Alexis would defeat Richards with a 3.950 second E.T. at 324.05 mph to his losing 4.355 second, 213.57 mph effort.

DeJoria advanced to Round 2, where she would have lane choice against Tommy Johnson, Jr.  Unfortunately, her stellar 3.942 second, 322.11 mph performance would be all for naught, as DeJoria’s red light foul handed the win to Johnson, Jr. at the tree.

It was a really tough loss today in round two. We had a car to beat all weekend. Our Patrón Toyota Camry was very consistent getting down the race track. It was just one of those things today. I was up against Tommy [Johnson Jr.] at the last race and he cut a better light than me and we ran the same so I got beat on a holeshot. I just wasn’t going to let that happen today. Unfortunately I guessed a little too soon on the light and had a red light start and that was the end of our day. I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve made as a team. Our car is running very well and I cannot wait for Topeka.”

Alexis leaves Atlanta currently in the No. 9 position in NHRA Funny Car Mello Yello Points standings.

After a slow start to the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season, “lady luck” has once again found her way to the Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car team.    Progress from chassis changes made in Gainesville finally paid off at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, landing  a fourth career win for Alexis DeJoria.

DeJoria qualified No. 6 with a 3.947 second elapsed time, placing her against Tommy Johnson Jr. in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday with lane choice.   She would take the win in the Rd. 1 match-up, running a 4.006, 313.00 mph against Johnson Jr.’s 4.073, 308.35 mph effort.

Round two, DeJoria would meet former Funny Car champion Robert Hight, taking the holeshot win in a spectacular side-by-side finish – a 4.005 second, 315.86 mph effort  defeating Hight’s quicker, 4.004 second,  320.20 mph pass.

Alexis would move onto take on 16x Funny Car champion and defending event winner, John Force, in the semi-finals, running 4.012 at 316.97 mph to his 4.053 at 319.52 mph.    The win here pushed Alexis DeJoria into her seventh career final round against Kalitta teammate, and former World Champ, Del Worsham.

Vegas has been lucky for Alexis since 2013, where she has finished in the semi-finals or better.   This year, hoping for a repeat of her 2014 NHRA Vegas Spring National event win, Alexis squared off against her teammate in another tight race to the finish. Lady luck didn’t disappoint in another hard-fought win, 3.968 at 315.49 mph defeating Del’s 3.988 at 323.58mph.

This wally marked the fourth career win for Alexis DeJoria in Funny Car competition, and the third straight event win for women in the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Series.

“To be a part of that, it’s incredible. Three women in the last three races including myself have won. It’s an amazing time in NHRA Drag Racing. We’ve come so far.”

The win comes after a rough start to the 2016 NHRA season and a 2015 season that included more ‘downs’ than ‘ups.’ DeJoria suffered two first round losses and bottom-half qualifying efforts at the past two events in 2016.  But as history would have it, the Tequila Patrón team would find success once they returned to the Vegas drag strip.

“Man, we just needed to catch one break. Lately, we couldn’t get down the track much in qualifying and then the first round, we would turn it around and do so well, but the other person would just do a little bit better so it was a lot of tough breaks,” said DeJoria, whose last win came at the 2014 U.S. Nationals.

Racing her teammate and mentor, Del Worsham in the final was a memorable occasion for DeJoria, marking the first all-Kalitta Motorsports final.

“It’s been a dream of mine to race Del in the finals, and going up against him, it’s no easy feat. I was pretty excited to race him in the final but man, I wanted to win so bad,” said DeJoria.

 

Sorting out some issues that had been plaguing the team, their hard work finally granted them the consistency that proved key this time, leading the team to a fourth career win for Alexis DeJoria.

“This fourth trophy was definitely a difficult one to come by. It took a lot of races to get here but we’ve been consistent all weekend. We made four good runs in qualifying and on race day as well. I don’t know the last time we’ve done that. We definitely didn’t do it at the last race, that’s for sure. It’s just been such a turnaround. The last race was heartbreaking because I knew we could do better and we definitely accomplished that this weekend,” said DeJoria.

DeJoria’s win moved her from ninth in the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship points standings up to eighth with 233 points. The win also earned her a spot in the prestigious Traxxas Nitro Shootout.

“I’m just so proud of my team. My guys have worked so incredibly hard and really turned everything around. They’ve done such a good job and it’s just been an awesome weekend. To top it all off, the Patrón Spirits Company’s corporate office is here, and to be able to put our Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry in the Winners Circle once again in their backyard is just incredible.”

 

The Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patrón team had their work cut out for them entering the 47^th annual NHRA Gatornationals as NHRA Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria adapts to new chassis changes made between races.

Following the Phoenix race, Team Patrón decided to run teammate and 2015 Funny Car World Champion Del Worsham’s back-up chassis going forward. Despite the initial challenges, crew chief Tommy DeLago feels confident that the adjustment will pay off in the long haul and make Team Patrón that much more competitive as the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season labors on.

The Patron team struggled to make it down the track throughout most of qualifying during this weekend’s three-day history-rich event at Gainesville Raceway. The car failed to make a full pull until the fourth round, where a run of 4.041-seconds at 314.61-mph put them in the No. 12 qualifying spot going into round one of eliminations.  Sunday morning, DeJoria found herself without the advantage of lane choice against opponent Matt Hagan.

DeJoria was able to make progress, powering her Patrón Toyota Camry down the drag strip in 3.992-secs in the opening session, her best run of the weekend.  But it wasn’t enough to take the win, as the Patrón team came up short against Hagan’s 3.966-second run, ending their day early in Gainesville.

This weekend we started running Del’s back-up chassis,” said DeJoria, a three-time Funny Car winner, adding, “Our car that we started the year off with had a ton of runs on it so we wanted to try out a new chassis and see if making that change could get us back to where we want to be performance-wise.    That being said, there are a lot of different things on the car that we all need to adapt to. Not only is the chassis different, taking different input from the crew chiefs, but as a driver, the steering wheel is different, the brake handle is different, the reverser is different, my seat belts are different; so it might take a race or two to get this thing handled. We’re chipping away at it, little by little, and once we figure everything out, I think we’re going to do really well. We made another full pass again today and we’re back in the three-second range again, so that’s a plus. We didn’t get the round win but we were really concerned about trying to make progress with this new setup that we have.”

DeJoria made it to Round 2 in the Pomona season opener, but also exited in the opening round in Phoenix.    They are hoping the chassis changes will help them to regain ground in the Funny Car points chase, where she currently sits in the No. 9 position.   The team is looking forward to the upcoming 17th Annual DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals on April 1-3 in Las Vegas, where Alexis earned her second Funny Car win previously.

“I think Vegas will be good- we’re looking forward to that race,” DeJoria said. “This chassis will prove to be much better than what we ran in the first two races.“

NHRA Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria will be breaking into the triple digits this weekend at the 56th annual Circle K NHRA WinterNationals in Pomona, California.    The event will mark her 100th race in NHRA professional Funny Car competition, the most events in the class for a female driver.

Along the road to 100, DeJoria has picked up three national event wins to her credit, including the prestigious 60^th annual U.S. National in Indianapolis, IN.    She became the first female to break the three-second Funny Car barrier, and earned three No. 1 qualifiers in the class, finishing in the Top Ten in Funny Car championship series points for the past two seasons.

The season opener in Pomona will begin her fifth season at the controls of the Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car.  Previous to her professional debut in the Funny Car class, Alexis DeJoria spent nearly six years behind the wheel of a Top Alcohol Funny Car (TAFC), even owning her own team at one point.

 

As she gears up for this weekend’s 2016 NHRA season-opener, DeJoria reflects on her journey to this milestone.   She joins Shirley Muldowney, Erica Enders, Angelle Sampey among other women in NHRA’s ‘100 race club’.

When I found out that Pomona would be my 100^th race, it kind of took me back. I just can’t believe I’ve already competed 99 times in a Funny Car. It went by pretty fast,” said DeJoria.  “I’ve learned so much over these first 99 races and I think it really does take about 100 races before you feel settled in that race car. When there are things that come up- and there always will be- I feel much more acclimated to my race car, to my team, and to my series. It’s been a short but long journey, and I’m really proud to be in this position and say that after this weekend, I’ve been able to compete in 100 NHRA Funny Car events.”

Alexis DeJoria’s history making weekend kicks off on Friday, February 12^th as she and the Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car team begin qualifying for the 56^th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California.

Check out this teaser video posted on Alexis DeJoria’s 2016 livery

Our hearts are pumping, and we can almost smell the nitro, folks!   Just a few more weeks until the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season begins at Auto Club Raceway.   Check out this awesome teaser video that Alexis DeJoria posted to her Facebook today in anticipation for the unveiling.

Alexis DeJoria will return to the NHRA Funny Car class in her Kalitta-backed Patron Funny Car when the season opens in Pomona for the 56th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals on February 11-14, 2016.   Stay tuned, the official unveiling will take place tomorrow.