JOHN FORCE RACES TO SEMI-FINALS AT CAROLINA NATIONALS

CHARLOTTE, NC — The Countdown to the Championship began today at zMax Dragway and 16-time Funny Car champion John Force, driving a Jeff Gordon Tribute Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, raced to the semi-finals and established himself as a championship contender once again. As the No. 6 qualifier Force took out John Hale and Ron Capps in the opening two rounds.

In the semi-finals against No. 2 qualifier Del Worsham Force dropped a close race 4.148 to 4.138 seconds. This was the first time Force has faced Worsham at the Carolina Nationals but the 143-time winner was 50-25 against the veteran driver before today’s race.

“(Crew chief) Jon Schaffer and this team gave me a good race car. If I would have been a little better on that tree I could have won that round and maybe this race in this Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car. That is all part of it,” said Force. “(Del) Worsham did his job but I will keep working hard. I have a really good hot rod now. In these kinds of conditions whether we have a loose race track or we are in the heat we are running with the best of them. That is all we have been trying to accomplish this year with all our changes. If I keep getting that race car I will be one of the best drivers.”

Force will head to the AAA Insurance Midwest NHRA Nationals in the No. 5 spot in points.

Today Courtney Force lived up to the Countdown to the Championship spoiler label when she dismissed NHRA Funny Car points leader Jack Beckman in the first round of eliminations. She left the starting line before the veteran driver and her 4.086 ET at 305.63 mph beat his tire-smoking effort of 9.391 seconds at 58.24 mph.

“We came into race day with a high-pressure first round against the No. 1 guy in the Countdown to the Championship. The Traxxas team was able to be a spoiler for the first race out. We got the win and ran the quickest of the session.

Force evened the score and is now 6-6 to Beckman in eliminations. This was the first time the two have raced in Charlotte at zMax Dragway, but their fifth match-up this season. It was also the fifth time they have met in the opening round on race day. Force was deemed one of the most-likely to shake up the Countdown when she missed her final opportunity at a Top Ten spot on race day at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals.

In the second round Force then lined up with lane choice over Tommy Johnson Jr. She took the right lane and also took the starting line advantage, but her Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car went up in tire smoke almost immediately.

“We came out in the heat in the second round and smoked the tires. We’ve had a consistent car all weekend long so it’s a little bit of a bummer, but you have to push this car to compete with these guys out here. They were all running pretty quick and Tommy Johnson Jr. had a solid run. I pedaled the car hoping to get down and get after him, but he was already through the lights by the time I got down there.

“We’re positive leaving Charlotte this weekend. We’re excited that we had a pretty consistent car all throughout qualifying. We picked up a bonus point for being the third-quickest of the last qualifying round and then came out this morning and posted low ET of the round. I’m really excited. I’m proud of (crew chief) Ron Douglas and my team and I’m looking forward to the next event,” Force said.

The Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS team ran into trouble in the first round racing Shane Westerfield. Hight was the No. 5 qualifier but in the first round he left on Westerfield only to haze his Goodyear slicks at half-track. While Hight was pedaling his 10,000 hp Funny Car Westerfield got around the two-time Carolina Nationals champion and grabbed his first round win.

“That was a tough race. The conditions were tricky but that is no excuse. This Auto Club Chevrolet team is better than that and we will be ready for St. Louis. That is a AAA race and we will be supporting AAA Missouri that race. You always want to do well at every race but it means a little more when your sponsor’s name is on the event. We have won at zMax before and today just wasn’t our day. The good news is the points leader went out early so the point standings really just tightened up today,” said Hight, who is only four points out of 7th place in the points.

The Monster Energy Top Fuel team and driver Brittany Force suffered a tough first round loss against three-time world champion Larry Dixon. As the No. 12 qualifier Force was relegated to the left lane and as the tree turned green her Monster Energy dragster took off only to drive into tire smoke at 300 feet. Dixon’s 10,000 horsepower Top Fueler also lost traction but the veteran driver was able to regain control and just drive around Force at the finish line to get the round win. Force entered today’s race at the No. 5 driver in the Mello Yello point standings and she will head to St .Louis, the second stop on the Countdown to the Championship, in 6th place.

“It was a tough weekend for us. Qualifying was a challenge and we ended up No. 12 going into race day. That is not where we are used to being for qualifying. We came up short in the first round but luckily the way everything fell we didn’t get hurt too bad in the points. We are No. 6 and we are still in the championship mix. We can have a good race in St. Louis and be right in the championship hunt. The best part about this is in a couple of days we will be in St. Louis racing again,” said Force, a two-time finalist in 2015.