Team Patrón Looking for Mid-Season Turnaround in Sonoma

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (July 22, 2013)— As the Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car team leaves the ‘mile high’ state and heads for sea-level Sonoma, Calif., they know that the stakes are high going into the second event of the three-race Western Swing.

With just four races left to get into the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship Top Ten list, Team Patrón knows that the 26th annual NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway is a critical race and will contribute to the fate of whether or not the team will have a chance for a run at the Championship. The team currently sits in the No. 12 spot on the list with 569 points.

“We’re 174 points out of tenth place as of now,” said team driver, Alexis DeJoria. “It’s critical that we go rounds this weekend. We’re not out of the hunt yet, but we really need to make some big moves this weekend.”

 “Over the past three races, we’ve made some changes to the car that really seem to have helped improve our performance as of late. One of the most recent changes was the new chassis that we ran for the first time this past weekend in Denver, which we plan to use for the rest of the season. I’m very happy with this new chassis- we just need some more runs on it to fine tune it. I feel confident in the changes made by Tommy [DeLago, crew chief] and Glen [Huszar, co-crew chief], and I believe our team has a good chance of turning our luck around and making it into the Countdown.”

Despite the tricky conditions in the Rocky Mountains, Team Green was able to run an impressive 4.122 during qualifying, and they feel confident that Sonoma’s stellar conditions will enable them to make some very fast passes. According to DeJoria, “It was hard to run good numbers this past weekend in Denver because of the altitude, but now we’re going to be racing at a sea-level track where you can really make some horsepower and lay down good E.T.’s. I’m excited to see what this Patrón Toyota Camry can do.”

Alexis DeJoria and the Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car team begin qualifying for the NHRA Sonoma Nationals at 5PM PST on Friday, July 26. For more information, please visit www.alexisdejoria.com. Follow us on Twitter: @ADR_Nitro771 and Like Us on Facebook: Alexis DeJoria. Be sure to tune in to the ‘Alexis DeJoria NHRA Racing Report’ every Friday at 1PM EST on www.RaceTalkRadio.com.

TV Schedule

Qualifying

July 27, 7PM-9:30PM EST

ESPN

Eliminations

July 28, 8PM-11PM EST

ESPN2

About Alexis DeJoria

Alexis DeJoria, daughter of the famed John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems and proud owner of Tequila Patrόn, is a professional NHRA race car driver, competing in the nitro Funny Car class on the Kalitta Motorsports team. Alexis drives a Tequila Patrόn-sponsored 2013 Toyota Camry. Alexis, who had all the opportunity in the world to pursue any type of career, felt strongly about following her passion, and her need for adrenaline drove her to pursue the unlikely profession of auto-racing. The determination to ‘blaze her own trail’ continues to drive her and push her to higher levels in male dominated sport of drag racing.

About Kalitta Motorsports
Based in Ypsilanti, Mich., Kalitta Motorsports is a Top Fuel and Funny Car drag racing team in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. The team was founded and is owned by drag racing icon Connie “the Bounty Hunter” Kalitta. For more than 50 years, Connie has been involved in the sport as a driver, tuner, and an owner. Kalitta Motorsports is one of the most successful teams in the history of auto racing with five world championships and over 50 national event titles in five different professional drag racing sanctioning bodies since it was established by Connie in 1959.