C. FORCE, HIGHT LEAD JFR ON FRIDAY AT SONOMA NATIONALS

SONOMA, CA – Courtney Force claimed the No. 2 position in the Funny Car field and picked up three additional bonus points for her Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car team. She made two clean passes straight down the race track to kick off qualifying at the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway. Her 3.937 second pass at 322.50 mph was third best of the first session and she stepped up in the evening session to a 3.871 second run at 306.12 mph.

“This Traxxas Chevy made two amazing passes today at Sonoma Raceway. It feels so good to be back at this track. We’ve won here in the past and this is the second stop on the Western Swing for our team. We went out in the heat of the day and ran a 3.93 to get us in the No. 3 spot, then came out looking to improve in the night session. It was a lot cooler and we went straight into a 3.87 second pass, but it was only at 306 mph,” said Force, who sits No. 2 in the Mello Yello point standings.

Force’s second qualifying run tied her career quickest elapsed time equally her best run from the Kansas Nationals earlier this season.

“I was a little disappointed. The car kept trying to pull to the right and I was fighting it the whole way down trying to keep it in the groove. Towards the finish it pulled me hard to the right so I had to get off the throttle and try to pull it back to avoid hitting the wall. I’m disappointed we didn’t get a full pull because we know it would have gone to the top spot. I would have been a record setting run,” added Force. “All in all, I’m still excited and we have a couple amazing passes under a belt here. I’m excited for my crew at this point because they know what our Traxxas Chevy is really capable of.”

Robert Hight and the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car powered their way to the No. 3 provisional qualifying position on Friday night. It was a career quickest run for Hight and put the 2009 NHRA Funny Car champion solidly at the top of a tough Funny Car field. In the first session Hight made a 3.974 second run that had the 2008 Sonoma Nationals winner at the back of the pack for the prime time conditions. Hight had his hands full on both runs today but especially the final run tonight.

“We aren’t leaving the starting line straight. It is a handful to drive early. This thing is going so far to the right and I am talking three feet to the right in the first 60 feet. We are working to figure out what is going on. I have my hands full on every run trying to get it back into the middle of the groove without upsetting it,” explained Hight in his pits. “Luckily the groove is wide enough here that I’ll be honest I didn’t think it was going to stick on that last run. I stood on the gas and it turned right and I am bringing it back as best as I can. I was able to get it straight and run a career best elapsed time. That is pretty amazing.”

The PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car and John Force made a strong run to start the day, 3.942 seconds was fourth quickest of the first session. The most recent NHRA Funny Car event winner was near the back of the pack in the night session and Force launched his Jon Schaffer tuned Funny Car off the starting line hard but at 100 feet he lost power and the 144-time winner had the best seat in the house to see Del Worsham run to the provisional No. 1 spot. The seven-time winner will move into Saturday as the provisional No. 8 qualifier.

“This PEAK hot rod is starting to turn the corner. Jon Schaffer is doing a great job. All the Chevys are running good. We had a good weekend in Denver and we are going to try and keep running good. I love this drag racing and I want to thank the fans for being here. We are going to give you a show this weekend,” said Force.

Brittany Force was No. 4 after the first qualifying session on the strength of a 3.788 second run. In the second session the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster over-powered the track with an aggressive run that had the fourth year pro battling to keep her 10,000 beast in her lane. Force launched so hard that the 2013 rookie of the year was thrilled and a bit scared at the prospect of completing the run.

“We had an .820 60 foot time. That is impressive. This Monster Energy dragster launched so hard. If it would have made it to the finish line that would have been an outstanding run. I definitely think it could have been No. 1. They were pushing it and we had the opportunity to do that because we had a good run in the first session. The night time run was the time to take a shot and see what we can do. We’ll get two more shots tomorrow,” said Force.