Drag Racing Featured — 12 April 2012


Alexis DeJoria to Experience the ‘Four-Wide Phenomenon’ for the First Time this Weekend

© Jeff Riedel/Contour by Getty Images

Topanga Canyon, CA (April 11, 2012)— Alexis DeJoria, driver of the Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patr?n Toyota Camry Funny Car team, looks forward to making her ‘four-wide’ debut at zMax Dragway this weekend, as she and the team prepare for the 3rd Annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals.

Coming off two solid back-to-back race weekends (Vegas and Gainesville), Team Patr?n looks to build on their current success and keep the momentum going into this weekend’s race. The two Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car teams (the Patr?n and DHL cars) will continue to stick with their current strategy of having both cars set up almost identically, allowing them the benefit of working off each other. In the past two events, the teams have been able to get back on track with that strategy and have found it to be extremely beneficial. Now that the DHL car will be sporting the new Toyota Camry body for the very first time this weekend (the Patr?n car has been using the new body all season long), the cars will be that much more alike, making this strategy that much stronger.

“Del [Worsham, the team’s crew chief] has really gotten a good handle on this car and has been able to get up and down the track without any significant issues. I think we can expect to see exciting things out of he and the team this weekend,” says Jim Oberhofer, Vice President of Kalitta Motorsports. “I had said after the last race that we needed one more good weekend under our belt to get the cars right where we need to be, and I think that as long as we stay on track this weekend, we’ll be very competitive.”

Worsham, who spent a lot of time at the Kalitta shop last week, has been working on a couple of different things in the clutch area which should help with consistency, but otherwise, plans to keep the car setup relatively similar to how it was in Vegas, saying “The car has been running so well as of late, we don’t feel the need to make any significant tuning changes.”

The current forecasted weather conditions in Charlotte should also help to make for a good weekend. “Obviously we’ve been checking the weather all week long, and the way the conditions are looking as of now, should lead to everyone seeing some pretty good numbers being run down there,” said Oberhofer, adding, “The neat thing about Charlotte is it’s an all-concrete track. It’s nice and smooth and the potential to run very well there is always great. We saw the first three second Funny Car run their last year, and our DHL car ran their career best at that track last year.”

DeJoria shares Oberhofer’s enthusiasm about visiting the famous four-wide track. “I’m feeling really good going into Charlotte. We’ve seen a lot of improvement lately and I’m confident that we’ll just keep doing better and better,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to driving at zMax for the first time. I can’t wait to feel the excitement of going up against three other cars at once. Obviously there will be a little bit of a learning curve for me because I’ve never experienced four-wide racing before and I’ll have to adapt to the different staging procedures, but overall I think it’ll be a cool experience! We’re doing well right now- we’re on the right path, and this will be an exciting event for us!”

Alexis DeJoria and the Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patr?n Toyota Camry Funny Car team will compete this weekend at the 3rd Annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Concord, NC, April 13th-15th.  Qualifying begins at 2PM on Friday.

About Alexis DeJoria

Alexis DeJoria, daughter of the famed John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems and proud owner of Tequila Patr?n, is a professional NHRA race car driver, competing in the Nitro Funny Car class on the Kalitta Motorsports team. She is their second Nitro Funny Car driver and fourth member of the team. Alexis drives a Tequila Patr?n-sponsored 2012 Toyota Camry.

Alexis had a successful career in the Top Alcohol Funny Car category where she co-owned and operated her team, and was one of the few females ever to do so. She left the TAFC category holding the title of Top Female Top Alcohol Funny Car Racer and 2011 NHRA Northwest Nationals TAFC event champion. Alexis made racing history when she competed in the first ever ‘woman vs. woman’ race in her class in 2010, and she is the 2nd woman ever to win a TAFC race. She is currently the female world record holder for the fastest and quickest TAFC speeds. Alexis is also well-known for her infamous 2009 Englishtown, NJ crash.

Alexis, who had all the opportunity in the world to pursue any type of career, felt strongly about following her passion. She is proud to encourage and inspire young women to go after their dreams. Alexis’ 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 the dangerous, 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) Full Throttle 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.


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