LONE QUALIFYING SESSION SETS FIELD AT MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY

READING, PA – For the second year in a row Mother Nature exerted her will on the Dodge NHRA Nationals. Yesterday’s qualifying sessions were completely wiped out and today only one session was completed before persistent heavy mist and cool temperatures made track conditions impossible to continue the race.

In the lone session Robert Hight was the standout for John Force Racing. The driver of the Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car was running beside teammate Courtney Force when both drivers launched hard and overpowered the race track. Hight was able to pedal his Funny Car and regain some traction crossing the finish line with a usually pedestrian elapsed time of 4.69 seconds which was good enough for the No. 5 qualifying position.

“It was tough today only getting one run. I was hoping we could beat the weather because I know there Auto Club guys would have been ready. I was able to get a decent run today and we are starting No. 5. It could be anyone’s race tomorrow but the good thing is we have three Funny Car teams working together. This is the third race of the Countdown and we need to make a move,” summed up Hight.

Hight will face veteran Tim Wilkerson in the first round tomorrow and will have lane choice over his fellow Countdown competitor. Hight holds a winning 19-16 head to head record against Wilkerson and he is 1-1 against him at the Dodge NHRA Nationals.

As Hight was pedaling his Funny Car with some success Courtney Force was behind the wheel of her Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car trying to do the same thing. She was able to accelerate in the right lane but wasn’t able to gain as much momentum as Hight. The good news for the 2012 Rookie of the Year was she crossed the finish line just quickly enough to grab the No. 8 qualifying position and lane choice over John Bojec.

“Everybody is going to be in the same boat. I think we are happy with where we are but we would like to be a little higher in the field. We wanted to get that last session in to see if we could make a solid pass down the race track,” explained Force. “Only three Funny Cars got down in the one session we had so our car is doing what all the other cars did. We are going to work together with all the JFR teams to get a good tune up for tomorrow. We are the No. 8 qualifier and we’ll get John Bojec in the first round. Everyone if going into race day blind but we could have a little bit of an advantage since we will have lane choice.”

Force’s elapsed time of 8.041 seconds at 81.55 mph was her slowest successful qualifying time of her career. She has never faced Bojec in eliminations before.

John Force and the Advance Auto Parts PEAK Chevy Camaro will go into race day as the No. 14 qualifier, Force’s lowest starting position of the season. At the hit of the throttle Force’s Funny Car like so many of his competitors in the first session smoked the tires and robbed the seven-time Dodge Nationals winner of any momentum or power off the starting line. Over twelve seconds after the 16-time Funny Car champion hit the throttle his Advance Auto Parts Funny Car crossed the finish line.

As the winningest driver in NHRA history Force has been down more race tracks than anyone on tour and is looking forward to an exciting first round. For the second race in a row Force will have to face the reigning world champion, Del Worsham, in the first round. Last weekend in St. Louis Force prevailed as the lower seeded driver.

“It could be a pedal-fest except these cars you can’t hardly pedal them anymore they are so aggressive. We are just going to have to go up and play the game the way we do it. We are going to have to see what we think we can do. (Del) Worsham ran 3.90 and only a handful of cars got down the track. It is going to be a crap shoot but I like it. It is anybody’s ball game.”

While it was obvious the Funny Cars were only going to get one qualifying session as weather moved in over Maple Grove Raceway this afternoon, the NHRA started a second session of Top Fuel while Brittany Force and the Monster Energy team waited in the lanes. In the first session the fourth year driver had to pedal her dragster after it overpowered the cool track after an aggressive launch. Force feathered the throttle and powered down the right lane in 4.676 seconds and will go into race day as the No. 12 qualifier.

The second session of Top Fuel was not able to be completed and Force will give up lane choice to Larry Dixon in the first round. Dixon is making his first appearance of the season driving the Rapisarda racing Top Fuel dragster.

“All of the Top Fuel drivers are in the same battle right now. We got one run down the race track. We just have to work with that and I have faith in these Monster Energy crew guys. I know I have a great team behind me and they are going to give me the best race car that they can. Our goal is going to get past that first round and then take it from there,” said Force at the end of the day.