POMONA, Calif. (November 15, 2014)— The quickest woman in Funny Car history can add yet another 3-second run, and No. 1 qualifier to her ever-growing NHRA drag racing resume. Alexis DeJoria, driver of the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car, raced her way to the top spot at the 50th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals on Saturday evening with a blistering 3.998-second Q4 pass.
DeJoria earned her third No. 1 qualifier, and third sub-four second run at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, which was also the scene of her first three second pass, achieved at the 2014 season-opener (3.997-sec, Feb. 2014). She remains the only female Funny Car driver to have run in the three second time bracket in competition.
“It’s exciting to finish out the year with this, and to be able to represent The Patrón Spirits Company’s new brand with such an incredible run is just amazing,” said DeJoria, referring to the fiery new look which adorns her Toyota Camry this weekend. The Patrón Spirits Company recently released a new addition to their XO Cafe line- Patrón XO Cafe Incendio, made with Mexican arbol chile peppers and sweet Criollo chocolate. In celebration of the launch, DeJoria’s car was re-wrapped with XO Cafe Incendio graphics for the weekend’s event. “Patrón XO Cafe Incendio is a combination of spicy and sweet. It’s sinister- just like our car.”
“My guys have done an incredible job all year long, and we’re hungry,” said the California native of the second quickest run of her career. “To have yet another No. 1 qualifier to our credit is so exciting, and to do it with a three-second run is even better. My crew chiefs Tommy [DeLago] and Glen [Huszar] are bad-asses, and they’re not shy, so if the conditions call for it, they’re going to step on it. We qualified well early on [4.020-sec run, Q1] and knew we were safely in the field, so we had the chance to really go for it tonight.”
DeJoria will face Gary Densham in round one of eliminations on Sunday morning. When asked her thoughts going into race day, DeJoria made it clear that she was focusing on taking it one round at a time. “We haven’t had the best of luck racing from the No. 1 spot in the past, so we’re going to do as we always do on Sundays and just take it one round at a time; not get too ahead of ourselves. You can’t take anyone lightly out here- drag racing is a humbling sport,” she said, adding “But, it would be awesome if we could put this Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry in the Winner’s Circle tomorrow. We’d love to close out the season on that note, and leave that lasting impression on everyone going into the off-season.”
Alexis DeJoria and the Kalitta Motorsports Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car team begin qualifying for the 50th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at 11AM PST on Sunday morning. For more information, please visit www.alexisdejoria.com, Follow Us on Twitter @ADR_Nitro771, or Like Us on Facebook Alexis DeJoria.
TV Schedule
Qualifying
November 16, 3AM-4AM EST
November 16, 3PM-4PM EST (Re Air)
ESPN2
Eliminations
November 16, 7:30PM-10:30PM EST
ESPN2
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 race car driver, competing in the nitro Funny Car class on the Kalitta Motorsports team. Alexis drives the Patrόn XO Cafe-sponsored 2014 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.
About Patrón XO Cafe Incendio
Recognizing the growing enthusiasm for intense taste and flavor, Patrón Spirits has introduced Patrón XO Cafe Incendio, an innovative fiery-hot chile chocolate liqueur.
Patrón XO Cafe Incendio combines the spicy, distinctive flavor of Mexican arbol chile with the rich, decadent essence of Criollo chocolate, brought together with the crisp, smooth taste of Patrón Silver tequila.
The Chile de arbol is a small and slender Mexican pepper typically found in the states of Jalisco, Chihuahua and Zacatecas. Thought to be derived from the cayenne pepper, arbol chile is characterized by its smoky and spicy complex flavor, and is the main component in many hot sauces. The high-quality Criollo variety chocolate in Patrón XO Cafe Incendio is produced in Mexico’s Tabasco region.
Perfect as a shot, or as the base for a high quality cocktail, Patrón XO Cafe Incendio is distilled at 30 percent alcohol by volume, 60 proof. Produced and bottled at the Hacienda Patrón distillery in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, Patrón XO Cafe Incendio is handcrafted with the same attention to detail and quality as all Patrón tequilas and liqueurs. It is available in 50ml, 375ml and 750ml sizes and packaged in the eye-catching handmade Patrón XO Cafe glass bottle, a frosted version of the iconic cork-closed Patrón tequila bottle. The red, yellow and black label features imagery evocative of smoke and fire.