TOPEKA, Kan. (May 24, 2015)— It was a weekend of record runs at Heartland Park Topeka during the NHRA Kansas Nationals. With an unheard of eight sub four-second runs during Funny Car qualifying, the competition was fast and fierce all weekend long.
Alexis DeJoria and the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car team claim one of the eight three second qualifying runs with their Friday night 3.994-second pass, a career best for the fourth year team. Saturday only offered team’s one chance to improve upon their qualifying position after Mother Nature forced NHRA to cancel racing after Q3, and after that third session the Patrón team was bumped to the No. 7 spot, despite standing on their quickest ET to date.
With no chance to improve their position, Kalitta Funny Car teammates No. 7 qualifier DeJoria and No. 10 qualifier Del Worsham found themselves in the unfortunate spot of being matched up against each other in the first round of eliminations on Sunday.
The Kalitta Toyota Camrys battled it out in the seventh pairing and although DeJoria was quicker off the line (.071 reaction time to Worsham’s .096), Worsham powered his 10,000-horsepower Toyota past her Patrón XO Cafe Incendio machine, running a career best 3.988 versus her respectable 4.040-second pass.
“Being a part of the fastest field in NHRA Funny Car history this weekend in Heartland Park Topeka was really incredible. What a gift, honestly,” said DeJoria, who now has four three second runs on her growing racing resumé. “We went out there in the first round against our teammate this morning, and we made a really good run, but he’s over there running a sub three and it’s hard to compete with that. Best of luck to Del and Doug as they head into the semis- we’ll pack up and get ourselves ready for Englishtown.”
Alexis DeJoria and the Kalitta Motorsports Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car team will leave Topeka in ninth place with 395 points. They have a week off before they head East to Englishtown, N.J. for the 46th annual Toyota NHRA SummerNationals, the ninth event of the 24 race series. For more information, please visit www.alexisdejoria.com, Follow Us on Twitter @ADRnhra, or Like Us on Facebook Alexis DeJoria
About Alexis DeJoria
Alexis DeJoria, daughter of the famed John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems and proud owner of Tequila Patrόn, is a professional NHRA racecar driver, competing in the nitro Funny Car class on the Kalitta Motorsports team. Alexis drives the Patrόn XO Cafe Incendio-sponsored 2015 Toyota Camry. Alexis, who had all the opportunity in the world to pursue any type of career, felt strongly about following her passion, and her need for adrenaline drove her to pursue the unlikely profession of auto-racing. The determination to ‘blaze her own trail’ continues to drive her and push her to higher levels in male dominated sport of drag racing.
About Kalitta Motorsports
Based in Ypsilanti, Mich., Kalitta Motorsports is a Top Fuel and Funny Car drag racing team in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. The team was founded and is owned by drag racing icon Connie “the Bounty Hunter” Kalitta. For more than 50 years, Connie has been involved in the sport as a driver, tuner, and an owner. Kalitta Motorsports is one of the most successful teams in the history of auto racing with five world championships and over 50 national event titles in five different professional drag racing sanctioning bodies since it was established by Connie in 1959.