ST LOUIS, MO – This Sunday the entire John Force Racing family and team will be featured on CBS Sunday Morning this Sunday, September 28^th. CBS reporter Lee Cowan spent time with the Force family at their Yorba Linda home as well as the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle. Currently John Force is No. 1 in the Mello Yello point standings followed by Robert Hight No. 2 and Courtney Force No. 4 in the Funny Car class. Top Fuel sophomore driver Brittany Force is currently No. 10 in the Top Fuel point standings.

ST LOUIS – The third stop of the 2014 Countdown to the Championship got underway today at the 3rd annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, and John Force’s 8,000 horsepower Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang shook the earth under Gateway Motorsports Park. By the end of today’s two qualifying sessions, the 16-time NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car champ cruised to the provisional number one spot with a ground pounding 4.022 second run at 319.52. Force also picked up three NHRA Mello Yello Bonus Points for his stellar qualifying effort.

“We always know we can run better at night, you know what I’m saying, and it pushed us into the evening and the fans coming from work had a chance to see a great show, but when conditions cool down, we run good. It’s the Countdown and every point helps. Just last week I threw away 20 points running off that Charlotte race in Texas. You can’t make mistakes, so every round counts and there are only three races after this and championships are won or lost and things I did like my red-light in Texas against Hagan. I changed my routine, I screwed up and I got so mental racing him. My car was running good, I was on my game but I still screwed up. So, I’m going to get back to where I belong, get my head right and focus and just race the car next to me,” said John Force.

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COURTNEY FORCE BACK IN THE FIGHT

ST LOUIS, IL – Driver Courtney Force and her Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car team have a new wave of confidence approaching the third race in the 2014 Countdown to the Championship, the 3rd annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, Sept. 26-28 at Gateway Motorsports Park.

The team redeemed themselves last weekend at the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex. After making a first round exit in Charlotte during the Countdown kick-off race, the third-year driver entered the second Countdown to the Championship race in seventh and moved up three positions throughout the weekend to take over the No. 4 spot.

“After a first round loss in Charlotte, the first race in the countdown to the championship, we needed that comeback in Dallas when we got the win and earned some points back to keep our head in the game. Our motivation is back up after our win and we feel like now we can still have a shot at this Championship. We needed that win this weekend to stay in the fight and need to continue to go some rounds if we want to stay ahead of the rest and in order to catch up with the points leader, my dad,” said Force.

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ENNIS, TX – Courtney Force qualified at the top of the Funny Car field and won the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals today to pick up her sixth career win, the most of any female in NHRA Funny Car history. She dismissed Tony Pedregon, Robert Hight, Tommy Johnson Jr. and Del Worsham enroute to her first win at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. Force has officially moved up to the No. 4 spot in the NHRA Mello Yello point standings.

“I looked at the ladder and thought, ‘Man, I could be bumping into my teammates from second round, through the semis,’ and I wasn’t about to have a weekend like last weekend in Charlotte when my dad took me out in the first round. It felt good to go some rounds out here today and end up in the Winner’s Circle,” said Force, a three-time winner this season. “Definitely proud of my team; these guys have been working hard in this heat. It’s tough for them and I really appreciate everything they’ve done for me today. Thank you to (crew chiefs) Ron Douglas and Dan Hood for giving me a great race car in the heat and getting me down the race track on every run, and on both sides of the track; in the right and the left lane. I’m very proud of my team and glad that we could get this win for Traxxas in their home state of Texas.”

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ENNIS, TX – Courtney Force held onto her No. 1 qualifying spot at the 29th annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals while her father John Force raced to the runner-up finish at the Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals at the conclusion of the day. Force outran Hagan 4.140 seconds to 4.212 but he jumped the start by .053 seconds and was disqualified. The incredibly hot track temperatures which reached as high as 137 degrees kept most of the Friday qualifiers in their same positions throughout the last day of qualifying.

The 16-time NHRA Mello Yello champion was pumped up and ready to win what would have been his 142nd career victory today, as the final eliminations of last weekend’s postponed Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals. Force, the winningest driver in NHRA history, would have to get past three drivers, one a former NHRA champ to achieve another milestone victory in the ever important 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship. There was also the potential to “Double Up” if he was victorious today and on Sunday during the final eliminations of the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals and to add more excitement, John Force was also going for win number 79 behind the wheel of his Ford Mustang, as this would make him the winningest driver in Ford history.

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ENNIS, TX – Courtney Force made a good pass to kick off qualifying at the Texas Motorplex today when she drove her Traxxas Ford Mustang down the track to put a 4.131 ET at 310.70 mph on the board. She rocketed to the second-fastest speed of the first session at 310.70 mph behind only her father, John Force at 314.24 mph.

In the second qualifying session, team Traxxas made a 4.039 second run at 314 mph, a Texas Motorplex track record in Funny Car for both ET and speed. This season alone, the 26-year-old has posted top speed in eight of 17 races and has the fastest speed in Funny Car history at 1,000 feet of 325.37 mph (Las Vegas).

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DALLAS, TX – Robert Hight is a self-professed lover of baseball and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2009 Funny Car champion has raced with a Dodgers themed Funny Car and thrown out the first pitch at ballparks across the country. This weekend at the 29th annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals the 34-time Funny Car national event winner will get the chance to race in his own doubleheader of sorts.

Due to rain and deteriorating track conditions as a result of the precipitation the NHRA moved the completion of the Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals to the Texas Motorplex. The remaining three rounds of that race will be contested on Saturday as part of the qualifying program at the famed all-concrete quarter-mile facility. Fans will be treated to an extra run by the Top Fuel and Funny Car finalist at approximately 4:45 p.m. on Saturday after official qualifying is completed. Hight and teammate John Force are on opposite sides of the elimination ladder and could meet in the final round.

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CHARLOTTE, NC – NHRA officials announced today that the continuation of eliminations for the Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals, round one of the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs, will be completed during qualifying rounds at next weekend’s AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas.

Persistent rain showers moved into the Charlotte area on Sunday afternoon and halted racing after only the first round in Top Fuel and Funny Car had been completed. Three rounds of racing remain for both Top Fuel and Funny Car with both John Force and Robert Hight have advanced to the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinal pairings in Funny Car are Dave Richards vs. John Force; Bob Tasca III vs. Ron Capps; Robert Hight vs. Jeff Arend; and Matt Hagan vs. Tim Wilkerson. Top Fuel quarterfinal pairings are J.R. Todd vs. Spencer Massey; Billy Torrence vs. Tony Schumacher; Steve Torrence vs. Leah Pritchett; and Morgan Lucas vs. Khalid alBalooshi.

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CHARLOTTE, NC – Robert Hight saved his best for last on Saturday at the 7^th annual Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals jumping from the middle of the Funny Car pack to the No. 2 qualified position. Hight knew he would have to race Mello Yello points leader John Force if he did not dramatically improve the position of his Auto Club Ford Mustang Funny Car. The winningest driver in zMax Dragway history moved away from Force and into a first round race with Chad Head. He defeated Head in the first round of last year’s Charlotte race and he went on to win the race. Hight’s four wins at zMax Dragway, including the last two races contested here are the most by any driver in any pro category.

“That last run was big for us. I didn’t want to race John in the first round like we did in Indy. Now we are on opposite sides of the ladder. It is tough he has to race our other teammate but there are a lot of intra-team first round match-ups tomorrow. I just want to make sure I give this Auto Club the best chance to win,” said Hight.

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