 |
|
|
|
2013 NHRA: Team Castrol/JFR Pre-Race Stats Package For Gainesville
JOHN FORCE, 63, returns to the track on which he once won a personal record five consecutive times (1992-96) hoping to build on the semifinal finish he crafted with his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang two weeks ago in the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Phoenix. He is trying to win an NHRA tour event for 26th season.
|
|
|
BRITTANY FORCE, 26, still is seeking her first round win at the wheel of the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster. The Rookie-of-the-Year candidate, second youngest of Force’s four daughters, is the first John Force Racing driver to compete at the professional level anything but a Funny Car.
ROBERT HIGHT, 43, is trying to battle out of the worst slump of his professional career. The 2009 series champion hasn’t advanced his Auto Club Ford Mustang out of the second round in the last 16 events. His last semifinal appearance was June 3, 2012; his last win April 15, 2012.
COURTNEY FORCE, 24, began her sophomore season with a wire-to-wire win in the season-opening O’Reilly Winternationals at Pomona, Calif. Last year’s winner of the Auto Club’s Road to the Future Award as the NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year will start Friday from second place in points in her Traxxas Ford Mustang.
Flashback to . . . .
MARCH 11, 1979
.....John Force fails to qualify his Wendy’s Corvette for the Gatornationals Funny Car field but, under a rule later rescinded by the NHRA, is placed in the lineup as an alternate for Larry Fullerton, whose Trojan Horse Mustang was unable to make the call. In just his third race in the NHRA series, the Hall of Famer-to be loses in the first round to the Corvette of Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen.
❏❏❏❏
Traxxas Nitro Shootout
Courtney Force, last year’s NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year, is one of the first two Funny Car qualifiers for the second annual Traxxas Nitro Shootout to be contested Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis for $100,000. A second $100,00 is up for grabs in Top Fuel.
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, 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 March 16, 2013:
FUNNY CAR Qualifiers TOP FUEL Qualifiers
COURTNEY FORCE, Traxxas Ford Mustang SHAWN LANGDON, Al-Anabi dragster
RON CAPPS, NAPA Dodge Charger TONY SCHUMACHER, U.S. Army dragster
❏❏❏❏
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS (After two of 18 events leading up to the Countdown to 1 playoffs)
FUNNY CAR
1. Ron Capps, NAPA Dodge, 210
2.Courtney Force, Traxxas Ford Mustang, 165
3. Matt Hagan, Mopar/Rocky Boots Dodge, 151
4. Bob Tasca III, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang, 124
5. Johnny Gray, Pitch Energy Dodge, 122
6. Cruz Pedregon, Snap-on Tools Toyota, 117
7. John Force, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 106
7.Tim Wilkerson, Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Mustang, 106
9. Todd Lesenko, Uni-Select Dodge, 102
10. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 83
TOP FUEL
1. Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army dragster, 228
2. Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi dragster, 149
3. Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster, 148
4. Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi dragster, 131
5. Morgan Lucas, GEICO Powersports dragster, 124
6. David Grubic, Optima Batteries dragster, 112
7. Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools dragster, 103
8. Spencer Massey, Schumacher Electric dragster, 100
9. Brandon Bernstein, Protect the Harvest dragster, 93
8. Larry Dixon, Rapisarda Autosport dragster, 86
9. Leah Pruett, Dote Family Racing dragster, 84
12. Clay Millican, Parts Plus dragster, 67
13. Bob Vandergriff Jr., C&J Energy dragster, 64
14. Steve Torrence, Capco Contractors dragster, 63
15. Brittany Force, Castrol EDGE Ford dragster, 62
15. Sidnei Frigo, Artivinco dragster, 62
❏❏❏❏
TELEVISION (all on ESPN2, all times Eastern Daylight):
Qualifying highlights – Sunday, March 17, 1:30-3 am and 8-9 am
Race highlights – Sunday, March 17, 7-10 pm
❏❏❏❏
JFR by the numbers
2 position in Mello Yello points currently occupied by Courtney Force
4 Auto-Plus Raceway Funny Car records held by Robert Hight (time and speed at one-quarter mile; time and speed at 1,000 feet)
5 consecutive Gatornationals victories to John Force (1992-1996)
8 different tour winners in JFR Ford Mustang Funny Cars
10 different opponents faced by John Force in Gatornationals final rounds
17 years since a Castrol-backed Top Fuel dragster last raced at the Gatornationals
25 seasons with at least one victory by John Force in a Castrol GTX Funny Car
37 all-JFR Funny Car final rounds since 1996
218 Funny Car victories for John Force Racing, Inc., at least one in each of the last 27 seasons
1116 rounds won by John Force since his NHRA debut race in 1979
❏❏❏❏
NEXT EVENTS (2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series):
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.
June 14-16 13th annual Ford Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol, Tenn.
June 21-23 Inaugural Auto-Select New England Nationals, Epping, N.H.
June 28-30 16th annual O’Reilly Route 66 Nationals, Chicago, Ill.
July 5-7 7th annual Summit Racing Equipment Nationals, Norwalk, Ohio
❏❏❏❏
THE RECORD BOOK
NHRA Funny Car Division, most tour victories since 2004
Robert Hight ((((((((((((((((((((((( 27
Ron Capps ((((((((((((((((((((( 24
John Force ((((((((((((((((((( 20
Tony Pedregon (((((((((((((((( 16
Jack Beckman ((((((((((((((( 15
Tim Wilkerson (((((((((( 12
❏❏❏❏
John Force Racing: we’ve got questions
Other than their JFR employment, what is the link between current JFR crew chiefs Mike Neff, Ron Douglas and Danny DeGennaro and crew chief emeritus Bernie Fedderly, who this week will be inducted into Don Garlits’ International Drag Racing Hall of Fame?
Before coming to JFR, all won races with Cruz Pedregon as driver: Fedderly and Neff in 1992 (when the former started the year as crew chief and the latter was the bottom end man on the McDonald’s Oldsmobile), Douglas in 2006 and DeGennaro in 2011, both as designated crew chiefs.
❏❏❏❏
Sponsor Spotlight on . . . .
STINGRAY SYSTEMS
Indianapolis-based Stingray Systems is an entrepreneurial plumbing solutions company that has become an innovative leader in eyewash safety for the workplace, whether the work is undertaken in a shop environment or in the field.
After working with John Force Racing professionals in the team’s Brownsburg, Ind., shop facility and identifying critical operational processes and machining operations that could present challenges to eye safety, Stingray custom-designed a solution for JFR that serves as a model for the industry.
The JFR installation uses Stingray’s next generation technology in emergency eyewash/facewash and full drenching systems. In addition, at races comprising the NHRA’s Mello Yello Series, JFR crew members will have access to the latest mobile eyewash/facewash technology.
PaddockTalk Perspective
|
