JOHN FORCE RACES TO SEMI-FINALS AT SEATTLE

KENT, WA – John Force raced to his second semi-final of the year today at the 28th annual NHRA Northwest Nationals to go with two wins and two runner-up finishes. The winningest driver in NHRA history will also hold onto his status as the only Funny Car driver to win the three race Western Swing. Today he was chasing his ninth win at Pacific Raceway and came up a few ticks short in against veteran Del Worsham in the semi-finals.

Force was the No. 3 qualifier and outran Jeff Diehl in the first round. In the second round Force defeated Alexis DeJoria in a critical round with regards to the Mello Yello point standings. Force stopped the progress of DeJoria and held her in ninth place tied with Robert Hight. The round win for Force also kept the young driver from extending her lead on his daughter Courtney Force who sits just outside of the Top Ten.

“We are getting back financially which was the plan at the start of the season. Beyond that we are getting our personnel right and that is the strongest thing we have going for us right now. We are working better together and making the call easier. Now we are trying things. You can’t try things when you are already screwed up. I have some cars that have to make a move over these next couple of races. We ran some good numbers when you look at the overall weekend. We know the direction we need to go,” said Force, who sits No. 4 in the Mello Yello point standings.

Force will spend the one off weekend between Seattle and Brainerd racing in the iconic Night Under Fire at Summit Raceway Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio next Saturday. The massive match race will feature Force, Courtney Force, Cruz Pedregon, Matt Hagan, Dale Creasy and Jack Wyatt in Funny Cars plus a host of other race cars. The night will concluded with one of the largest firework displays in the Ohio.

Brittany Force and the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster raced to the quarter-finals at the Northwest Nationals for the first time in her young career. In her previous two appearances she was ousted by the same driver, Khalid alBalooshi in the first round, but today Force paired up beside Troy Buff and took the win with a 3.774 second pass to Buff’s 3.846 second run.

In the quarter-finals Force raced No. 5 qualifier Larry Dixon who had lane choice. The three-time Top Fuel champion took a slight starting line advantage and drove straight down his lane to defeat Force with a 3.791 to her 3.899. Force did not let the loss overshadow a positive race weekend and a successful three race Western Swing that included a semi-final finish in Denver.

“I am very happy with our weekend here in Seattle. We improved when you look back at last year. We had a tough finish in Sonoma but we bounced back this weekend. We had a consistent race car in qualifying and we improved every run in qualifying. We got past the first round and unfortunately Larry Dixon took us out. We had some good runs and we are continuing to get better. We are going to keep figuring it out and get it ready for Brainerd,” said Force.

The Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS team and Robert Hight were surprisingly upset in the first round. The No. 4 qualifier was bringing momentum and an opportunity to solidify his position in the Mello Yello point standings to the starting line against Chad Head. Unfortunately Hight’s race car got loose at the top end as Head powered past him with a 4.017 elapsed time in front of Hight’s 4.137 second time.

“We needed to go rounds today. (Crew chief) Mike Neff and the guys are looking at this Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car to figure out what happened. There are two races left so we are treating these next two races like Countdown races. We aren’t putting pressure on ourselves we are just ramping up the focus. I have a lot of confidence in this team and we showed we can run with anybody during qualifying,” said Hight.

Hight will head to Brainerd tied for 9th in the point standings with two races left before the start of the Countdown.

After four qualifying passes straight down the groove on Friday and Saturday, Courtney Force and the Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS team found themselves in a losing battle with Alexis DeJoria in the first round of eliminations on Sunday.

The 27-year-old qualified No. 6 and had lane choice in the first round next to the fellow female Funny Car pilot. Both cars smoked the tires towards the end of their runs and DeJoria’s car recovered first. This was the second time in the past three races the pair have met in the first round. It’s the twelfth time they have faced each other in eliminations, but only the fourth time this season. Force is now 6-6 to DeJoria in previous match-ups.