Topanga Canyon, CA (April 4, 2012)—With four good runs, each smoother than the last, under their belt at the 13^th Annual NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals, the Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patron Toyota Camry Funny Car team is happy with the way their season has progressed as of late, and left Las Vegas yesterday feeling good about things.

After a shaky start to the 2012 NHRA season, Team Patron has seen more consistency, performance-wise, out of the Toyota Camry in the last two race weekends (Vegas Nationals and Gatornationals).

“These past two races have been great. We had just come off a pretty solid weekend at the Gators [Gatornationals] going into Vegas, so team morale was high. After another good race weekend, with the car performing as we hoped, our whole team is feeling even better. We definitely feel confident going into Charlotte,” said driver Alexis DeJoria.

“Obviously, I wish we had advanced a little farther on Sunday, but things like that happen. It was definitely a rookie mistake on my end,” said DeJoria, speaking of the team’s first round loss on a holeshot to Jack Beckman. “I took my eye off the top bulb. It’s something that I just have to keep on practicing. The more runs I get, the better my reaction time will be. It was a shame because Del [Worsham, the team’s crew chief] gave me such a good car and we ran a 4.16 [seconds] and that was with a dropped cylinder- I can only imagine how well we would’ve done if we had all cylinders firing and I had gotten off the line a little quicker. I beat myself up over it for a little while there on Sunday, but I’ve moved on. I’ll keep working on my reaction times with the practice tree, and focus on the races ahead.”

Jim Oberhofer, VP of Kalitta Motorsports agrees, saying “Del’s got a real good handle on this car now. With each pass, the car has been more and more consistent and we’ve seen improvement. It was disappointing to go out in the first round on such a nice run, but these things happen. Alexis is still learning. The Nitro cars are different from the Alcohol cars in terms of reaction time- you’re not revving the motor like you would in an Alcohol car. It’ll take her a little time to get used to it but she’ll be just fine. The best drivers out there lose on holeshots- it happens. Alexis is so competitive, so obviously she’s going to be hard on herself, but she’ll be just fine- I’m not worried about that. I’m just happy that now we’ve got a car that goes up and down the race track!”

The two Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car teams were able to get the cars set up almost identically, mechanically, and work off each other all weekend.  “That helps tremendously. We probably need another race or so to get the cars just where we need them to be, but when that happens both teams will be very, very competitive.”

“Overall, it was a good weekend. We wanted better results on raceday, but I was happy with the team aspect of the two cars (DHL and Patron) being identical. Del’s really getting an understanding of the direction he wants to go, and the more the car goes up and down the track without smoking the tires or something like that, the more confidence he’ll get, the better the car will run, and the better Alexis will feel. It’s a trickle-down effect, and we’re definitely on the right course,” said Oberhofer.

Alexis DeJoria and the Kalitta Motorsports Tequila Patron Toyota Camry Funny Car team will compete next at the 3^rd Annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Concord, NC, April 13^th-15^th.  

About Alexis DeJoria

Alexis DeJoria, daughter of the famed John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems and proud owner of Tequila Patron, 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 Patron-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 2^nd 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.