CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION TASCAPARTS.COM NHRA NEW ENGLAND NATIONALS NEW ENGLAND DRAGWAY IN EPPING, NEW HAMPSHIRE RACE RECAP JUNE13, 2021
Chevrolet doubles up at New England Dragway • John Force outduels teammate Robert Hight for win No. 153• John Force Racing earns third consecutive Funny Car win• Aaron Stanfield edges Greg Anderson in Pro Stock final
EPPING, N.H. (June 13, 2021) – How appropriate that John Force would be holding the Wally in the 900th Funny Car race in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) history.
The 16-time Funny Car champion, driving the PEAK/BlueDEF Platinum Chevrolet Camaro SS, earned his record-extending 153rd Funny Car victory by defeating teammate Robert Hight in the final of the TascaParts.com NHRA New England Nationals presented by Bandero Premium Tequila at New England Dragway.
In another all-Chevy Camaro final match, Aaron Stanfield denied Greg Anderson from tying the Pro Stock record for career wins and picked up his second victory in the process.
Force’s victory was his second of the season and third in a row for his namesake Funny Car team. Hight recorded his 52nd career win in the previous NHRA event at Houston. It is the 144th Chevrolet Funny Car win and 64th with the Camaro body.
“It represents team effort,” said Force, who holds a 4-3 edge against Hight in their final-round meetings. The No. 3 qualifier went straight down the middle of the racetrack in 3.972 seconds at 327.51 mph to Hight’s 3.993-second pass in the AAA New England Camaro. “I won today; I did my job.”
Added Hight’s crew chief, Jimmy Prock: “Everybody has worked really hard; we had to start over this year after taking a year off (because of the economics of the COVID-19 pandemic) and it shows what great people we have here.”Stanfield, who was 6 years old in 1999 when Anderson made the first of his 161 Pro Stock finals, recorded a 6.576-second run in the Janac Brothers Camaro SS to edge Anderson’s 6.577-second pass in the HendrickCars.comCamaro SS.
“It’s been a lot of hard work by the guys on my team; they’ve been working really hard on this hot rod, and I’ve been trying to do my job behind the wheel,” said Stanfield, the 2020 Factory Stock Showdown champion in the Janac Brothers Chevrolet COPO Camaro. “It all jelled today. Getting to race somebody that you grew up watching do really well over the years, it’s cool to get to race him and beat him.”
Anderson, the No. 1 qualifier for the fifth time in six races and 111th time in his career, was seeking to tie Warren Johnson with 97 victories for the most all time in Pro Stock and second to Force overall. Anderson did break a tie with Tony Schumacher for third in NHRA career round wins. He has 854; Johnson is second with 874 and Force is the runaway leader with 1,368.
Brittany Force, the No. 7 qualifier in the Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet dragster, fell in the first round.
Next on the schedule is the Summing Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals on June 25-27 in Norwalk, Ohio. The race was not held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CHEVROLET FROM THE COCKPIT
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, FLAV-R-PAC/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 7 qualifier, fell in first round): “We ran a 3.843 pass with a cylinder out and got beat first round here at New England Dragway. This Flav-R-Pac Monster Energy team has had a tough couple of races lately so we’re hoping to turn our luck around at the next one in Norwalk, Ohio.”
FUNNY CAR:
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK/BLUEDEF CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier, won second race of season and 153rd of career): “You have to look at both of these cars (his and teammate Robert Hight’s) and Brittany’s (Force) dragster. The all have PEAK on them and AAA and Monster, Flav-R-Pac, Chevy and all the people that take care of me, that’s what it’s all about. Robert helps me back in the driver’s seat. I want to thank all the people in Epping for coming back and I want to thank Daniel Hood for a great tune-up and (Tim) Fabrisi for fixing the cockpit in my car.”
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AAA NEW ENGLAND CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 10 qualifier, runner-up for second time this season): “Really wanted this one for AAA New England. We all really wanted it. This crew, Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham, they worked hard. We went some rounds and got better, but not the result we wanted. You always want to be the ones winning, but I’m glad it stayed in the John Force Racing family. John’s been working hard, too. All of our teams have been and we’re dominating. That’s ultimately what you want. In Norwalk, it will be us.”
PRO STOCK:
GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier, race runner-up; points leader): “I certainly can’t complain. It’s really been a dream start to the season. The driver made a couple of mistakes, otherwise, we could have had a seriously good run going already. My HendrickCars.com Chevy has been bad to the bone all year, but I really want to present a trophy to Mr. (Rick) Hendrick. The HendrickCars.comteam has been doing a great job over there in NASCAR, and we need to start pulling our weight over here in NHRA.”