ONCE AGAIN JOHN FORCE HAS NEW FOCUS, ATTITUDE AND DETERMINATION
POMONA, CA (February 3, 2015) —- How many times can a competitor stir up the intestinal fortitude it takes to do battle with the best of the best when they have come up just short of a championship? How many times can a leader rally their troops against tough odds to go back into the fight for a 24 race season that is more marathon than sprint at over 300 mph? If you are 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force there appears to be an eternal flame of desire that transcends sports and propels you to get back behind the wheel of your Peak Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car for another season.

As the defending Circle K NHRA Winternationals Funny Car champion John Force will once again be racing head to head with arguably the toughest Funny Car competitors he has ever faced in his three decade long career. Force does not talk about his age but rather wants to focus on continuing to win and show his young stable of drivers what it takes to be the winningest driver in NHRA history.
With seven Winternationals trophies Force is going for No. 8 this weekend at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona and the Funny Car championship runner-up has not lost any of the desire that has carried him to 141 Funny Car wins. With new primary sponsor Peak on board for the majority of the races in 2015 and a renewed relationship with Chevrolet the smart money will be on Force to come out on top.
“We have a lot of talent here. We had a lot of change in our crews which was our biggest challenge. We are excited to have Lucas Oil on board. Naturally PEAK coming on board with my Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car is big. You look at our new Funny Car body we worked with the NHRA on to get it approved,” said Force, during a weeklong test session in Phoenix. “We didn’t think it would be any better or any worse. It is 15-17 pounds heavier now. My guys have already put me on a diet. I am watching the guys work and we have veteran here and our teams have run in the threes before.”
For a driver that realistically has nothing to prove, Force has dedicated himself to showing his existing sponsors like Auto Club, Traxxas, Mac Tools and BrandSource as well as his news sponsors Peak, Lucas Oil and Chevrolet that there is still plenty of winning left for him to do. Force has a new team and he went old school in Phoenix putting them through a grueling day of repeated engine tear-downs to fine tune their skills and build some very valuable comradery.
“The proof now is to go to Pomona get qualified and to win would be the icing on the cake. It is a long run to make the Countdown. We have a lot of time to train these guys and we are going to start (in Phoenix) with a tear down contest like I used to do in the old days. You get a brand new team and you can’t afford to go out there and keep hot lapping it. We have to give them the practice of making the call between rounds. We are going to train on stuff everything from seat belting me in to rebuilding the engine. We can teach them without spending money,” said Force.
The JFR team has won the season opening Winternationals thirteen times with Force winning over half those titles, seven most recently last season over eventual Funny Car champion Matt Hagan. The season opening race Funny Car title has gone to the Yorba Linda, California based team seven of the last nine seasons; Robert Hight, 2006, 2008 and 2011; John Force, 2010, 2012 and 2014; and Courtney Force, 2013.
Force is not taking his team’s success in testing for granted but with a new crew chief, Jon Schaffer, he is excited to be surrounded by young men with high energy and a drive that equals his to win.
“You look at Mike Neff’s team and they were right on their game every day. Jon Schaffer on my team has been great. We used to call him Little Jon and now I call him Big Jon now. He is not just a young, new crew chief. He is a kid that started out at 18 years old in the pro ranks working on Top Fuel dragsters. He has lived this. He doesn’t just put in forty hours a week he does whatever needs to be done to get the job done. He has built other cars for us that I have driven,” said Force with regards to his new chief chief.
“He built them from the ground up working with all the teams. You have to drag him out of the shop. He had a great teacher in Mike Neff. Neff leads all my teams from the Top Fueler to the Funny Cars. All our teams are really gelling well. We just want to be competitive. I need to find some more sponsorship. Financially I am set to go but we are looking at a few more deals.”

HIGHT WANTS TO GET SEASON STARTED WITH WIN AT WINTERNATIONALS
POMONA, CA (February 3, 2015) — Last season Robert Hight and the Auto Club backed Funny Car qualified No. 2 and raced to a quarter-final finish. At the next event Hight started a string of races that saw him reach six consecutive finals rounds and pick up four wins. The veteran driver held the top spot in the NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car point standings for a career high thirteen weeks but had to settle for a No. 5 finish at the end of the season.
This year heading into the 55th installment of the Circle K NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona the 2009 NHRA Funny Car champion has a new Funny Car but the same attitude that has carried him to 34 NHRA Funny Car wins in the past decade. Hight’s brand new Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car will be adorned with the familiar red, white and blue paint scheme but the California native will be focusing not on looks but results.
“It is huge to get off on the right foot. The way the Countdown works is you want to do well at the end but to me I still believe if you are a team that wants to contend for a championship your best shot is to be good from start to finish. We have had good luck at the Winternationals and I have won there a couple of times,” said Hight, a three-time Winternationals winner. “It is a home track for me and for my sponsor Auto Club. I am so excited to get this season started. We are going to put 2014 behind us and I am looking forward to what 2015 has to offer. We had a great test session in Phoenix and I believe we will roll right into Pomona with a set up and hit the ground running.”
In Phoenix at the team’s private test session Hight and crew chief Mike Neff came out of the trailer with a solid set-up and fine-tuned it over the course of five day. The team posted some of the most consistent times running 4.098, 4.058, 4.036, 4.014, 3.985, and a career quickest and fastest 3.976 seconds, 323.43 mph.
“This is the most successful test session we have ever had especially to start a season. I think a lot of it has to do with coming to Phoenix. The folks at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park have done a great job getting it ready for us. We had great conditions. I went six out of eight runs with very respectable runs. I am pleased with the overall effort. We had a chance on the last run to step up and maybe run quicker but Mike Neff made the decision to make a nice safe run and it still ran 3.98 seconds. It was the fastest speed I have ever run almost 324 mph. We wanted to end on a good note. I am proud of all the teams,” said Hight, who is also president of John Force Racing, Inc.
As the season starts at the Circle K NHRA Winternationals Hight and his JFR Funny Car teammates have some streaks to try and keep alive. JFR has won season opening Winternationals thirteen times; John Force, seven times (most recently 2014); Robert Hight, three times (most recently 2011); Tony Pedregon, twice and Courtney Force, once (2013).
JFR has won the last five Winternationals; John Force 2010, 2012, and 2014, Robert Hight 2011, and Courtney Force 2013. JFR has won seven of last nine Winternationals; Robert Hight, 2006, 2008 and 2011; John Force, 2010, 2012 and 2014: Courtney Force, 2013.

CHAMPIONSHIP ASPIRATIONS MOTIVATE COURTNEY FORCE TO START 2015 SEASON
POMONA, CA (February 3, 2015) — Embarking on her fourth professional year in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing, Courtney Force finds herself equally excited and nervous going into the 55th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals, Feb. 5-8, at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The 26-year-old driver’s Traxxas Camaro SS Funny Car has a new, colorful and energetic paint scheme and she will now be racing with the support of Chevrolet. On top of that, she’s kicking off the 24-race season against the Funny Car competition at her home track.
“You would think it would ease your nerves having the first race at your home track, but when it is the first race of the season with all the fans there and you are trying to get back into a routine you find yourself more nervous than any other race of the season. I am excited and I can’t wait to be back to a familiar race track. I think once we get one pass down the track the rest will be a lot of fun,” said Force, a seven-time national event winner.
Force has had three strong Top Ten finishes in 2012 (5th), 2013 (7th) and 2014 (4th). She has had 71 starts since her Funny Car debut. Courtney has qualified for every national event, started from the front of the Funny Car field seven times, taken her Traxxas Camaro SS Funny Car to thirteen final rounds and claimed seven Funny Car victories.
“It is awesome to the progress that my team has made from my rookie season until now. It is exciting to have that No. 4 beside my name on this Camaro SS. We want to get out there and make some consistent runs. That is the key thing right now. We are still learning and coming together as a team. We are looking forward to doing well at Pomona we have won the Winternationals before and we want to have some confidence and do well,” said Force.
Force, who got engaged to IndyCar driver Graham Rahal over the off-season, has a long list of credentials behind her as John Force Racing’s leading lady in the Funny Car ranks. She won the Winternationals in 2013 at the start of her sophomore season on the heels of winning the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Road to the Future Award for NHRA’s top Rookie of the Year. To date, JFR has won the season opening Winternationals thirteen times, including the last five years in-a-row, and has won at least one NHRA National event at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona since 2006.
“At the first race of the year you want to get a good start. You want to prove that your team has what it takes. Everyone wants to do well going into a brand new season. You want to do well for your sponsors and you want to put on a good show for the fans,” said Force.
Courtney has had top speed in her Traxxas Funny Car a total of 15 times throughout her career; once in 2012, five times in 2013 and nine times in 2014. Courtney and her sister Brittany made history at the 2014 NHRA Kansas Nationals in Topeka, Kan. when the pair qualified at the top if the respective categories. Courtney then doubled up on the history-making when she picked up the 100th professional win for women on Sunday.
“It’s going to feel great to be back in this Traxxas Chevy Camaro SS Funny Car. We have a fresh look this season with a vibrant paint scheme. It is going to be exciting to see what the fans think of it. It is definitely unique and I am excited to be driving it. I am just really hoping we can get this Traxxas Camaro SS into the winner’s circle in 2015 for all of our new sponsors: Chevy, Lucas Oil, Peak, Auto Club, Traxxas, and Mac Tools,” said Force.

THIRD YEAR PRO BRITTANY FORCE LOOKING TO BUILD ON TESTING MOMENTUM
POMONA, CA (February 3, 2015) — Brittany Force is focused and excited as she begins her third season in Top Fuel in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. In the previous two seasons the daughter of 16-time Funny Car champion John Force has shown marked improvement and this season there is no reason to think that the four-time finalist will finally find her way to the winner’s circle.
“It is definitely nice to start the season at your home track because you get to sleep in your own bed. No matter where the event is it is the first race of the season and everyone is a little nervous and on edge,” said Force. “You just want to get back in that groove and really back to back races help the most. You want to get comfortable and in the zone as quickly as possible.”
The 55th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals will be Force’s fifth start at the historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. She has qualified for the Winternationals in both her previous efforts but has yet to win her first round of race at the season opening race. In her rookie year it was veteran Brandon Bernstein to out ran the No. 15 qualifier and last year it was eventual rookie of the year Richie Crampton that defeated Force, the No. 8 qualifier.
Last season Force raced to four final rounds, was No. 1 qualifier, low ET and top speed on three occasions. Over the course of historic weekend in Topeka, Kansas, Brittany Force was No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel while her sister Courtney Force was No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car, a first in NHRA history as sisters shared the top spots in the sports top two categories. Courtney Force went on to win the race and secure the 100th professional win by a female in NHRA history as Brittany raced to a semi-final finish.
To get ready for the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season John Force Racing spent nearly a week at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix testing. The John Force Racing Top Fuel dragster has a few new crew members including assistant crew chief Ronnie Thompson who will back-up returning lead crew chief Todd Smith. The test session was a success with the team making a number of solid runs including an eye-opening 3.698 second pass.
“Testing was definitely a challenge. Not just for the driver but for the whole team. I’ve been out of the seat and out of my routine for a few months so it takes some time. We have a new team and some new guys but I am excited. We jumped back into it and got off to a tough start but we got it turned around. Once we got it running it seemed to fly,” said an excited Force. “We ran 3.80 with an early shut off and then we ran 3.69 in great conditions. Running in the 60s was awesome and I am excited and proud of that. That is something I have always wanted to do. We closed out testing with a 3.76 in the afternoon so I know we have a good set up to go to Pomona.”
The success and confidence the team experienced in testing will hopefully translate into early season success for Force. In a tough Top Fuel category the third year driver is looking to continue to develop and learn in one of the most competitive classes in all of motorsports.
“Making good runs in testing just pumps you up for Pomona. It gives our team that extra boost of confidence to start the season. We are finding our niche and routine and we are just getting ready to race,” said Force.