LAS VEGAS, Nev. (April 12, 2015)— Alexis DeJoria and the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car team moved up three spots to seventh place in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series points rankings after a successful weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
They entered the Vegas race ranked in the No. 10 spot, and without having made a full pass down the dragstrip since round one of eliminations in Gainesville, Fla. last month.
Before any runs were even made down the 1,000-ft Vegas strip, the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio team were faced with the challenge of having to deal with an electrical fire that occured in their race hauler on Thursday morning, giving new meaning to the Incendio slogan of ‘bold and fiery.’ Thankfully, the Patron team was joined by their Kalitta Motorsports teammates as well as crewmembers from several other teams who all banded together to ensure that nothing got damaged in the fire, and nobody got hurt.
With the first potential hiccup of the weekend behind them, the Patrón team was ready to defend their 2014 SummitRacing.com Vegas title. All four runs of qualifying saw the Patrón Toyota Camry make full pulls down the track. In Q2, they ran a 4.037-second run, their best of the weekend which ultimately qualified them in the No. 4 spot. During Q4 the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio team not only earned three bonus points for the quickest run of the session (4.059), but also bragging rights of running the quickest ET of the day.
With four solid qualifying runs under their belt, the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio team felt confident going into race day. Courtney Force was DeJoria’s first round opponent. The two both made respectable runs, but DeJoria was able to power her Toyota Camry across the finish line first with her 4.115-second pass versus C. Force’s 4.165.
It would be a battle of the Team Kalitta Toyotas in round two of eliminations as DeJoria would square off against her teammate Del Worsham for a spot in the semi-finals. The two left the line with nearly identical reaction times. DeJoria ran into trouble first, smoking the tires early into the run. While DeJoria pedaled her Toyota Camry in an attempt to regain traction, Worsham also smoked the tires, got sideways, and came dangerously close to crossing the centerline. While he was struggling to regain traction, DeJoria got back on the throttle and was able to successfully recover and power her Toyota Camry across the stripe, setting off the win light and advancing the team to the semifinals.
DeJoria faced eventual race winner John Force in the team’s second semifinal round appearance of 2015. The two previously held a one-to-one record at the Vegas track. Unfortunately, for DeJoria and the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio team, their Toyota Camry smoked the tires almost immediately into the run and J. Force was able to easily pull ahead and take the win, ending Team Patrón’s chances at winning the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals for the second year in a row.
“It was a strange start to the weekend with the fire on our truck on Thursday, but man did my guys turn it around,” said DeJoria, a three-time Funny Car event winner. “We had two great days of qualifying where we made it down the track every time and we made it to the semi-finals. We didn’t get to run for the trophy, but we made some progress this weekend. I’m really excited about our next race. We’re getting there again. It just feels good to start getting back up to the top, and I want to thank Patrón, Toyota and all of our other wonderful sponsors for their unwavering support.”
The No. 7 ranked Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car team competes next at the 28th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston, Texas, April 24-26. 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.