HOUSTON, Texas (April 26, 2015)— The Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry was one of the best performing Funny Cars throughout the NHRA SpringNationals qualifying, having made the second quickest run of Friday’s first session, and fourth quickest on Saturday afternoon. The team, led by Tommy DeLago, entered Sunday qualified fourth standing on their 4.041-second pass from Q1, pitting Alexis DeJoria against No. 13 qualifier Bob Bode in round one of eliminations.
Despite giving up the starting line advantage with her delayed reaction time (0.122-sec reaction time), DeJoria was able to race past Bob Bode as she powered her 10,000-horespower Toyota Camry across the finish line in 4.068-secs versus his 4.620-sec run, setting off the win light and advancing the team to round two of eliminations.
DeJoria was disappointed with her first round light and knew she would have to improve her reaction time during her round two matchup versus Courtney Force. “I had a horrible light in that first round and I knew Courtney’s first round numbers were pretty evenly matched with mine. We both ran almost identical ETs and she had a really good light, so I knew I had to be on my game” said DeJoria.
Unfortunately for DeJoria, she stepped on the gas a bit too early in round two and set off the red light, disqualifying the Patrón team. “That definitely wasn’t what I had planned for our second round matchup. When you’re that competitive, you’ve got to be on your game, and I usually am. I tried to cut a really good light and unfortunately went -0.012 red. I think if I had staged a little shallower, I would’ve had a perfect light but you really never know. You go out there and try your hardest. I was amped up and I was angry at myself for having a bad light the round before and I was going to make sure that didn’t happen again, and it sure didn’t- just not in the way I had planned.”
With the team’s day ending after the quarterfinal round, they leave the Houston NHRA SpringNationals tied for 7th (with John Force) with 328 points. While disappointed that she wasn’t able to put her Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry in the Winners Circle in Houston, DeJoria, a Texas resident, was happy to have the support of her family and rapper Timbaland out at the track throughout the weekend and is looking forward to the series’ next race in Atlanta. “Our car is running good right now. The guys gave me a great racecar throughout qualifying and on race day. We’re going to take these next two weeks to regroup and refresh ourselves, and we’ll be ready for Atlanta!”
The Kalitta Motorsports Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry Funny Car team competes next at the 35th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga., May 15-17. 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.