JFR IN MIX ON EPIC DAY OF QUALIFYING AT NORTHWEST NATIONALS
KENT, WA – Today at the 28th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals records were broken and fans were treated to history making runs. John Force Racing was well represented on the final day of qualifying and will head into race day tomorrow with three Funny Cars in the top six qualifiers and the lone Top Fuel dragster in the No. 4 position.
Led by defending event winner John Force and the Blue Def Peak Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car John Force Racing made the most out of both of their qualifying runs on Saturday. Force started his day with a stout 4.054 second run at 304.46 mph. It was the fourth quickest run of the session and put the 143-time Funny Car winner at the back of the pack for the final round of qualifying.
Force had to wait out a 25 minute rain delay before he could make is final pass. The cool air conditions gave crew chief Jon Schaffer the perfect chance to step up his tune-up and show off for the fans that waited out the brief rain shower. Force did not disappoint with a 3.996 second run at 318.32 mph which jumped him to the No. 3 qualifying position. While Force did not grab the top spot the winningest driver in NHRA history was undeterred in his quest to impress his fans and sponsors with success on race day.
“We aren’t where we need to be but we have gone through a lot. I have told all my sponsors and fans if this bothers me and I told them that nothing bothers me. I told everyone that I will fix this and I will. I am excited about race day and I am excited that all my race cars qualified in the top half of the fields,” said a defiant and motivated Force in his pits.
Right behind Force was Robert Hight who is steadily moving up the point standings and looking for his first win of the season and first at Pacific Raceway. Hight also made a tremendous run in the final session of qualifying. In the first session Hight lost power at the top end and was relegated to an earlier start time in the final session. Hight and crew chief Mike Neff made the most of their opportunity running a 4.000 second elapsed time and moving up to the No. 2 position before moving back to No. 4 at the end of the day.
After the run Hight was pleased with the effort of his team and he knows they are moving in the right direction. He will face Chad Head in the first round with a 5-2 career record against the second generation Funny Car driver.
“That is exactly what we needed. I am sure that is going to put us in the top half which is what we are looking for. We were kind of looking for that last night. Everything didn’t cooperate. Good job to Mike Neff. We just have to keep moving up and that is what we are working on. We are working very hard over here,” said Hight, who last raced to the finals at Pacific Raceway in 2005.
Courtney Force and the Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS team continued to impress on Saturday at the NHRA Northwest Nationals throughout the second day of Funny Car qualifying. The 27-year-old made two solid runs to qualify in the No. 6 position going into race day on Sunday against Alexis DeJoria.
“We have another tough first round match-up with Alexis, but I feel good that my team is giving me a great car and I just have to perform well as a driver tomorrow. Hopefully we can take the win. This has always been a favorite track of mine because I got my first win in Top Alcohol Dragster and my first win in Funny Car here. We have another big race tomorrow and we’re going to do the best we can,” said Force.
Force will line up beside DeJoria in the opening round for the second time in the past three races. This is the twelfth time they have faced each other in eliminations, but only the fourth time this season. Force is 6-5 to DeJoria in previous match-ups. Force beat DeJoria in the second round at Houston earlier this season, but DeJoria took the win two races ago in Denver when Force left the starting line early and fouled out.
“We’ve had some consistent passes out here in Seattle. We’re really excited. We improved today from yesterday running a better 4.06 earlier today and came out in the second run with great conditions. We improved with a 4.01 to move us to the No. This Traxxas car seems to be really coming around and I’m hoping that we can have some better luck on race day tomorrow,” said Force.
The pair is fighting for the No. 10 position in the NHRA Mello Yello points standings with just three races left before the 2015 Countdown to the Championship.
While the Funny Cars were impressing the near capacity crowd Brittany Force and the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster were pushing the limits of their 10,000 horsepower dragster in both sessions today. In the opening session Brittany stepping up from her Friday night run with a 3.782 second run at 321.50 mph which was the second quickest run of the session.
“That is absolutely the kind of run we were looking for. We made a pretty decent run last night. We got lucky with the conditions but we should have nailed it better so we wanted to improve on that. That first run was exactly what we wanted,” said Force.
The run afforded Force the chance to run at the back of the pack in the final session and once again crew chiefs Todd Smith and Ronnie Thompson took advantage of the chance to watch their competition run and then make aggressive tune-up decisions. In the final session the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster made its strongest run of the weekend, 3.760 seconds at 325.14 mph which catapulted the 3rd year driver to the No. 4 qualifying position.
“We wanted to go down there and get it set up for tomorrow. I am very proud of the entire Monster Energy team. I have to thank my crew chiefs Todd Smith and Ronnie Thompson. They are figuring this dragster out and I am ready to go into race day,” said Force.
Force will race Troy Buff for the first time in her career in the first round tomorrow.