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Beyond Driven Documentary

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Petersen Automotive Museum is holding a special screening for Beyond Driven, a documentary about the life of Lella Lombardi and the Women of Formula racing.

Presented by LOVE Entertainment, Beyond Driven: The story of Lella Lombardi and the Women of Formula racing is a documentary about the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix and Lella Lombardi’s historic feat as the first and only woman to score in Formula One. It also examines her mysterious life, death and the legacy she left for women in Formula racing.

Special Screening Event Details

Friday, November 15th 2019
6:30PM – 10:00PM
Petersen Automotive Museum
6060 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

Tickets: $25/person; Petersen Members – Free

The screening will include a cocktail hour and a Q&A with the Filmmakers and Drivers.

MORE INFO

Brittany Force 2019 Dallas Results

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A track record, the top qualifying position, and a semi-final appearance are among the highlights for NHRA Advance Auto Parts Top Fuel Dragster driver Brittany Force at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals in Dallas, Texas.

No 1 qualifying Double-up with Dad

For the second time in NHRA history, a parent/child duo scored a double-up in qualifying poles. Brittany Force secured the No. 1 qualifier spot in Top Fuel, while dad John Force also earned the Funny Car pole Saturday at the Texas Motorplex. This marks the second occasion that the pair was able to accomplish this feat, the first time coming from this year’s SpringNationals in Houston, Texas.

“It’s always really special to hold onto any No. 1 qualifier with a teammate but to hold it with my dad, that’s the best. He’s the one who taught me how to drive this car and everything about this sport, and the reason I’m out here is because of him so to be able to share the No. 1 qualifier with him is awesome,” Force said. “We did it earlier this season and now we’re doing it again. It’s just very special to me. I’ve doubled up with Robert a handful of times but to be able to double-up with my dad would be awesome. It’s on my bucket list.”

Brittany Force, driver of Advance Auto Parts Top Fuel Dragster

Brittany Force’s qualifying efforts of an exhilarating 3.651-second pass at 331.28 mph Friday night was enough to set the track elapsed time record and marked her first No. 1 qualifier at the Texas Motorplex. She scored an additional 6 qualifying bonus points for the quickest elapsed times of session Q2 & Q4.

Semi-Final eliminations finish for Force

Photo: Gary Natase Auto Imagery

In the opening round of eliminations, the Advance Auto Parts machine blasted past No. 16 qualified Cameron Ferre with a stellar 3.694-second pass at 330.31 mph defeating Ferre’s 3.984 at 269.19 mph pass.

Round two, Force competed against longtime rival and three-time world champion Antron Brown. In prior meetings, Brown has the edge with a 17-9 record. Brown would leave the starting line first, and Force would encounter trouble when her dragster had cylinders out early, but hung on to run a 3.815-second pass at 319.60 mph upsetting Brown’s 4.113 at 230.72 after he smoked the tires.

The semi-final matchup placed Force against Torrence whom she has a 3-1 record against prior to this meeting. Torrence would take the starting line advantage and never look back for the win. Force dropped a cylinder to run 3.793-seconds at 318.32 mph giving Torrence and his 3.747 at 328.38 mph performance a trip to the finals – and the eventual event win. The margin of victory at the finish line was 0.0606 seconds (approximately 28 feet).

“Going into first round, this Advance Auto Parts team made some big moves especially when points leader Steve Torrence got taken out and No. 2, Doug Kalitta, got beat by my teammate Austin Prock. That opened the doors for this Advance team to pick up some points and catch up and that’s exactly what we did. We made it to the semis and would have obviously liked to have gone all the way but I’m not looking down on it. I’m staying positive and we’re still in the hunt for this championship.”

Brittany Force

Brittany and her Advance Auto Parts team leave the event in the No. 3 points standings for the Countdown to the Championship. They trail current leader Steve Torrence by 46 points with two events remaining.

Leah Pritchett 2019 Dallas results

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NHRA driver Leah Pritchett earns a pair of No. 2 qualifiers but falls short in both Top Fuel and Factory Stock eliminations during the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals.

Pennzoil Top Fuel results

For the third time during the Countdown to the Championship events, Leah Pritchett and her Pennzoil Top Fuel team were able to score the No. 2 qualifying position, running a 3.681 E.T. at 332.10 mph best qualifying effort.

In the opening round of Top Fuel eliminations, she faced No. 15 qualifier Kebin Kinsley. Kinsley would have the early advantange, but Pritchett would drive around him at the finish line, running 3.724 E.T. at 324.12 mph to his losing 3.822 E.T. at 263.51 mph.

“Having a race car that makes it down the track on race day is very crucial for us, and we did not take Kebin Kinsley lightly. He showed with his early numbers that he wasn’t there for the taking, and it was a great drag race. The feeling of putting on that win light for the Pennzoil team is just as bright as our car. We’ve made progress in the sense of simplifying our issues. This was the best weekend we’ve had in the Countdown in regards to moving our program forward. The issues we’ve had have been in the bellhousing, and we were able to fix that.”

Leah Pritchett, driver of the Pennzoil Top Fuel Dragster

Round two would put her against No. 7 qualifier Austin Prock. Pritchett would leave first and carry the early lead, but encountered mechanical difficulties with her 11,000-horsepower machine dropping cylinders down track, allowing Prock to come around for the win. Leah ran 3.964 E.T. at 250.55 mph in her defeat by Austin Prock’s 3.742 E.T. at 330.39 mph.

“(Austin) Prock laid down that 3.68 in E1. Us not having lane choice wasn’t our issue in E2. We dropped a hole, and then dropped another two, and then kicked a belt at about half-track. At the top end, (NHRA on FOX reporter) Amanda Busick had asked how paralyzing it was to see your competition reach the finish line before you and I said, in that moment, it might be paralyzing because there’s nothing you can do, but this team is not paralyzed by any means. We know exactly what happened and why we weren’t able to move on beyond round two.

Leah Pritchett

Pritchett’s Pennzoil Top Fuel team exits the event in the No. 5 position in the Countdown to the Championship. She trails the current leader, Steve Torrence, by 104 points.

“The way the points are shaping up, it’s still extremely tight. We have a chance at this championship; we have a race car that’s coming around at a fast rate of speed and a team that’s dedicated to finishing strong. We look forward to continuing our Top Fuel championship campaign. We really thought today was our day. It was a good day, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a great day.”

Leah Pritchett

MOPAR Dodge Challenger Drag Pak Results

Leah Pritchett Factory Stock Dallas

Pulling double-duty in the Factory Stock class with her MOPAR Dodge Challenger Dragpak can be a bit chaotic during the high-stress Countdown weekends, but Leah always balances this with professionalism and grace. This weekend, the Factory Stock driver was able to land the No. 2 qualified position in Factory Stock with a 7.889 E.T. at 172.36 mph effort.

“If you look back to March and the Gatornationals, the first Factory Stock race of the season, we were two-tenths behind the leaders in the class, and I remember telling Kevin Helms, our crew chief, we’ll be lucky if we even qualify for this race. That’s how far off pace we were, and the lack of parity in the class. It’s a testament to Dodge, MOPAR, DSR and this team. We knew we were challenged and we were still going to maximize all of our available opportunities with the power plant that we had. Hats off to NHRA for making pully adjustments and weight changes throughout the season to really tighten the class up. We weren’t the fastest or the quickest, but we were able to completely turn our season around by never giving up.

Leah Pritchett – driver of the MOPAR Dodge Challenger Dragpak

For the first time in 2019, Leah would land in the finals of the Factory Stock class – making for a busy weekend. In the opening round of eliminations, she would face David Barton, defeating him with a 7.934 E.T. at 172.61 mph to his 7.948 E.T. at 172.74 mph.

Round two would match her against David Janac, where despite running a bit off-pace with a 7.978 E.T. at 171.97 mph, she was able to score the easy win over Janac’s 8.821 E.T. at 119.16 mph.

In the semi-final, she captured the win in a tight race against Randy Taylor with a 8.012 E.T. at 171.36 mph over his 8.012 E.T. at 171.53 MPH. This placed her in the final against Chris Holbrook.

Unfortunately, her luck would run out in the finals. Leah’s 8.017 E.T. at 171.16 mph was not enough to defeat Chris Holbrook who posted a stout 7.977 E.T. at 172.74 mph.

Leah Pritchett finished the season in the No. 9 position in point standings for the 2019 Samtech.edu NHRA Factory Stock Showdown.

“To finish the year with a Wally and a back-to-back win at this race would’ve been amazing, but the first thing I did when I got out of the car is high-five the guys, and thank them for not giving up and working extra hard to squeeze as much as we can out of these cars and this program. We fought hard today, almost had both of our cars in the final, and I’m excited about 2020. There was a moment in all of the chaos, running back and forth between both cars, that I reminded myself that I’m one of the few people in the world that gets to do that, so I make sure I enjoy it and use it to condition myself for other high-pressure situations.”

Leah Pritchett

W Series Announces 2020 Drivers

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The W Series, a ground-breaking racing series for women that launched in October 2018 to change the racing industry stereotypes and provide opportunity for women in racing has announced its second season of drivers.

After extensive three-day, on-track test sessions at Almeria (southern Spain) last month, and reviewing rigorous lap-time assessment and data-analysis, the W Series has selected six new drivers to race in 2020. They will join the top 12 returning drivers who automatically qualified for the 2020 W Series championship as a result of having finished inside the top 12 in the 2019 W Series championship season.

The 18 confirmed drivers for the 2020 W Series championship

DRIVERCountryAgePts
Position
Jamie ChadwickUK211st
Beitske VisserNetherlands242nd
Alice PowellUK263rd
Marta GarciaSpain194th
Emma KimilainenFinland305th
Fabienne WohlwendLichetenstein216th
Miki KoyamaJapan217th
Sarah MooreUK258th
Vicky PiriaItaly259th
Tasmin Pepper South Africa2910th
Jessica HawkinsUK2411th
Sabre CookUSA2412th
Ayala AgrenNorway25New
Abbie EatonUK27New
Belen GarciaSpain20New
Nerea MartiSpain17New
Irina SidorkovaRussia16New
Bruna TomaselliBRasil21New

Two more 2020 W Series championship drivers will be announced at a later date, bringing the total to 20. Over 40 new drivers applied for consideration in the series.

It’s an impressive list, including the top 12 from our 2019 season, and six new drivers, who all performed well at Almeria. The result is a varied and international group, comprising 18 drivers from 12 countries, ranging in age from the super-experienced Finn, Emma Kimilainen, 30, to the very promising young Russian, Irina Sidorkova, 16.  
Our commiserations go to those whom we haven’t selected, but sadly their disappointment is simply an example of the jeopardy inherent in any athlete’s life at the higher levels of competitive sport. The more you can win, the more you can lose.

Catherine Bond Muir (Chief Executive Officer, W Series)

I was generally impressed by the 14 drivers whom we tested and appraised at Almeria [southern Spain] last month, and making our selection was correspondingly difficult. But we’ve crunched all the data to the best of our ability, and I’m therefore confident that the 18 drivers whom we’ve selected so far represent an excellent line-up. But we’ve left two spaces available, to allow us a little more time to select the final two drivers who, together with the 18 drivers we’ve already selected, will make up the 20 drivers who’ll contest the 2020 W Series championship.

Dave Ryan (Racing Director, W Series) 

More information on the W Series

Visit their website: http://www.wseries.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wseriesracing/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wseriesracing/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/w-series/

Alexis DeJoria returns in 2020

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NHRA drag racing driver Alexis DeJoria returns in 2020 to nitro Funny Car competition full-time after a two-year hiatus. DeJoria will make her reentry into the sport beginning with the 2020 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California.

DeJoria made her NHRA Funny Car professional debut in 2011 at the Texas NHRA FallNationals, winning five races during her professional stint, including the prestigious 2014 NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. She announced her retirement at the conclusion of the 2017 season.

Though DeJoria enjoyed a slightly slower-paced lifestyle in retirement, the thrill and excitement of driving an 11,000-horsepower machine never left the back of her mind.

“I honestly knew deep down when I made the announcement to retire at the end of the 2017 NHRA season that it was going to be sort of an open-ended retirement,” said Alexis. “I’m beyond excited to get back out there. I’ve been blessed spending time with my family these past two years off. This was a decision I made with their support, and we are all looking forward to my return to the driver’s seat.”

Alexis DeJoria

Her independent return into Funny Car will be lead by Nicky Boninfante and Del Worsham. Boninfante and Worsham will serve as co-crew chiefs on DeJoria’s Funny Car operation. The trio have longstanding history extending back nearly a decade. Worsham witnessed and signed off on DeJoria’s Funny Car licensing paperwork when she piloted his car in 2010 before taking the lead as her crew chief during her rookie season in 2012. Boninfante took over tuning duties for DeJoria in 2017 after working along side her during her tenure at Kalitta Motorsports.

“I now have this incredible opportunity to build a team with two of the people who were by my side when I started my nitro Funny Car career. Del is my mentor and the person whose car I licensed with in the first place, and Nicky was one of the first people at Kalitta who I talked to when I made the transition from Top Alcohol Funny Car to nitro Funny Car. Del and Nicky, they’re the ‘dream team’ for me, and I’m eager to embark on this new adventure with them.”

Alexis DeJoria

DeJoria’s partners, including her primary sponsor, will be announced at a later date.

Megan Meyer wins 2019 Top Alcohol Dragster Championship

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This season proved to be a historic one for NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series TAD driver Megan Meyer. Not only did she carry home the win for the rain-delayed NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals in the quickest side-by-side pass on record in TAD, but she also secured the 2019 NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster Championship – becoming the first female in history to win a TAD Championship.

https://www.facebook.com/NHRA/videos/2959620090732650/
via NHRA Facebook

In the final round, Meyer took on former teammate and points rival Troy Coughlin Jr. With the pressure on, Meyer drove to a 5.149, 281.48, her best run of the weekend, to squeak by Coughlin’s competitive 5.169, 280.80 mph run. The pair marked the quickest side-by-side TAD runs in history, and Megan’s win light gave her not only the win for the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals event, but also gave her the points needed to make the title official.

Megan Meyer officially clinched the 2019 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Dragster national championship.

Photo: Megan Meyer, Facebook

Last season, Meyer finished the 2018 championship season as NHRA Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster’s third-place finisher. This season, she was gunning for the championship out of the gate, appearing in 12 finals this season and scoring seven victories in her injected nitro dragster. She is aided and tuned by her father, Randy Meyer. Megan’s victories this season include four national event titles – with marquee wins at the prestigious 50th annual Amalie Gatornationals and the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals.

Meyer is the fourth woman to win an NHRA Lucas Oil Series sportsman championship, joining class champions Amy Faulk (Super Stock, 1979), Jackie Alley (Super Stock 2011), and Mia Tedesco (Super Gas, 2016).

Photo: Megan Meyer, Facebook

A big congrats to the new champ from all of us at Horsepower & Heels!

Brittany Force is ready for the 2019 Four-Wide Nationals

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Brittany Force is ready for the 2019 Four-Wide Nationals this weekend at ZMax Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Advance Auto Parts Top Fuel dragster team is hoping to carry the momentum from their recent victory at the Houston race for the NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, the sixth event on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Season schedule.

Image Credit: Gary Nastase, Auto Imagery

Beginning the season with a new crew and a new car to sort out, Force and her Advance Auto Parts team have been hard at work finding their rhythm. Two first round exits marked the beginning of their season, but Force and the Advance team secured their first No. 1 qualifier during the 50th Anniversary Gatornationals and went on to qualify third and finish as runner-up at the Las Vegas Four-Wide event.

After a stellar weekend at the recent Spring Nationals in Houston ended in the winner’s circle, the Advance Auto Parts team have definitely found their pace. Force, the 2017 Top Fuel world champion, set both ends of the track record with a 3.661-second pass at 332.18 mph for the No. 1 qualifying position. Force and her father, John Force, made history as the first parent-child duo to qualify No. 1 at the same NHRA national event. Brittany would go onto win the race for the second consecutive year and double-up with teammate Robert Hight.

“Coming off a Las Vegas runner-up and a Houston win, I’m eager to get to a little four-wide action in Charlotte. This Advance Auto Parts team has worked incredibly hard this season with so many challenges thrown our way and the hard work is starting to pay off,” said Force. “In Houston David Grubnic took some risks and pushed our car to steal another No. 1 qualifier putting a 3.66 on the board. That run at 332 mph gave us a confidence boost and we pulled off another incredibly quick run at 3.67, took on some heavy hitters and fought our way to the winner’s circle. Pulling off a win this soon in the season with a new team has me so pumped going into the Charlotte Four-Wide and the rest of the season.”

History is on her side, as Brittany is the only woman to score a four-wide event win in the nitro categories in 2016. Force has always performed well at zMAX Dragway, qualifying No. 1 at the 2018 spring event with sister Courtney Force. She earned another No. 1 qualifying spot during the fall 2018 event and raced her way to a runner-up finish.

“My new crew chiefs and my entire new crew took on the Vegas Four-Wide a few weeks back where we were runner-up, so we got in our practice there and are hoping to do the same this time but come out with a win,” said Force. “I’ve won the Charlotte Four-Wide before and it would be great to do it again with my Advance team. We’re confident and ready to get after it on race day.”

Event Coverage

Qualifying for the NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals begins on Friday with qualifying sessions at 4:45 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., and Saturday at 2:15 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Eliminations start at 12 noon on Sunday. Tickets are available from Charlotte Motor Speedway, and children 13 and under get in free. Television coverage can be viewed on FS1 Friday from 8 to 9 p.m. ET, Saturday from 10 to 11 p.m. ET and Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m. ET.

Follow updates on social media: #4WideNats