Team Force Pre-race Reports for Phoenix

JOHN FORCE READY TO START CHASE FOR 17th CHAMPIONSHIP AT WILD HORSE PASS

CHANDLER, AZ – John Force will tell you he is part Indian on his mom’s side and the 16-time Funny Car champion is looking to represent his team, his family and his new sponsors well at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. In late January while the team tested in preparation for the upcoming season Force was invited to talk to a group from the local Chamber of Commerce along with the track management team from the Gila River tribe. Force regaled the crowd with stories and posed for photos with the excited group. At the end of the talk he thanked the Gila River tribe for giving him a place to race.

This weekend Force will be back in entertainer mode as he brings his brand new Peak Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS to the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals. The undisputed winningest driver in NHRA history is ready to get back in the winner’s circle at a track that he has dominated for eight wins.

“I love this place. We tested here in January and it was great. All our Chevrolet Camaro SS hot rods were flying and the Top Fuel dragster made the quickest run in history. I have been doing this long enough to know that testing doesn’t mean anything once the season starts. I have a new team of young guys and (crew chief) Jon Schaffer is giving me a great race car. I am excited to be back out here with Peak, Lucas Oil, Chevy, Mac Tools, Auto Club and Traxxas,” said Force, who last won at the CARQUEST Nationals in 2005.

In one eight year stretch Force won in the desert seven times including an impressive strong of four wins in row from 1994-997. The closest Funny Car competitors in the win category to Force are rivals Ron Capps and Jack Beckman with three wins apiece.

“I love racing out here. We used to match race here and we tested here for years. This is a great market for NHRA drag racing and I know we love seeing the fans every year,” said Force.

Last season Force set the track elapsed time record posting the first three second run in track history. His time of 3.990 seconds earned him the No. 1 qualifier spot and he also left the desert with the track mph record 317.79 mph. He raced to a semi-final finish losing to eventual winner Alexis DeJoria.

At the start of the 2015 season Force qualified No. 3 after just three shots at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona track. A Saturday afternoon rain shower washed out the final qualifying session. The 141-time national event winner was upset in the first round by veteran Bob Bode but it did not deflate his enthusiasm for the start of another Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

“We aren’t sure what happened with the car in the first round but I know (crew chief) Jon Schaffer and the guys on this team will figure it out. We used to call him Little Jon but now I call him Big Jon because he is the one calling the shots with input from (Mike) Neff and the rest of the brain-trust. It gives me a lot of energy to have all these young guys working on my team. It takes me back to when I was just getting started and I feed off that excitement,” said Force.
HIGHT HAS PHOENIX IN SIGHTS FOR ANOTHER TAKE-OFF IN 2015

CHANDLER, AZ (February 18, 2015) — Last season Robert Hight and the Automobile Club of Southern California team raced to the final round at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. They did not take home the win but they kick-started a streak of six consecutive final round appearances that included four wins and the kind of momentum that you hope can sustain a championship run. Hight finished the season in fifth place but he looks back at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals as the place that his second championship almost started.

“We started the season with a second round loss last year and then went to that Phoenix final. That final got us focused and we went on a great run but we couldn’t keep it going into the Countdown. I still believe you can win a championship by dominating the whole season. I want to get a championship that way and I think we have a really strong team,” said Hight, a four-time finalist at the CARQUEST Auto Parts Nationals.

Hight was just in the desert along with his John Force Racing teammates for a successful test session in late January. His Mike Neff tuned Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS was the model of consistency and high performance. Over the course of four days Hight covered the race track in 4.098, 4.058, 4.036, 4.014, 3.985 seconds respectively, and a career quickest and fastest 3.976 seconds, 323.43 mph.

“(Phoenix was) the most successful test session we have ever had especially to start a season. I think a lot of it has to do with coming to Phoenix. The folks at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park did a great job getting it ready for us. We had great conditions. I went six out of eight runs with very respectable runs. I am pleased with the overall effort,” said Robert Hight. “We had a chance on the last run to step up and maybe run quicker but Mike Neff made the decision to make a nice safe run and it still ran 3.98 seconds. It was the fastest speed I have ever run almost 324 mph.”

Over the past decade Robert Hight has won more races than any other Funny Car driver but he only has one win in Phoenix to go along with three runner-up finishes. In 2007 he was bested by Tony Pedregon and then the next season Jack Beckman was the last Funny Car driver standing. His breakthrough win came against teammate and now crew chief Mike Neff in 2012. That win was the start of another great streak by Hight who went on to win four races in row and reach five finals in six races.

“I have a great relationship with Mike Neff. Last season he was very hands on with a lot of the teams and this season he is able to focus more on the Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car. John has said he is the lead of the crew chiefs and we have a great brain-trust. I love his attitude and how he approaches the tune-up with this car. If gives you so much confidence as a driver,” said Hight. “This year we started the season getting to the semi-finals and we are only one point out of third place in the points. I love racing at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park and I am looking forward to a long weekend.”

BRITTANY FORCE WANTS TO RECAPTURE MAGIC AT WILD HORSE PASS

CHANDLER, AZ (February 18, 2015) —- Last year at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals sophomore sensation Brittany Force came within a few thousandths of a second of reaching one of her top goals as a Top Fuel racer. Racing in her first final round and seeking her first win, the now 28 year-old Top Fuel racer was defeated by Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown. Her spirit was not broken as the early season final round appearance only served to motivate the first John Force Racing Top Fuel racer to continue to strive for more success.

As Force’s third professional season gets underway the former school teacher turned 320 mph NHRA professional racer eyes a return to glory in the desert this weekend at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park outside of Phoenix. After the near miss on victory in 2014 Force raced to three more final rounds, three No. 1 qualifiers and also finished in the top ten in the Mello Yello point standings.

The John Force Racing team tested in Phoenix in late January with Force posting some impressive times. Her Todd Smith and Ronnie Thompson tuned dragster consistently improved over the course of the test session. She turned heads and lit up the internet with her best run of testing an unofficial 3.698 second pass that was the first Top Fuel run in the 3.6s.

“I am excited to get back to Phoenix. We spent four days there in testing. I made eight or nine passes at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. It is all about getting back in the groove of things. I am ready to get back on the track. We started off qualifying strong in Pomona and I am ready to get back out there,” said Brittany Force.

The season opening NHRA national event two weeks ago in Pomona was a mixed bag for the young racer eager to hoist her first Wally, the prize for winning an NHRA national event. Force qualified No. 8 on the strength of her three qualifying runs. The final qualifying session was rained out as the team was making progress towards a consistent tune-up for the track at Auto Club Raceway.

In the first round Force lost a close race to fellow female racer Leah Pritchett and her day ended with a first round exit and a spot in the top ten after the first race of the season.

“I definitely think our Top Fuel team needed that last qualifying run (in Pomona). We had three good runs but one more would have helped us out to lock in a tune up on this race car. We are starting a brand new season and we only got three runs here before eliminations. All the race cars were short changed on that last run so we all had the same amount of runs. Every team had to deal with it,” explained an upbeat Force at the end of the race day.

TRAXXAS TEAM LOOKING TO BUILD ON PERFORMANCE MOMENTUM IN PHOENIX

CHANDLER, AZ (February 18, 2015) — Courtney Force and her Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car team will head to Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park this week for the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Chandler, Ariz. This is the second stop along the 24-race tour in the NHRA Mello Yello Series and will give the 26-year-old driver and her Traxxas team a chance to continue their impressive qualifying efforts from the Winternationals at Pomona. It will also grant the team a chance to redeem themselves in competition and in the Mello Yello point standings.

“We qualified No. 1 at the Winternationals at Pomona. We had a good car throughout qualifying; however when we lost lane choice in round two we stumbled by smoking the tires and got beat by Del Worsham. Coming out of the first race, I feel like we are still off to a good start to the new season and feeling good about the performance of my new Traxxas Chevy Camaro SS Funny Car,” said Force.

Force drove her Camaro SS Funny Car to a personal best 3.995 ET in competition on Saturday at Pomona, leaving her competitors in the dust and taking the No. 1 qualifying spot for the eighth time in her professional career.

“It was exciting to run in the 3’s for the first time especially at my home track, and to have this be a milestone as the first Chevrolet in the 3’s made it even sweeter. I’m so proud of my team and all that we have to look forward to with our new partnership with Chevy, because this is only the beginning,” said Force.

The youngest daughter of NHRA Drag Racing legend John Force has qualified No. 12 twice in past events at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park and has qualified in the No. 3 spot once. Last year, Force went up against veteran Del Worsham in the first round of eliminations and lost in an upset when the tires on her Traxxas Chevy Camaro SS went up in smoke and she had to pedal it.

“My goals for Phoenix are to see if we can get our car running consistent throughout qualifying and stay in the top half going into race day. Our goal is to of course go rounds and get this Traxxas Chevy in the winner’s circle. Our goals for the year are to lock in early to the Countdown to the Championship, and to go after that top spot. We had a good run at it last year and I think that we have learned so much throughout the years that maybe we can get the job done,” said Force.

With 84 round wins coming into the CARQUEST NHRA Nationals Force is methodically reeling in another career milestone. She is only 16 round wins away from 100 round wins and a mere 21 round wins behind sister Ashley Force Hood (105 career round wins) for the all-time round win record for a female Funny Car racer. Last season Courtney set the record for most race wins by a female Funny Car racer with her fifth win during the Sonoma race. Force went on to win two more times in the Countdown to extend her win record.