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CONCORD, N.C. (September 15, 2013)— After powering her 10,000 horsepower Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car to a career best run of 4.027-seconds at 310.70-mph during the second round of qualifying, Alexis DeJoria sat in the No. 5 spot on the ladder and was set to square off against Ron Capps in round one of eliminations on Sunday.
In what was an unofficial rematch of Indy where Team Patrón lost to Capps by less than one thousandth of a second in round one, the team felt confident going up against the Napa car once again, looking to even the score. Unfortunately, the Patrón Toyota Camry smoked the tires right at the hit of the throttle, quickly ending Team Green’s chance of advancing to the second round.
“Obviously, we’re let down by today’s first round loss. We went over everything, and went over the numbers with the DHL car and both cars were just more aggressive than what the track could handle,” said champion tuner Tommy DeLago, speaking of the Kalitta DHL Funny Car which made it to almost the 200-foot mark before also pulling the tires loose. “We have a good idea of what the issue is and we’ll definitely rectify it before Dallas.”
“Despite the letdown, the excitement in me is boiling because I know that we’re getting to a place where we have a car that’s going to whoop some butt before the season is over. Being the third quickest running car in Q4 at Indy [4.081-sec, 309.77-mph], the third quickest in Indy E1 [4.036-sec, 312.25-mph], and then running that 4.027 during Friday’s night run with a cylinder out from the 700-ft mark, it’s pretty exciting. We’re starting to make some really good headway and I know we’re going to win some races before the year is over,” he added.
Just like DeLago, DeJoria isn’t letting Sunday’s disappointing loss damper her spirits either. “Our qualifying sessions went well this time around in Charlotte. My lights were pretty good throughout qualifying- I think I averaged second best out of everyone. Unfortunately, we smoked the tires first round today; similar to what happened in Q3. We’ll head to Texas and it’s on to the next race.”
Alexis DeJoria and the Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car team compete next at the 28th annual AAA Texas Fall Nationals in Ennis, Texas, September 19-22. For more information, please visit www.alexisdejoria.com. Follow us on Twitter: @ADR_Nitro771 and Like Us on Facebook: Alexis DeJoria.
TV Schedule
Eliminations
September 15, 8:30PM-11:30PM 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.