Maynard Family Racing
Last-Minute Epping Appearance Leads to Quarterfinal Finish for Ida Zetterström
Epping, NH – Just days before the NHRA New England Nationals, Ida Zetterström and the JCM Racing Top Fuel team added New England 
Dragway to their limited 2025 schedule. The move paid off Sunday morning when Zetterström scored her first round-win of the season using a career-best elapsed time in the JCM Racing dragster. She matched that performance in the quarterfinals, capping off a promising outing in her Epping debut.
Zetterström kicked off qualifying on a high note when she recorded a 3.78 E.T. at 328.78 mph to move to the middle of the pack in the No. 7 spot. She lost traction early in the second qualifying attempt, then bounced back with an improved 3.764 E.T. at 328.06 mph in the third session. Zetterström stepped up again in the fourth and final session, tying her season-quickest pass with a 3.741-second run at 330.55 mph to end up in a season-best No. 8 spot on the final qualifying sheet.
On Sunday, Zetterström paired up with multi-time world champion Steve Torrence, who she defeated to get her first career NHRA Top Fuel round win in her debut at Brainerd last season. This meeting went Zetterström’s way as well, as she charged to a career-best 3.720 E.T. at 332.18 mph, while Torrence lost traction early. Continue reading
Alexis DeJoria Makes Moves with Semifinal Appearance at NHRA New England Nationals
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
Dejoria Looks for a Win at Homecoming Event!
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
Zetterström Ready for Progress in New England after One Race Absence
Epping NH – This weekend marks Zetterström’s first time competing at New England Dragway. Zetterström did not compete at the most 
recent event in Joliet, Ill. She is currently running a partial schedule due to insufficient funding and is actively seeking partners for 2025 and beyond.
During her time away from the track, Zetterström has been front-and-center promoting the sport of NHRA Drag Racing. Recent appearances include representing NHRA during the Business of Women’s Sports Summit and NASCAR Bristol race, as well as joining the NHRA.tv broadcast team during the Joliet event. The Epping event was added to Zetterström’s 2025 schedule post-Joliet to continue the momentum of keeping her visible in hopes of attracting new partners to support her on-track campaign
“I’m really happy to be able to add Epping to our schedule this year. It was not originally planned, but I’m super stoked to get back out there. I was at this race last year with the team, but not in a race car and I remember really liking the atmosphere and all the great fans there. It was a really fun area, and it will be great to come back and actually be in a car and competing this year. With it being another first-time racetrack for me, that always makes things extra interesting, but I’m glad I’ll get some track time there this weekend because that will certainly pay off for the future,” explained Ida. Continue reading
Alexis DeJoria Makes Season-Best Pass at Route 66 Nationals
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
Dejoria and the Bandero Café Funny Car Head to Route 66
Joliet, IL – DeJoria scored her second semifinal finish in five races during her most recent outing in Charlotte where she advanced to the final 
elimination quad. Her performance earned her a spot in Chicago’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, scheduled for Saturday.
Competed in her 200th professional event during the 2023 NHRA Route 66 Nationals Made history when she became the first female Funny Car driver to enter 100 events during the 2016 Winternationals, and at the 2023 Chicago race, became the first woman to reach the 200 Funny Car events milestone.
“I’m excited for the Joliet race this weekend. Our team has picked up again and we’re feeling very confident in our abilities right now. A win is soon to come!” Continue reading
Ida Zetterström Sees Signs of Progress in First Four-Wide Nationals Appearance
CONCORD, NC – Second-year NHRA Top Fuel driver Ida Zetterström’s first four-wide experience at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at 
zMAX Dragway came to an end in the opening round of eliminations Sunday afternoon. Though Zetterström didn’t get the round win, her JCM Racing Top Fuel dragster did make another consistent pass – the fourth-quickest of the round – to validate the team’s efforts between races after sitting out the most recent event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour.
Though Zetterström missed the recent Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals due to a lack of funding, she didn’t sit idle on the sidelines waiting for her next race. She appeared on FOX’s broadcast of the NASCAR Bristol race, representing both NHRA and JCM Racing while also promoting the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals coming to Bristol Dragway later this summer. The 2023 FIA European Top Fuel champion also took part in last week’s Business of Women’s Sports Summit in New York City, where she spoke on a panel of female athletes and business owners.
At the Four-Wide Nationals, Zetterström went up in smoke early in the first qualifying session on Friday. She then charged to a 3.744 E.T. at 329.67 mph to move up to No. 10 in the second session. Zetterström made the third-quickest pass of the third qualifying session, a 3.747 at 329.34 mph, to earn one bonus point. She slowed to a 4.703 E.T. in the final session and maintained the No. 10 spot on the final qualifying order. Continue reading
Alexis DeJoria Advances to Final Quad at NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
CONCORD, NC – Alexis DeJoria advanced to the final elimination quad on Sunday afternoon at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals near 
Charlotte, where she recorded her second semifinal finish of the season. It was DeJoria’s first time running for an NHRA Wally trophy since joining the JCM Racing team over the 2024-2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series off-season. DeJoria’s strong performance at zMAX Dragway moved her within striking distance of the Funny Car Top 10 and was a much-needed confidence boost for the tenured racer and her Mike ‘Zippy’ Neff/Todd Smith-led team after a frustrating outing at the most recent race in Las Vegas where they narrowly missed a chance to compete in the event’s elimination field.
Aboard the Bandero Café Funny Car, DeJoria opened her weekend in Concord, N.C. with a solid 3.963-second at 323.35 mph pass, giving her team a good baseline to work from heading into the remaining qualifying rounds. On Friday night under the zMAX Dragway lights, DeJoria recorded her best run of the weekend, crossing the finish line beams in 3.925 seconds at 324.51 mph. In Saturday’s hot conditions, DeJoria posted two more quality runs – a 3.979 and 4.001 E.T. – before settling into the No. 12 spot on the Four-Wide Nationals Funny Car elimination ladder. Her round-one race day quad featured a showdown between DeJoria, No. 4 qualifier Spencer Hyde, No. 5 qualifier Jack Beckman, and No. 13 seed Chad Green, leading NHRA to name the tough draw the Four-Wide Nationals Funny Car marquee matchup. Continue reading
Bandero Café Funny Car Team Continues to Make Progress in Pomona
POMONA, CA – With cool conditions and 19 Funny Cars vying for a spot on the NHRA Winternationals elimination ladder, the competition 
was stout at the 65th running of the annual event at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. In what was nearly an all-three-second field, Alexis DeJoria used her 3.921-second run from the weekend’s final qualifying outing to secure the No. 9 seed in the stacked Sunday show. Racing at her hometown facility, DeJoria was looking to add more round wins to her 2025 total, but dropped cylinders ended the Bandero Café Funny Car team’s day after the first round of eliminations.
DeJoria opened her weekend with a loss of traction in the first qualifying session followed by tire shake in the second, but the team bounced back impressively on Saturday, sending DeJoria and her Bandero Café Funny Car down the track in 3.982 seconds to move into the No. 12 spot. Crew chiefs Mike ‘Zippy’ Neff and Todd Smith returned to the line for the final session and turned up the wick even more, tuning DeJoria’s machine to an impressive 3.921 E.T. at 324.75 mph to advance three spots to ninth. During both runs, one of DeJoria’s parachutes failed to deploy, but the seasoned racer was able to get her car safely stopped before reaching the end of the shutdown area. Continue reading
Ida Zetterström Ready to Regroup and Refresh After Pomona
POMONA, CA – After years of watching the historic NHRA Winternationals from afar, 2023 FIA European Top Fuel champion Ida 
Zetterström eagerly approached the opportunity to compete in this weekend’s 65th running of the event at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. The weekend proved challenging for Zetterström and her JCM Racing Top Fuel team, between a tough qualifying effort and a first-round exit on Sunday morning. Zetterström isn’t dwelling on it, though, choosing instead to look forward to her four-wide debut in Charlotte in one month.
Zetterström, who recorded career-best numbers at last year’s NHRA Finals at Pomona to close out her rookie season, made her best pass of the weekend in the first qualifying session on Friday. In fact, her 3.741-second pass at 334.24 mph wasn’t far off from those career-best numbers set last November. That performance put her No. 8 in the field after Q1, and various traction issues in the following three sessions prevented Zetterström from moving up in the qualifying order.
Zetterström’s No. 12 qualifying position paired her up with the most recent winner on tour, past world champion Shawn Langdon, in the first round of eliminations on Sunday. She made a relatively clean pass, a 3.806 E.T. at 278.40 mph, but it wasn’t quick enough to get around Langdon and his 3.668-second effort. Continue reading
