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2013 NHRA: Team Castrol/JFR Pre-Race Stats Package For Phoenix
2013 Season-to-Date
Driver BRITTANY FORCE JOHN FORCE
Car Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster Castrol GTX Ford
Crew Chief(s) Dean Antonelli (Eric Lane) Mike Neff (Jon Shaffer)
Residence Yorba Linda, California Yorba Linda, California
Date of Birth July 8, 1986 May 4, 1949
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Driver ROBERT HIGHT COURTNEY FORCE
Car Auto Club of Southern California Ford Traxxas Ford
Crew Chief(s) Jimmy Prock (Danny DeGennaro) Ron Douglas (Daniel Hood)
Residence Yorba Linda, California Yorba Linda, California
Date of Birth August 20, 1969 June 20, 1988
Brittany Force Robert Hight John Force Courtney Force
Q-F-Pos-Perf. Q-F-Pos-Perf. Q-F-Pos-Perf. Q-F-Pos-Perf.
15-15th-T14-3.822/323.43 12-14th-T12-4.111/311.20 11-13th-T12-4.108/313.07 1-1st -1-4.025/318.24
Q – Qualifying position. F – Finishing position (W, winner; RU, runner-up; 3-4, semifinal loser; 5-8, second round loser; 9-16, first round loser; DNQ, Did Not Qualify)
Pos – Position in Full Throttle points at conclusion of the event
Perf – Best individual elapsed time and speed of the event (underlining indicates best of the race)
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All about ....Firebird International Raceway
(A look at the track on which the 29th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals will be contested starting Friday)
Track composition: Concrete launch pad with transition to asphalt at 700 feet.
Track direction: North to south
Track elevation: 1,100 feet above sea level
Track records: 4.023 seconds by Ron Capps, Feb. 20, 2009; 311.34 mph by Matt Hagan, Feb. 19, 2010 in Funny Car; 3.754 seconds by Shawn Langdon, Feb. 17, 2012, 325.37 mph by Spencer Massey, Feb. 19, 2012 in Top Fuel.
JFR at Auto Club Raceway: JFR Funny Car drivers have made 19 final round appearances and won nine times in the Arizona Nationals. Last victory was by Robert Hight, who beat teammate Mike Neff in the final round a year ago.
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Flashback to . . . .
FEBRUARY 19, 1995
.....After winning the Arizona Nationals from the No. 12 starting position, John Force climbed out of his Castrol GTX Funny Car and stripped down to his skivvies for the TV cameras in response to allegations made by No. 1 qualifier and arch rival Al Hofmann that he had some sort of traction control device hidden in his firesuit.
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JOHN FORCE, 63, has won the Arizona Nationals a record eight times but not since 2005. In his last six appearances at Firebird International Raceway, the sport’s biggest winner has driven his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang into the second round just once. He lost in last year’s initial round to daughter Courtney in their very first meeting.
ROBERT HIGHT, 43, is the defending Arizona Nationals Funny Car champion at the wheel of the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang. After beating then teammate Mike Neff in the final round, Hight put together a four-race winning streak, the longest of his Funny Car career.
COURTNEY FORCE, 24, is coming off of her second tour victory at the wheel of the Traxxas Ford Mustang, a dominating performance in the season-opening O’Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals that thrust the 2012 winner of the Auto Club’s Road to the Future Award into the Funny Car points lead for the first time in her career.
BRITTANY FORCE, 26, will try to give John Force Racing, Inc., its very first round win in a category other than Funny Car when she drives the Ford BOSS 500-powered Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster in just the second professional race of her career.
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Traxxas Nitro Shootout
Courtney Force and Shawn Langdon, two drivers who once raced one another in the Super Comp class, are the first to secure starting spots in the second annual Traxxas Nitro Shootout to be contested for a pair of $100,000 top prizes during the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend.
Seven of the eight positions in each field will be determined by performance in the 17 NHRA Full Throttle Series events leading up to the U.S. Nationals. The first seven season winners in Funny Car and Top Fuel will be seeded into the starting lineup with an eighth starting position determined by fan interaction and a lottery.
John Force Racing has a history of success in NHRA bonus races including All-Star races contested in the Winston Drag Racing Series plus the Big Bud Shootout and its successors, the Skoal Showdown and the U.S. Smokeless Shootout.
John Force won the inaugural Traxxas Funny Car Shootout and also earned the biggest single event payday in NHRA racing history when he won the 1999 Winston Showdown ($210,000). Overall, JFR drivers have won nine times in bonus races and five times in Winston All-Star events.
Traxxas Nitro Shootout qualifiers as of February 23, 2013:
FUNNY CAR Qualifiers TOP FUEL Qualifiers
COURTNEY FORCE, Traxxas Ford Mustang SHAWN LANGDON, Al-Anabi dragster
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MELLO YELLO POINT STANDINGS (After one of 18 events leading up to the Countdown to 1 playoffs):
FUNNY CAR
1.Courtney Force, Traxxas Ford Mustang, 124
2. Ron Capps, Napa Dodge Charger, 91
3. Johnny Gray, Pitch Energy Dodge Charger 76
4. Bob Tasca III, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang, 71
5. Gary Densham, Lawson Rock and Oil Dodge Charger, 60
6. Cruz Pedregon, Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry, 56
7. Matt Hagan, Mopar Dodge Charger, 52
8. Todd Lesenko, Uni-Select Dodge Charger, 51
9. Jack Beckman, Valvoline Dodge Charger, 43
10. Del Worsham, DHL Toyota Camr, 38
11.Tim Wilkerson, Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Mustang, 33
12T. John Force, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 32
12T. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 32
TOP FUEL
1. Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi dragster, 116
2. Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army dragster, 106
3. Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster, 77
4. Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi dragster, 74
5. Brandon Bernstein, Protect the Harvest dragster, 60
6. Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools dragster, 59
7. David Grubic, Optima Batteries dragster, 55
8. Steve Torrence, Capco Contractors dragster, 53
9. Spencer Massey, Schumacher Electic dragster, 34
10. Clay Millican, Parts Plus dragster, 33
11T. Bob Vandergriff Jr., C&J Energy dragster, 32
11T. Morgan Lucas, GEICO Powersports dragster, 32
11T. Larry Dixon, Rapisarda Racing/Titan Cranes dragster, 32
14T. Brittany Force, Castrol EDGE Ford dragster, 31
14T. Leah Pruett, Dote Family Racing dragster, 31
14T. Sidnei Frigo, Arivinco dragster, 31
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TELEVISION (all on ESPN2, all times Eastern Daylight):
Qualifying highlights – Sunday, Feb. 24, 1-2:30 am and 8-9 am
Race highlights – Sunday, Feb. 24, 8-11 pm
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JFR by the numbers
1 points position currently occupied by Courtney Force, the seventh different JFR driver to lead the NHRA Funny Car points
2 consecutive final round appearances for Courtney Force and the Traxxas Mustang – runners-up in the 2012 season finale and winners in the 2013 opener
3 times JFR drivers have won back-to-back at Pomona and Phoenix to open the season (1997, 1999, 2012)
4 JFR race cars powered by the Ford BOSS 500 nitro motor (three Funny Cars and the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster)
5 final round appearances for Courtney Force in 24 career Funny Car races
7 Arizona Nationals wins in eight years for John Force (1994-2001)
8 JFR Funny Car winners – John Force, Tony Pedregon, Gary Densham, Robert Hight, Eric Medlen, Ashley Force Hood, Mike Neff and Courtney Force
9 NHRA pro seasons for John Force and nine runner-up finishes before winning his first tour event at Montreal, Canada, in 1987
37 tour events featuring all-JFR Funny Car finals
52 different women licensed to compete at the pro level in the NHRA series (Brittany Force, driver of the Castrol EDGE dragster, is the 17th licensed in Top Fuel)
218 Mello Yello Series races won by JFR Funny Car drivers
334 tour events in which at least one JFR Funny Car has reached the final round
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NEXT EVENTS (2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series):
March 14-17 44th annual Gatornationals, Gainesville, Fla.
April 5-7 14th annual SummitRacing.com Nationals, Las Vegas, Nev.
April 19-21 4th annual Dollar General 4Wide Nationals, Charlotte, N.C.
April 26-28 26th annual O’Reilly Spring Nationals, Houston, Texas
May 3-5 33rd annual Summit Southern Nationals, Atlanta, Ga.
May 17-19 25th annual Dollar Kansas Nationals, Topeka, Kan.
May 30-June 2 44th annual Toyota Summernationals, Englishtown, N.J.
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THE RECORD BOOK
NHRA Full Throttle Series, most pro wins, women
Angelle Sampey ****************************************** 41
Shirley Muldowney ****************** 18
Karen Stoffer ***** 5
Melanie Troxel ***** 5
Ashley Force Hood **** 4
Shelly Anderson Payne **** 4
Lori Johns **** 4
Erica Enders-Stevens **** 4
Courtney Force **** 4
Lucille Lee * 1
Cristen Powell * 1
Peggy Llewellyn * 1
Hillary Will * 1
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John Force Racing. we’ve got questions.
John Force has won more racing rounds in his Castrol GTX Funny Cars than anyone in NHRA drag racing history. Entering this week’s Arizona Nationals, how many rounds had the 15-time series champion won?
A. 1,521
B. 988
C. 1,114
D. 803
Answer: C. 1,114 rounds in 595 career starts, an average of 1.87 rounds won per start since 1978.
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They said it. (and they meant it, too!)
“The canopy? I was a little worried at first. I’m a little claustrophobic and it’s already tight with the gear you’re wearing, the extra padding and the seat that’s formed right for your body. Plus, I lost a little side vision. (But) Tony Schumacher told me (that) it was good not having that side vision because, when you do, you end up driving toward the other car. I’m comfortable now.” – rookie BRITTANY FORCE, on adapting to the enclosed canopy on her Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster.
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