SUMMERNATIONALS SUNDAY FEATURES JFR BATTLE
ENGLISHTOWN, NJ (June 1, 2013) – As qualifying came to a close on Saturday at the 44th annual Toyota NHRA Summernationals John Force Racing was trying to avoid a head to head team match-up in the first round. Unfortunately while the Funny Car teams improved their performance they did not create enough separation to avoid a John Force, No. 10, versus Robert Hight, No. 7, first round battle. One the other side of the ladder Courtney Force will have to race one of the hottest teams in Funny Car Johnny Gray if she hopes to win her first race at Raceway Park on Sunday. In Top Fuel Brittany Force bounced back from a tough Friday recording two solid runs and qualifying in the No. 13 spot.
The Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster was one of the quickest dragsters under the toughest conditions today posting a 3.921 second time in the opening session today to solidly get into the show. The Dean Antonelli and Eric Lane tuned dragster stepped up in the final session and ran 3.908 at 315.78 mph.
The rookie of the year candidate who is vying for the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award will face veteran Doug Kalitta in the first round. The last time these two drivers met was the spring event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Force won her first round as a professional that day.
“I’m happy we came out and we definitely improved since yesterday. We had two really good consistent runs. We have Doug Kalitta tomorrow in the first round. I’ve run him before and I’m excited to run him again and hopefully we can go some rounds,” said Brittany Force.
The biggest turn-around in the Funny Car category from Friday to Saturday had to be in the Auto Club Ford Mustang pits. Robert Hight and his team dominated in Topeka both in qualifying and on race day but on Friday at Raceway Park they struggled to get to the finish line under power. Hight was undeterred at the end of the day and his confidence was rewarded with solid runs in both sessions, 4.267 and 4.121 seconds.
His Auto Club Mustang was the quickest Funny Car of the final session and those conditions will be consistent for the first round and race day on Sunday as temperatures will continue to cover in the low 90s.
“Today did not surprise me. I knew we were capable of running quick in the heat. On Friday we just had a couple things bite us on the tune up side. I knew (crew chief) Jimmy Prock would give me a good race car. The only downside is we have to race a teammate tomorrow in the first round. I would have liked for both of us to be higher in the qualifying order but you have to race the ladder,” said Hight.
“This is one of those tracks that has so much history you want to have a win on your resume. I lost in the final last year to Johnny Gray. John Force has won here so many times both at NHRA National events and at match races he will be very tough tomorrow. It will be any ones race tomorrow. I just hope we can keep running like we did today,” said Hight.
John Force and the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang team made a quality run on Friday night and today his team took an aggressive approach on the track. In the first session his Mike Neff tuned Castrol GTX Ford Mustang ran 4.274 as it hazed the tires at the top end. In the last qualifying session they were trying to run a quick time to bust up the first round match-up with Hight and overpowered the hot track early, smoking the tires at about 200 feet and running 7.327 seconds.
“Robert has the fast race car right now. I should have stepped up on that last pass, but didn’t. That’s racing. I’m fighting to stay in the top ten and he’s fighting to get the points lead. We can give the fans a great race tomorrow, and that’s all we can do,” said Force, a four-time Summernationals champion.
Courtney Force and her Traxxas Ford Mustang team improved today and ended qualifying in the No. 9 spot with a 4.125 second at 307.09 mph run. Force was able to rack up two extra bonus points in the last qualifying session for being the second-quickest, making that five total qualifying bonus points for the weekend.
Force will face Johnny Gray in the opening round on Sunday. Force is 0-2 against Gray in previous match-ups.
“It feels good to close out qualifying with a good run. We made the show, had two solid passes during qualifying, and picked up bonus points, which is all really great. I’m excited for our team. We’re trying to pick up as many points as possible where we can. I’m excited to go into tomorrow. We have Johnny Gray in the opening round, so we’re going to go there and do the best we can. We’ll take our Traxxas Ford Mustang down there and I hope to get that win light,” said Force.