FUNNY CAR POINTS LEADER COURTNEY FORCE EYES FOUR-WIDE WIN
CONCORD, N.C. (April 16, 2013) – This week, Courtney Force is looking to gain a stronger lead on her competition at the 4th annual Dollar General Four-Wide NHRA Nationals at zMAX Dragway, April 19-21.
“Racing at the four-wide is always a challenge for the driver and the teams but it is fun having such a unique track on the circuit. It’s definitely challenging coming to this track because you have to work twice as hard and learn how to stage and drive in four different lanes rather than just two. The pressure really is on at this event so it’s nice to have a little experience racing here from my rookie season,” said Force.
Force has returned to the No. 1 position in the Funny Car points after a runner-up finish two weeks ago in Las Vegas. The 2012 Rookie of the Year qualified at the top in the No. 2 spot, then ousted Tim Wilkerson, Del Worsham and Matt Hagan before falling to Cruz Pedregon in the final round.
“It felt great going all the way to the final round in Vegas and being that close to getting another win. It was a huge boost of confidence for our team to go rounds in Vegas and leave in the points lead and that’s exactly what we need to keep up our momentum,” said Force. “We are only four races into the season, so to be back in the points lead after a No. 1 qualifier, one win and a runner-up finish makes our whole team excited for the rest of the season.”
Last year, Force made her first appearance at the uniquely designed four-wide event, qualified No. 12 and lost in the first round of four Funny Cars on Sunday.
“I think it’s exciting for fans to come out to Charlotte to the Four-Wide because it is such a unique track. There is no other track like this one that Bruton Smith has built. Fans get to see and feel 40,000 horsepower on just one pass and they have twice as many cars to watch on a run. It’s fast, exciting and very loud,” said Force.
HIGHT LOOKING TO BE FIRST FUNNY CAR TO DOUBLE UP AT FOUR-WIDE
CHARLOTTE, NC (April 16, 2013) — Last season the win by Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team at the 3rd annual Dollar General Four-Wide NHRA Nationals moved the 2009 NHRA Funny Car champion into an elite fraternity in the Funny Car class. Hight became just the fifth driver to win four NHRA national events in a row. This year Hight is trying to defend his Four-Wide title and become the first Funny Car driver to win two Four-Wide races at zMax Dragway.
The 4th annual Dollar General Four-Wide NHRA Nationals will get underway on Friday, April 19th with two qualifying sessions and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team will be ready for action. Currently No. 7 in the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings Hight and his team are eager to get back on track. While the NHRA teams only race four-wide once a year the annual event asks drivers and teams to dig deep to both qualify well and then win on Sunday.
“To win the Four-Wide I think you have to have a consistent race car and you have to be patient. This race is unique with the staging system but everyone has to work with the same system. When I won last year it was my fourth win in a row for the Auto Club team,” said Hight. “I just tried to do my routine the same every run and in the final race I was racing John Force, Cruz Pedregon and Ron Capps. Those three drivers are three of the top guys in the category ever. Bottom line to win the Four-Wide you have to run your race and just not get preoccupied with all the other drivers around you. The power of four 10,000 hp Funny Cars launching at once is amazing and I can’t wait to defend my title at the Dollar General Four-Wide NHRA Nationals.”
Last year’s success unfortunately did not lead to a second Funny Car championship for Hight and the Auto Club team. This year the team got off to a slower than expected start but the past two races, Gainesville and Las Vegas, have shown that the Auto Club team is moving in the right direction. Hight was the No. 1 qualifier at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas two weeks ago and raced to a semi-final finish. Looking back at last season’s success at this point Hight knows how fragile a win streak can be.
“It is incredibly hard to win one race a season much less four in a row. When you get hot like we did winning four in a row or when (Ron) Capps went to six finals in a row last year you want to savor that feeling and get the most out of it. This Funny Car class is so tough you really want to peak at the right time,” said Hight.
“There is definitely a letdown (when you lose) but you can’t get discouraged. You want to win every race you enter and it is so tough. There are no easy rounds and the competition is so close now. You have to keep a positive attitude yourself and you have to make sure your team keeps a positive attitude.”
Returning to zMax Dragway and the Charlotte area gives Hight and the Auto Club team the chance to mingle with NASCAR fans who may be seeing the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series for the first time. The unique format, as well as the nearly unlimited pit access give fans an up close look at the sport Hight has been passionate about for years.
“We love going into NASCAR country. John Force calls NASCAR our big brother. I think every year we turn more fans into NHRA fans. We aren’t asking them to choose one sport or the other. NASCAR fans can be fans of both and I think a lot of them like what we do and follow us on ESPN2 and online. Every year we have more and more people coming up to our ropes talking about other races they watched or attended since the last time we were in Charlotte. That is what you want; year-round fans.”
In the latest NHRA Power Ranking by ESPN’s Mike Dunn, Hight moved from being unranked to the No. 4 position. He is joined on the list by teammate and Mello Yello points leader Courtney Force who holds down the top spot. Heading into the Dollar General Four-Wide NHRA Nationals Hight is looking to continue his move up the Power Rankings even though this can force drivers to use a different mindset.
“You try and make it like a regular event but there is a lot going on with the staging. I just try and do my routine and be smooth. You do have to be patient but really having done it a couple of times I feel pretty good,” said Hight.
“When you are in the middle lanes two or three you can feel Funny Cars on both sides of you. It is awesome and I know the fans get a thrill out of feeling 40,000 horsepower launch at zMax Dragway. When we take off under the lights all those header flames also put on an awesome show.”
While Robert Hight will be trying to win his second title at the Four-Wide Nationals John Force Racing will be seeking its third win at the zMax Dragway spring event in four races. In addition to John Force’s historic win at the inaugural race. Mike Neff won the exhibition event contested at the fall zMax Dragway race in 2009.
When asked to explain the JFR domination of the four-wide event Hight provided some insight into the strategy employed by 15-time Funny Car champion John Force.
“I think when John won the first race he just really studied the tree during the event. It seemed like every spare minute he had he was on the starting line studying the tree even when Pro Stock was running. When I won last year I just tried to stay focused on what my team was doing and not so much what the other drivers were doing,” said Hight. “The key for us is to just have the confidence that our crew chiefs and crews give us great race cars. We have go up there and drive.”
BRITTANY EYEING 4WIDE DEBUT
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – One could forgive Top Fuel rookie Brittany Force if she felt a little bit overwhelmed entering this week’s fourth annual Dollar General 4Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway.
For one thing, the graduate of Cal State-Fullerton still is getting accustomed to the full canopy that seals her into the cockpit of the 10,000 horsepower Castrol EDGE dragster she drives
for John Force Racing, Inc.
While she appreciates the apparatus for its safety and security, especially after watching Antron Brown walk away from a spectacular crash and fire at the season-opening Winternationals, there’s still that little hint of claustrophobia that deterred her from pursuing a pro career in one of the fully-enclosed Funny Cars fielded by her father, 15-time series champion John Force.
“It took a little getting used to,” Brittany said of the canopy engineered by Don Schumacher Racing, “but now I feel very comfortable, especially after Antron’s crash.”
As if adapting to the canopy wasn’t enough, this also will be the first competitive appearance for the second youngest of Force’s four daughters at zMax Dragway, the Bruton Smith supertrack that itself is a bit intimidating with its high rise grandstands and liberal use of concrete.
And then there’s the four wide aspect. Just three months after first making a run with an opponent in the other lane, the 26-year-old will be asked this week to race against not one rival at a time, not two, but three.
The first Top Fuel driver in 42 years to win a competitive round in a Ford-powered dragster, Brittany is moving at her own pace as the first driver ever to drive a Top Fuel dragster for JFR.
“I’m still learning on each run and getting better,” said the teacher-to-be. “I’m trying to work on improving my lights (and) my team’s really excited that we’re moving up in the points. We’re almost into the Top 10 (No. 12).”
In a dragster powered by the Ford BOSS 500 nitro motor engineered at JFR, Brittany has refused to put extra pressure on herself by being drawn into career comparisons with her sisters, Courtney and Ashley, both of whom have excelled in the Funny Car division.
“When Ashley came out, she had her own set of goals,” Brittany explained. “Same with Courtney. Same with me. I’m going down my own path. For me, it’s not about comparisons to Ashley or Courtney. It’s about setting my own goals and achieving them myself in my time.”
Although all three of girls drove Super Comp dragsters and A/Fuel dragsters before turning pro, Brittany was the only one who lobbied to stay in one of the rear-engine cars. For one thing, dragsters were what she had driven since she first attended Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School.
For another, after watching her dad for more than 20 years, she likes the idea of having the engine behind her instead of in front. Finally, she appreciates the historical implications of being the first JFR driver to climb behind the wheel of a pro car that isn’t a Funny Car.
“I love the sport of drag racing,” she said. “I always thought I’d be involved in it in some way although I never thought it would be in Top Fuel.”
FORCE READY TO RETURN TO FOUR-PLAY
15-Time Champ Seeks Second Win in Dollar General 4Wide Nationals
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – John Force tries to reassert his mastery of four-play this week when he sends his Mike Neff-prepared Castrol GTX Ford Mustang after the Funny Car title in the most unique event in the NHRA Mello Yello Series, the fourth annual Dollar General 4Wide Nationals.
The 63-year-old drag racing icon is one of only three Funny Car drivers to have won a tour event in the unique four-across format made possible when Bruton Smith commissioned four fully-functional, all-concrete lanes as the centerpiece of zMAX Dragway, the track that has been called “The Bellagio of Dragstrips.”
In fact, Force won the inaugural 4Wide in 2010, the last time he raced side-by-side-by-side-by-side with Neff as his crew chief.
Now that the two are back together again, drag racing’s biggest winner not only expects to contend for a 4Wide title, he also expects to be in the hunt for another NHRA championship.
Neff’s departure after he and Force won the 2010 title was totally Force’s idea. After giving Neff the unexpected opportunity to drive in 2008, Force had to park the car at the end of the 2009 campaign because of the economic downturn. However, when daughter Ashley Force Hood took a maternity leave after the 2010 season, Force commissioned Neff to take over her ride as both driver and crew chief.
The former motocross racer performed admirably in the dual role, finishing fifth in points in 2011 and third a year ago while winning back-to-back titles in the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.
Unfortunately, the grind took a toll on the one-time off-road truck mechanic who, at the end of 2012, opted out of the cockpit to focus exclusively on the mechanical challenges from which he always has derived the greatest satisfaction.
Despite the return of the crew chief with whom he won six times in 2010, Force currently languishes in 11th place in Mello Yello points after advancing out of the first round just one time in his first four starts.
It’s not the kind of reunion performance Force expected, but it also is not something over which he is losing sleep.
“As long as we can stay close, we’ll be fine,” Force said. “It’s all about the Countdown, so that’s how we’re thinking. We’re trying to get all three of our Funny Cars on the same page and Neff’s been working on that with Jimmy Prock and Robert (Hight), so he’s been on overload. Courtney’s been good with Ron Douglas and the Traxxas Ford.
“I’ve been the weak link so far, but it’s not like we’re lost or anything,” said the 15-time series champion. “I’m excited. I’m excited about my daughter Brittany and the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel car; I’m excited about Robert and Courtney, I’m excited about racing with Neff instead of against him and I’m glad to be back in Bruton’s backyard racin’ in the 4Wide.”
Despite his victory in the inaugural 4Wide event, Force hasn’t been particularly productive at zMAX, especially in the fall race that kicks off the Countdown. After failing to qualify in his first appearance in 2008, the Hall of Famer exited in the first round in 2009, 2010 and 2011 before finally getting a round win last September.