Morrison, CO – As a member of the Toyota Gazoo Racing team, DeJoria is vying to win Toyota’s 200th NHRA trophy (current Toyota NHRA win count: 199).

“I’ve been racing at Bandimere since 2012 and like everyone else, I’m sad to see it drop off our schedule after this weekend. The facility itself is incredible, and one-of-a-kind. Denver is one of those events that I especially looked forward to each year. Obviously the altitude can be tough, but I always enjoyed getting out to Red Rocks on that first day and doing some hiking to help acclimate and get me into that mental mindset that’s needed when you’re heading into the grueling Western Swing.

I have yet to take home a Wally from Bandimere, but we came close in 2021, and I know myself, Del (Worsham), Nicky (Boninfante) and our whole Bandero GR Supra team will be racing hard to try and capture that final Mile-High Nationals trophy this weekend. The goal is to continue to qualify in the top five to set us up for a long day of going rounds on Sunday. We’re ready to close out the Denver chapter on a high note this weekend, and get this Western Swing started off strong.” explained Alexis.

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NORWALK, OH – After laying down the quickest elapsed time of the opening round of Funny Car eliminations at the NHRA Norwalk Nationals on Sunday, Alexis DeJoria was ready to race to her second consecutive final round following her successful Bristol, Tenn. outing. Unfortunately, DeJoria’s Bandero Premium Tequila Toyota GR Supra left the starting line just .003 seconds too soon in the quarterfinals to end her day at Summit Motorsports Park.

DeJoria’s best performance of the weekend came in the first qualifying session on Friday. She recorded a 3.901-second E.T. at 331.20 MPH, the second-quickest pass of the session, to earn two bonus points. She made another solid pass in the second session on Saturday, but it was that 3.901 that gave DeJoria the No. 4 spot for Sunday’s elimination rounds.

Thanks to DC Motorsports crew chief Del Worsham, DeJoria’s sub-4-second performances continued into race day. In the second pair of Funny Cars, DeJoria fired off a 3.923 E.T. at 330.23 MPH to defeat Paul Lee, setting low E.T. of the round in the process. In the second round, she turned on the red light by just .003 seconds to Blake Alexander, the eventual Norwalk Funny Car event champion.

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Norwalk, OH – Alexis raced to a runner-up finish at the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN, the last event on the 2023 NHRA tour. She will participate in the Norwalk #2Fast2Tasty Challenge presented by Mission Foods on Saturday and enters the weekend ranked fifth in the Funny Car point standings

Dejoria won the 2022 Norwalk Night Under Fire annual match race by defeating John Force to claim her first victory at the facility.

“Our Bandero GR Supra team is coming off of some good momentum from Bristol. We raced Ron Capps in the final and we were so close to getting it done. We’ve consistently qualified well this year, and have already gone to two final rounds. With the exception of Epping, we haven’t dropped out of the top five in points all year, and even when we did dip below fifth, we immediately rebounded in Bristol. I can tell we’re on the brink; I know we’ll get a win soon.

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BRISTOL, TN – Alexis DeJoria’s strong start to the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season continued during the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals as she raced to a runner-up finish on Sunday at Bristol Dragway. Facing defending series and event champion Ron Capps in the final round, DeJoria powered her Bandero Premium Tequila Toyota GR Supra to a 3.999-second pass but was outpaced by Capps’ slightly quicker 3.998-second run.

DeJoria’s march to the 14th final round of her career, and second of the season, began with a round-one match versus Cruz Pedregon, which the Bandero team won on a single after Pedregon had a problem during his burnout and opted not to make the run.

In the quarterfinals, DeJoria left first and led Bobby Bode from start to finish, but her machine started mixing up cylinders late into the run, leading to an explosion as she crossed the finish line stripe and set off the win lights. Soon after, the thrash was on for the Bandero team as the crew quickly swapped the engine and turned DeJoria’s GR Supra around for the semifinals where she clocked her quickest pass of the weekend to defeat a tire-smoking Robert Hight.

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BRISTOL, TN – After rain canceled the final qualifying session and all four rounds of eliminations at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H. last weekend, Camping World Series competitors headed south to Bristol Dragway to complete the event during qualifying for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

DeJoria qualified her Bandero Premium Tequila Toyota GR Supra 10th for the New England event and drew Robert Hight as her first-round competitor. Before eliminations got underway on Friday night, teams were given the opportunity for a ‘shakedown’ run during the first round of qualifying for the Bristol, Tenn. event. DeJoria was on a decent pass in her 11,000-horsepower machine but struck the tires as she was approaching halftrack and slowed to a 4.378, placing her 12th on the Bristol qualifying sheet after the first session.

DeJoria pulled up to the starting line for the second qualifying session with two goals in mind – defeat Hight to advance further into the New England Nationals elimination show, and improve upon her qualifying position. Against Hight, DeJoria clocked a 3.999 E.T. but was outpaced by his 3.938-second run. While DeJoria will now have to wait until Sunday to have another shot at more round wins, she did accomplish her goal of moving into the quick-half of the Bristol field with her 3.999-second pass placing her in the provisional No. 5 spot heading into day two of qualifying.

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Bristol, TN – DeJoria’s career-first final round occurred during the 2012 Bristol event. Del Worsham, DeJoria’s crew chief and DC Motorsports co-owner, also served as the lead tuner during her 2012 runner-up.

2023 will mark the fourth time that DeJoria and Worsham have raced together at Bristol as a driver/tuner duo. In addition to their 2012 success, the two were also successful in capturing the 2021 Bristol trophy. In 2022, they advanced to the semifinals

“Very unfortunate that we couldn’t get the race completed up in Epping. Having to race while qualifying for another event this weekend is going to be very tricky. Definitely not something I’ve ever done before, but Bristol is a great track and one of my favorites so I’m excited. We’ve always done well there, and would love nothing more than to put our Bandero GR Supra in the winner’s circle. There are a lot of points up for grabs this weekend, so a good Bristol outing is very important. The goal is to get ourselves back up into the top three in points,” explained Alexis.

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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 is looking forward to being surrounded by much of her East Coast family.

Alexis on the Epping race, “The NHRA New England Nationals is one of my favorite events on the circuit for many reasons. It’s somewhat of a hometown race for me. I have my whole East Coast family and friends that always show up to Epping in full force. I’ve runnered-up there before and we’re looking for another strong showing this weekend. Hopefully we can create some more of that good momentum we had rolling into Chicago, which was a weekend we’d rather forget.”

NHRA New England Nationals Event Highlights: 2014 event runner-up

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JOLIET, IL – It had been six long years since Alexis DeJoria had last visited Route 66 Raceway. Returning for the first time since 2017, she was looking forward to celebrating her milestone 200th Funny Car event at the historic Joliet, Ill. facility, but after struggling during qualifying, and experiencing a starting line mishap in the opening round of eliminations, it was a weekend DeJoria and the DC Motorsports team would rather soon forget.

The team’s weekend woes began during qualifying when they struggled to make a full pull down the Route 66 Raceway track. By the time they had staged for the third and final session on Saturday evening, DeJoria found herself sitting on the bump spot in 16th. Knowing 18 cars were vying for a spot in the 16-car field, DeJoria pedaled her machine several times after going up in smoke early to make it through the lights with her quickest pass of the weekend. She eventually settled into the No. 15 starting position, an uncharacteristic qualifying performance for a team that has started second three times in 2023.

Chicago outing aside, DeJoria has enjoyed a hot start to the season which has included a runner-up finish, two semifinal appearances, and a Mission #2Fast2Tasty win, so while her Sunday starting position wasn’t ideal, the six-time national event winner wasn’t deterred, knowing her team would be able to turn it around and give her a competitive car to go up against No. 2 qualifier Cruz Pedregon on Sunday morning.

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Joliet, IL – The Route 66 NHRA Nationals marks Alexis DeJoria’s 200th professional event. She made history when she became the first female Funny Car driver to enter 100 events in 2016, and is proud to also become the first woman to reach the ‘200 Funny Car events’ milestone.

While the NHRA last visited Route 66 Raceway in 2019, it has been since 2017 since DeJoria last visited the historic Joliet, Ill. track
DeJoria has enjoyed a strong start to the season, which has included a runner-up finish in addition to a pair of semifinal finishes and three No. 2 qualifiers; DeJoria is currently ranked second in the Funny Car point standings.

Alexis on Chicago, “Our team is very much looking forward to getting back to Route 66 Raceway near Chicago. Not to mention, it’s my crew chief Del Worsham’s favorite race track. Definitely one of the best facilities on tour. I’ll be competing for the 200th time in my professional career and our race car is on point right now. We’re on the verge of getting our first win of the year. We almost got it done at our last race in Charlotte, and I feel good about our chances this weekend at our first race back in Chicago.”

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CONCORD, NC – A series of ultra-quick passes, including a career-best elapsed time in eliminations, carried Alexis DeJoria to a runner-up finish Sunday evening at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway. She’s now ranked second in the Funny Car point standings leaving the fifth race on the 2023 NHRA Camping World Series schedule.

In Friday’s second qualifying session, DeJoria threw down a 3.876-second pass at 333.08 MPH to take the provisional No. 1 spot, earning three bonus points in the process. Another big run, a 3.892 E.T. at 334.65 MPH, followed in the third session. She ended up No. 5 on the qualifying sheet going into Sunday’s eliminations rounds.

DeJoria was in the first Funny Car quad on Sunday afternoon when the rain started and put a pause on eliminations. When racing resumed, DeJoria and crew chief Del Worsham fired off a career-best 3.854 E.T. at 332.51 MPH to finish first in the quad and set low E.T. of eliminations. A 3.883 E.T. at 333.58 MPH in the second round sent the Bandero Premium Tequila GR Supra into the final round. There, DeJoria was quickest of the quad with a 3.872 E.T., but Robert Hight got to the finish line first. DeJoria claimed a runner-up finish, beating the 3.92-second passes of fellow Toyota driver Ron Capps and John Force.

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