COURTNEY FORCE LEADS JFR FRIDAY AT SUMMERNATIONALS

 

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ (May 31, 2013) – Friday at the 44th annual Toyota NHRA Summernationals was a mixed bag for John Force Racing as Courtney Force was the quickest Funny Car of the first session and then had a blower drive shaft on her Traxxas Ford Mustang break before she had a chance to run in the second session. John Force improved in the second session but Robert Hight and Brittany Force will have to race into the show on Saturday in their respective classes.

 

In the first session Courtney Force went to the top of the Funny Car field with a 4.130 second run at 306.05 mph and picked up three bonus points.

 

“We had a great first pass. We picked up three bonus points on just that run for being quickest. Our Traxxas Ford Mustang went down and ran a 4.13, which is a good run right out of the box,” said Force.

 

Unfortunately, the black and red Traxxas Ford Mustang broke a blower drive shaft after the burnout in the second session. She ended the day in the No. 7 spot and will get to keep her time to build off of on Saturday.

 

“On the second run we were obviously trying to improve. The track was better. It cooled down. But I did the burnout, backed up, everything seemed fine. Right before we were getting ready to pull up and pre-stage, Ron was pulling my car up and when we stopped all of the sudden the car just sounded like it had shut off. Ron made the call and told me to shut the fuel off and hit the emergency shut off switch just to make sure everything was off, which was when the chutes deployed because that it part of the emergency shut-off. We just wanted to make sure everything was off and we could roll off the starting line safely.”

 

“We didn’t get a pass out of it, but we know the problem. It was just an unlucky run. We’re qualified and we’ll go out there tomorrow with a strong car,” said Force.

 

Force still currently occupies the No. 5 spot in the NHRA Funny Car point standings.

 

Topeka finalist Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team struggled to get a handle on the hot track at Raceway Park today. In the second session crew chief Jimmy Prock took a shot as the track began to cool but unfortunately they were the second pair down the track.

 

“We got behind the eight ball after the first session and couldn’t make a strong second run. It was a tough day for sure especially after the success we had in Topeka and on our test day. We will give it another two shots on Saturday and get ready for race day. This is a track that I want to win at so I am going to be giving it my best for sure,” said Robert Hight.

 

Hight’s quickest time of the day 5.352 seconds at 135.21 mph was the 18th quickest run of the Funny Car category.

 

Team leader John Force and the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang smoked the tires in the first session but stepped up in the evening qualifying session. Force was running beside his son-in-law and teammate Hight. Force posted a solid 4.132 second run at 291.63 mph which was good enough to keep the four-time Toyota NHRA Summernationals champion in the provisional No. 8 spot.

 

The Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster and driver Brittany Force returned to the track where as an A Fuel dragster pilot she had one of her strongest performances. Today on her two qualifying runs Force posted times but neither session was enough to move the rookie into the Top Twelve as the hot conditions proved tricky for the first year Top Fuel team.