NORWALK, OH – As the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series hits its midway mark, Funny Car standout Alexis DeJoria continues to demonstrate consistency and resilience behind the wheel of her Bandero Café Funny Car. At the NHRA Norwalk Nationals this weekend in Norwalk, Ohio, the JCM Racing driver qualified in the top half of a stacked Funny Car field for the sixth time this season, adding to an already strong campaign that includes three semifinal finishes. While an early exit on race day wasn’t the result the team had hoped for, DeJoria remains focused on growth, confident in the team’s momentum and the direction they’re heading.

DeJoria opened qualifying on Friday with a strong lap of 4.065 seconds at 321.65 mph. That evening, under the lights of Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, DeJoria lit up the sky with brilliant header flames to record a run of 3.960 seconds at 327.11 mph. After a phenomenal Friday qualifying effort, DeJoria ran into tire smoke in both Saturday sessions. Her fast Friday night pass held strong and put her in the No. 6 qualifier position going into eliminations.

DeJoria faced No. 11 qualifier Dave Richards in the first round of competition on Sunday. The duo left the starting line within two-thousandths of each other and DeJoria took over the lead by the time they passed the Christmas Tree. Soon after, however, the Bandero Café Funny Car encountered tire smoke. Richards started dropping cylinders toward the finish line as DeJoria worked to pedal her way back into the lead, but she ran out of track before she could outpace him. Continue reading →

NORTH DINWIDDIE, VA – JCM Racing Funny Car pilot Alexis DeJoria started race day at the Virginia NHRA Nationals from the top half of the field, but a loss of traction during the first round of eliminations ended her day early on Sunday at Virginia Motorsports Park.

Aboard the Bandero Café Funny Car, DeJoria made her best run of the two-day event during Saturday’s second qualifying session where she clocked the third-quickest run of the pack – a 4.050 E.T. at 317.79 mph – to earn a bonus point and move into the No. 7 spot on the timing sheet. The team had an air bottle issue in the first round and was unable to get DeJoria’s car to fire, leaving them with only two qualifying opportunities to prepare for Sunday’s elimination rounds. After their strong Q2 pass, DeJoria and the Mike Neff/Todd Smith-guided team returned to the line for the third and final session, where DeJoria made another good run of 4.068 seconds in the grueling mid-Atlantic heat, which saw temperatures soar into the 90s all weekend long. With qualifying wrapped up on Saturday, DeJoria settled into the No. 8 spot on the ladder and with lane choice over No. 9 qualifier Paul Lee. During her first-round match, DeJoria’s machine started to lose traction early and made a move toward the centerline before she clicked it off while her opponent made his quickest run of the weekend to advance. Continue reading →

North Dinwiddie, VA – DeJoria secured her best starting position (2nd) since joining JCM Racing during the Thunder Valley Nationals, the most recent event on tour.  This has invigorated the team to work even harder on their next race in Virginia.

The newly assembled Top 10-ranked team also has three semifinal finishes to date.

“This Bandero Café team continues to make strides, and earning that No. 2 qualifying position in Bristol is just another example of how the changes and work we’re doing behind-the-scenes is starting to pay off on the race track. Our goal is always to qualify well and place ourselves in the top half of the field; ideally in the top five. Unfortunately, we went out first round on Sunday but that is not an indication of what we’re capable of. I think, like so many others in Bristol, we were victims of a very tricky track. Sometimes you’re on the good side and sometimes you’re on the losing side, but we look forward to redeeming ourselves this weekend in Richmond,” explained Alexis. Continue reading →

BRISTOL, TN – Bristol Dragway has always held a special significance for Alexis DeJoria, who has earned more round wins at the iconic track than at any other venue on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour. At this year’s Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, the Bandero Café Funny Car driver continued her strong connection to the Tennessee facility by qualifying No. 2—her best starting position since joining JCM Racing.

With new asphalt on the surface of the track at Bristol Dragway, DeJoria’s tires spun on her initial qualifying effort on Friday. In the second hit of the day, she powered her Mike ‘Zippy’ Neff and Todd Smith-tuned Bandero Café Charger to the fastest pass of the session with a 3.948-second run at 328.14 mph, earning the provisional pole and three valuable bonus points. The weather continued causing delays and touchy track conditions throughout the weekend, but DeJoria’s powerful Friday evening run held strong to keep her in the No. 2 spot on the ladder for eliminations, her best qualifying position of the season thus far.

On race day, DeJoria began eliminations facing No. 15 qualifier Dave Richards. While her impressive qualifying position gave her lane choice, the talented Funny Car driver knew from experience that both lanes could be challenging. Continue reading →

BRISTOL, TN – Alexis DeJoria, the driver of the Bandero Café Funny Car, powered her way to the provisional No. 1 qualifier spot today at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. The JCM Racing team snagged the highly coveted position in the second NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying session of the day, just moments before rain brought racing action to a close at Bristol Dragway.

With rain and humidity complicating track conditions throughout the day, DeJoria’s first pass put her in the 10th spot on the qualifying sheet. In the second session, her Bandero Café Funny Car team, led by Mike Neff and Todd Smith, expertly tuned the 12,000-horsepower hot rod, and DeJoria roared down the track to record a run of 3.948 seconds at 328.14 mph, earning three valuable bonus points with the fastest pass of the session.

“Making the fastest pass of the day; it really raises the bar and the momentum for our team,” said DeJoria. “The team spirit is great. Everybody is happy and smiling. It just feels good. Who knows if it’s going to hold? If it does, great. If it doesn’t, who cares? Today we have the No. 1 and that’s important. It says a lot about our new team. This track has always been good to me, and this is JCM Racing’s home event, so that makes it really special for our team owner, Joe (Maynard), as well.” Continue reading →

Bristol, TN – Alexis DeJoria enters the Bristol race after advancing to the semifinals for the third time in the first seven events.  Her strong Epping, N.H. outing helped propel her from outside the Funny Car top 10 to No. 8 in the point standings.

By advancing into the semifinals, DeJoria earned a chance to compete in the Bristol running of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge.  DeJoria’s career-first final round occurred during the 2012 Bristol event.

“We are pumped for Thunder Valley,” exclaimed Alexis. “Morale is high and everyone is looking forward to getting right back at it after our outing in Epping. These back-to-back races are really helpful for teams when it comes to getting into a rhythm, and even more so for us being such a new team. We’ve really jelled in such a short period of time, and everyone is working well together. Having the opportunity to get back on track just a few days later will only continue to build on that. Not to mention, we’re all going into this race on such a high note after reaching our third semifinal last weekend. We get another shot at the Mission Foods Challenge on Saturday, which is always great to be able to switch gears and get into race mode a day early. Continue reading →

EPPING, NH – Alexis DeJoria raced to a semifinal finish in her Bandero Café Funny Car Sunday afternoon at the NHRA New England Nationals, marking the third time she’s been to the semifinals this season. By earning two round wins, DeJoria moved well into the top 10 in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car points standings going into a jam-packed stretch of races in June. The JCM Racing driver is now ranked eighth after rolling into New England Dragway in the No. 11 spot.

DeJoria made a baseline run in the first qualifying session to sit No. 8 before throwing down a 3.909-second blast at 329.58 mph, the fourth-quickest pass of the second session, to take the provisional No. 5 position going into Saturday qualifying. She posted a consistent 3.927 E.T. at 331.77 mph in the third session, earning one bonus point for recording the third-quickest pass of the round. In the final session, her car lost traction and she shut it off early. By the time qualifying wrapped up, DeJoria sat in the No. 6 position, tied for her best start of the season.

DeJoria’s first-round opponent was a familiar one: Ron Capps, who defeated DeJoria in the opening round at the recent Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. DeJoria got redemption, leaving first with the quickest reaction time of the round and winning with a 3.926 E.T. at 324.98 mph to a tire-smoking Capps. Continue reading →

Epping, NH – DeJoria has strong New England roots having spent much of her childhood in the Narragansett, R.I. area.  Alexis has long considered the New England Nationals to be a homecoming event, and always has a strong showing from her East Coast family who come out to support her

The team will be looking to June’s four-race schedule to move solidly back into the top 10 in the Funny Car standings.

Dejoria on Epping, “Epping marks the start of four races over a five-week span. It’s a grueling time of year but can also be a great opportunity to refine your program and make sure you’re well-situated, points-wise, heading into the second-half of the season. With back-to-backs like this, you get into a mode of consistency and progression, and for us, I feel like we’re doing really well so this will be a chance to build on that. All of our parts looked really clean after our last race out in Joliet. Unfortunately, we went out first round, but we also ran our best number of the season. We continue to just creep up on it and I really like my crew chiefs’ approach to tuning the car. They keep it consistent and are careful not to go over center.

“This weekend is shaping up to be a good one. We’re feeling well-prepped and refreshed. Epping is one of my hometown races, which makes it extra exciting for me. I have some family and friends coming out and am hoping to put on a great show for them.” Continue reading →

JOLIET, IL – One of the closest Funny Car races of the opening round of eliminations at the Route 66 Nationals marked the end of Alexis DeJoria’s weekend at Route 66 Raceway Sunday morning. DeJoria made her quickest pass of the season since joining JCM Racing in her first-round match with Ron Capps, providing DeJoria and her Bandero Café team with a boost of optimism as the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series rolls into the summer months.

DeJoria’s qualifying results also showed signs that the JCM Racing Funny Car program is making strides. After smoking the tires early in the first qualifying attempt, DeJoria in her Mike ‘Zippy’ Neff and Todd Smith-tuned Bandero Café Charger threw down a 3.997-second pass at 324.05 mph, the first 3-second Funny Car pass of the weekend. That run held up as the second-quickest pass of the second qualifying session, giving DeJoria two bonus points. The third qualifying session on Saturday also served as the first round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge, which DeJoria earned a spot in when she reached the semifinals of the most recent event on tour, the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. DeJoria launched hard against Matt Hagan, clocking early numbers better than her Friday night pass, but lost traction down track and had to lift. She broke traction early in the run in the final session and ended up No. 11 on the final qualifying order. Continue reading →