DeJoria Drives Camry To Semis At U.S. Nationals

INDIANAPOLIS. IN – Alexis DeJoria drove her Bandero Toyota Camry to the semifinals in Funny Car to lead Toyota in Sunday’s NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway. It marked the third time in the last six races DeJoria has advanced to the semifinals or beyond.

After qualifying seventh, her day began with an opening round victory over Blake Alexander. That would set up a match-up with number two qualifier Bob Tasca. The two left virtually side-by-side, with DeJoria going straight down the groove with a good clean pass for the win. In the semifinals against Ron Capps, the Toyota driver had the starting line advantage by .014 and both cars made strong runs, but Capps took the win. DeJoria would have beaten both cars in the other semifinal.

J.R. Todd also advanced in Funny Car, making it to the second round. In his opening run, Todd had a huge starting line advantage against Jim Campbell, but was up in smoke right at the hit. After getting off the throttle, Todd would pedal it until he was able to hook up as Campbell started to lose traction nearing the 330-foot mark. Todd was able to get back in the groove and chase Campbell down for the win. In the quarterfinals, Todd appeared to have a clutch problem at the end of the burnout, and while he had sizable advantage at the tree, he was up in smoke early with Cruz Pedregon running him down for the win.

Doug Kalitta led the Toyota Top Fuel drivers as he advanced to the second round today. In his opening run, Kalitta had the starting line advantage and went straight down the groove for the win over Krista Baldwin. In round two against Billy Torrence, Kalitta again left first at the tree, but both cars were up in smoke early. Each pedaled, but Torrence was able to grab the lead by half track and went on to earn the win.

Antron Brown and Shawn Langdon each were up in smoke early and lost in the opening round, with Brown falling to Steve Torrence and Langdon being defeated by Brittany Force.

The NHRA kicks off the Countdown to the Championship playoffs next weekend at Maple Grove Raceway, September 10-12, the first of seven Countdown events.