BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 21, 2015)— After advancing four rounds in the past two races, the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car team roared into Thunder Valley hoping to continue their steady climb towards the upper half of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Top Ten points rankings. Unfortunately for Alexis DeJoria and the Tommy DeLago-led team, the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals would not be the event that would help progress them forward among the competitive Funny Car ranks.
DeJoria, a three-time Funny Car winner, had a respectable showing throughout Bristol qualifying. She powered her 10,000-horsepower Toyota Camry to a 4.054-second run on Friday evening, and after a lengthy rain delay on Saturday, made another 4.0-sec run under the lights in the fourth and final round of qualifying. That Saturday night 4.025 ET landed her in the top-half of the field in the No. 5 spot, drawing No. 12 qualifier Tony Pedregon in the first round of eliminations on Sunday afternoon.
DeJoria previously held a 5-1 winning record over T. Pedregon, but Pedregon added another ‘W’ to his column after the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry smoked the tires 200-feet into the run and Pedregon was able to power his car ahead to an easy win.
Even with their first round exit, the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio team was able to hold on to a position in the coveted Top Ten. They entered the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in eighth and despite two lesser-ranked competitors advancing to the second round, the Patrón team dropped just one position to ninth. They hold only a two-point lead over the current tenth-ranked team. They will leave Bristol Dragway with 574 points and have a week off before the next event in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series, the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, July 3-5. For more information, please visit www.alexisdejoria.com, Follow Us on Twitter @ADRnhra, or Like Us on Facebook Alexis DeJoria
Eliminations:
Round One: 8.822 ET at 80.36 MPH def. by Tony Pedregon 4.261 ET at 247.66 MPH
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.