CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
NHRA SOUTHERN NATIONALS PRESENTED BY MELLO YELLO
ATLANTA DRAGWAY IN COMMERCE, GEORGIA
SUNDAY, MAY 6, 2018
Chevrolet Records Three Victories at Atlanta Dragway
• Courtney Force picks up second Funny Car win; takes points lead
• Chevy Racing claims eight victories in three-race stretch
• Vincent Nobile is first repeat Pro Stock winner of the season
• Jeff Strickland wins Stock Eliminator class in Chevrolet COPO Camaro
COMMERCE, Georgia (May 6, 2018) – Ten years after her sister become the first female to win a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car national event, Courtney Force proudly raised her 10th career Wally in the winner’s circle at the same racetrack.
Force, driving the Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS, prevailed in the final of the NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway for her second victory of the season. Additionally, Vincent Nobile, driving the Mountain View Tire Chevrolet Camaro SS, became the first repeat Pro Stock winner of the season as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series concluded a stretch of racing on three consecutive weekends.
The three-race set netted Chevrolet eight wins — three in Pro Stock (Matt Hartford, Erica Enders, Nobile), two in Stock Eliminator (Thomas Fletcher, Jeff Strickland), and one each in Top Fuel (Brittany Force), Funny Car (Courtney Force) and the second round of the SAM Tech NHRA Factory Stock Showdown series (Arthur Kohn) – and nine No. 1 qualifier honors in the professional classes and Sportsman categories.
Force, competing in her 150th Funny Car event, earned the Funny Car low qualifier honor twice in the stretch and became the fourth No. 1 qualifier to go on to win in seven races. She moved to the top of the Funny Car standings and delivered the 126th Funny Car victory for Chevrolet since 1967.
“I love putting the yellow hat on at the end of any race weekend,” said Force, whose pass of 4.046 seconds at 313.73 mph handily defeated Matt Hagan in the final. “For my Advance Auto Parts team. for (crew chiefs) Brian Corradi, Dan Hood and every one of the guys who work on my race car, this is well-deserved. They’ve done a phenomenal job all season long.
“To go to the top spot and take it home it feels pretty good. And it feels even better because this is the track that my sister Ashley got her first win at, so this is pretty special.”
In May 2008, Ashley Force defeated her father, John Force, in the Southern Nationals final round to lay the groundwork for females in the Funny Car category.
Robert Hight, the reigning Funny Car champion driving the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS, fell in the first round of eliminations. He was the No. 2 qualifier – the fourth time in seven races he’s qualified in the top four. John Force Racing teammate John Force, driving the PEAK Coolant & Motor Oil Chevrolet Camaro SS, also lost in the first round. He was the No. 5 qualifier.
Reigning Top Fuel champion Brittany Force, the No. 2 qualifier in the Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster, fell in the quarterfinals. Force, who won at Houston to start the three-race swing, has qualified in the top three in five of the seven races.
Nobile, who also won the four-wide at Las Vegas last month, defeated No. 3 qualifier Tanner Gray (Gray Motorsports/Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro SS) by .0007 of a second in the final. Nobile recorded a pass of 6.599 seconds at 209.72 mph to claim his 12th career Pro Stock victory in 171 races. He also moved to the top of the standings.
“I looked over and saw Tanner and thought ‘I’m done.’ When my win light came on I couldn’t believe it,” said Nobile, who is the fourth winner in a row aligned with Elite Motorsports. “Hats off to my guys. I had a fast race car today. Clearly, it wasn’t me.”
Nobile held off four-time Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson (Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS), the No. 1 qualifier for the fourth time this season, by six-1,000th of a second in one semifinal. Gray defeated No. 2 qualifier Drew Skillman (Ray Skillman Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro SS) on a holeshot in the other semifinal.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. (JEGS.com/Elite Performance Chevrolet Camaro SS), defending Pro Stock champion Bo Butner (Jim Butner Auto Sales Chevrolet Camaro SS), Deric Kramer (American Ethanol Chevrolet Camaro SS), and Chris McGaha (Harlow Sammons of Odessa Chevrolet Camaro SS) were first-round winners.
Strickland, of Red Bay, Alabama, the 2016 Stock Eliminator champion in his Chevrolet COPO Camaro, registered his 17th national event win by driving his COPO Camaro to victory in the Sportsman class. Strickland was the No. 21 qualifier of the 50 entries. Richard Bierie of Acworth, Georgia, was the No. 1 qualifier of the 50 entries in his Chevy COPO Camaro.
“Our Chevrolet COPO Camaro is great and we made a good run in the final,” said Strickland, driving the car sponsored by Berger Chevrolet and GMPartsNow.com.
Brandon Bakies of Alexandria. Louisiana, driving his Chevrolet COPO Camaro, fell in the quarterfinals of Super Stock.
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season continues May 18-20 with the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals presented by Minties at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas. FS1 will telecast eliminations and finals live at 2 p.m. ET May 20.
ROGER ALLEN, CHEVY RACING NHRA PROGRAM MANAGER: “What a great way to conclude the three races in three weekends of competition with multiple Chevy Racing victories. Congratulations Courtney Force, who rode the No. 1 Funny Car qualifier honor to her second win of the young season and moving to the top of the standings. Also congratulations to two-time winner Vincent Nobile in Pro Stock and Jeff Strickland in Stock Eliminator for their victories against stiff competition. Chevy Racing teams and drivers will get a short break before resuming competition at Topeka, Kansas, though I know they all will be working to improve their race cars.”
An interview with Funny Car winner COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, ADVANCE AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; second win of season and 10th of Funny Car career; fourth final round in seven races; competing in 150th race; takes over Funny Car points lead):
AFTER GETTING THE GREEN HAT, YOU NOW HAVE THE YELLOW HAT. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
“It feels good. I love putting the yellow hat on at the end of any race weekend. For my Advance Auto Parts team. for (crew chiefs) Brian Corradi, Dan Hood and every one of the guys who work on my race car, this is well-deserved. They’ve done a phenomenal job all season long. To go to the top spot and take it home it feels pretty good. And it feels even better because this is the track that my sister Ashley got her first win at, so this is pretty special.”
AN EXCITING DAY
“All day long I thought it would be so cool to get a win here, especially because Ashley is here with us. She doesn’t come to a ton of races, so I was really excited that she could be here and celebrate with us in the winner’s circle. We had a great race car all day long. From getting the No. 1 qualifying spot yesterday in our final qualifying run and to out there and have some consistent runs. We lost lane choice in the second round and the semis and we were dropping holes when we were going over a bump down there — we called it our ski jump over in the left lane – but we managed to get it fixed up, stop dropping holes and then I got lane choice against (Matt) Hagan. It obviously was a tough matchup any time you have to go up against a DSR car, but our Advance Auto Parts boys got it done and we ended up turning on that win light with a 4.04 to his 4.14 so it’s a pretty good day. It feels good to be back in the winner’s circle for the second time this season.”
TELL US ABOUT THAT IMPRESSIVE 4.03 SEMIFINAL RUN
“It’s a tricky racetrack I think on both lanes. But it definitely was a struggle getting down without spinning or dropping a hole on that left lane. But I’ve got Brian Corradi and Dan Hood on my team and it feels good to go up there as a driver with a lot of confidence knowing that those guys are tuning your race car. I have a lot of faith in them and every single guy on my team and they made it happen.”
WHAT ARE SOME THINGS THAT ARE DIFFERENT FROM 2017 WITH BRIAN (CORRADI) ON THE TEAM?
“We consider everyone at JFR family and it was even more family when you bring my brother-in-law and match him up with someone that he grew up with, which is Brian Corradi. It’s been a lot of fun working with both of them, learning from both of them, and they do a great job working together. I think my entire team has a lot of respect for them both. They’ve just done a great job; it’s been a lot of fun driving that race car for Chevy, for PEAK, for Auto Club, for Monster Energy, and Parker Store. It’s great to finish off three in a row in the winner’s circle.”
DID YOU SPEND ALL NIGHT SAYING ‘I’VE GOT TO DO THIS?’ (REFERRING TO HER SISTER’S VICTORY ANNIVERSARY)
“It was Ashley’s first win at Atlanta and it’s actually the first time I’ve won here. It is pretty cool. I didn’t realize it was 10 years ago. I grew up watching Ashley and everything she’s accomplished in the Funny Car category and looked up to her. She’s been a mentor to me and always been there to give me advise for anything I’ve needed – from my rookie season until now. It’s been really great having her support, having Brittany’s support. They are my best friends and it’s great to have them out here and loving this sport of drag racing, but especially having her who has been in a Funny Car and who got a win at this event it’s really special to have her out here with me today and be in the winner’s circle with her. It’s been 10 years; that’s pretty awesome and 10th win for us.”
HOW DO YOU CELEBRATE THE VICTORY IN THE TIME OFF?
“Celebrate with my team but it kind of goes right back to figuring out how we’re going to get this car ready for the next race. You have to turn that switch. You have to focus on the next race and figure out how we can maintain the points lead.”
YOU’RE THINKING BIG PICTURE
“It’s still early on in the season but we’ve got the points lead right now and we just hope to consistently hold onto that top spot for awhile. I’m sure it will bounce around; there are a lot of great teams out there and these races are going to switch things up. But I feel we have a great race car, great team and everyone at Advance Auto Parts. Just looking toward the end of the season. We’re hoping that we’ve got the car and team to get it done, and hopefully we end up with that championship at the end of it.”
THE DRIVER HAD TO BE ONE THEIR GAME TODAY
“It was a tricky racetrack and the first round we had lane choice but the second round and the semis we lost lane choice and got put over in the left lane. There’s a bump down there and we kept trying to figure out how to get over it. We called it our ski jump all weekend. We feel like we mastered the ski jump after the semis. We got lane choice in that final round and were debating whether to switch to the left lane because we had it figured out. We had a solid run — a 4.046 (seconds) — against (Matt) Hagan, who is always a tough competitor. Job well done by my team.”
YOU’RE A TWO-TIME FUNNY CAR WINNER AND THE POINTS LEADER
“That is pretty awesome. Seriously, that is because of every single guy on my team. They do such a great job. We’re going to see if we can hold onto this points lead all season long because we want to end up with a big trophy at the end of it.”
An interview with Pro Stock winner VINCENT NOBILE, MOUNTAIN VIEW RACING, MOUNTAIN VIEW TIRE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 5 qualifier; second win of season and 12th of Pro Stock career; also won Las Vegas four-wide; first repeat Pro Stock winner this season – all Chevy Racing winners; defeated Tanner Gray by .0007 of a second in final):
FINAL ROUND, YOU GLANCE OUT THE WINDOW AND DID YOU THINK YOU’D WIN?
“No way. I looked over and saw Tanner and thought ‘I’m done.’ When my win light came on I couldn’t believe it. Hats off to Tanner. When I was 19 I was cutting lights like that (.010) all day long but I’m old now. He’s a hell of a driver. I just had a great race car this weekend. I know we didn’t qualify on the pole but 1-5 was separated by less than a hundredth (of a second). Hats off to my guys. I had a fast race car today. Clearly, it wasn’t me.”
YOU’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A POINTS BATTLE
“It’s really early yet; it’s only the seventh race. More importantly, two times in the winner’s circle with this new Jerry Haas race car. We only had a few runs on it before we went to Pomona, and now two winner’s circles and qualifying No. 1 the thing is bad a–.”
DID A LOT OF TODAY’S WIN COME FROM CHASSIS TUNING?
“One-hundred percent. I had the car to beat this weekend. I know we didn’t qualify No.1 but we were going back after each run, looking at the computer. We know we could have been the fastest car each session. It just didn’t happen, but on race day we were the fastest car every session, which I thought was pretty big. This track is pretty tricky, a lot of adjustment on a Pro Stock car. We finally figured it out come today. We got to keep lane choice, which I thought was pretty big. We wanted to stay in that right lane all day, that was our goal, and we did. All in all, a great day.”
ONE OF THE BIG THINGS ON THIS RACETRACK IS GEARING. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT?
“Naturally, gearing is huge, especially nowadays in Pro Stock because of the rev limiter. Typically, we change the rear gear almost every run because we can’t seem to get it right. But I guess we got luck; I only had to change it one time when we got here. Gearing is everything. We actually found a little trick in Round 2, we tried something in the transmission box and it worked out. It traveled really well. I don’t know if it will correlate at the next track, but it worked on this track that was a little marginal.”
IN YOUR MIND, HOW MUCH OF A DIFFENCE DOES IT MAKE KNOWING YOU GUYS ARE DOING THE WHOLE SCHEDULE THIS YEAR?
“It’s just awesome, Unfortunately again, Nick and Irene Mitsos from Mountain View are not here this weekend during a win. I can’t thank them enough for letting me come out here and play because this is play for me. It’s really awesome to be able to run the whole season. We have a bunch of work to do back home, me and my father. But we get it done and come out here and make it happen. This is what we truly love to do. We’ve got the car to beat right now, that’s for sure.”
ARE YOU STARTIG TO GET THOUGHTS OF CHAMPIONSHIP?
“It’s so early yet. All I could think about is the lucky cookies. We’re No. 1 in points, but more importantly we have a really consistent, fast race car. I’ve said it since the beginning of this year we have a hotrod. Brand new race car, qualify No. 1 in the first race, winner’s circle four races in, and now another one. The car is great.”