EPPING, N.H. (June 1, 2025) – Alexis DeJoria raced to a semifinal finish in her Bandero Café Funny Car Sunday afternoon at the NHRA New England Nationals, marking the third time she’s been to the semifinals this season. By earning two round wins, DeJoria moved well into the top 10 in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car points standings going into a jam-packed stretch of races in June. The JCM Racing driver is now ranked eighth after rolling into New England Dragway in the No. 11 spot.
DeJoria made a baseline run in the first qualifying session to sit No. 8 before throwing down a 3.909-second blast at 329.58 mph, the fourth-quickest pass of the second session, to take the provisional No. 5 position going into Saturday qualifying. She posted a consistent 3.927 E.T. at 331.77 mph in the third session, earning one bonus point for recording the third-quickest pass of the round. In the final session, her car lost traction and she shut it off early. By the time qualifying wrapped up, DeJoria sat in the No. 6 position, tied for her best start of the season.
DeJoria’s first-round opponent was a familiar one: Ron Capps, who defeated DeJoria in the opening round at the recent Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. DeJoria got redemption, leaving first with the quickest reaction time of the round and winning with a 3.926 E.T. at 324.98 mph to a tire-smoking Capps. DeJoria and second-round opponent Paul Lee left the starting line together before Lee went into tire smoke. DeJoria had her own traction struggles, but she held on to get the Bandero Café Funny Car to the finish line first. The JCM Racing Funny Car team worked hard to return to the ready line for the semifinals, where DeJoria raced to a 3.971-second pass to finish behind J.R. Todd and his 3.889 E.T.
“We’ve had a great start to the season with this brand-new team,” said DeJoria, who has strong New England roots having spent much of her childhood in the Narragansett, R.I. area. “I’m really proud to be a part of the JCM crew working with (crew chiefs) Mike Neff and Todd Smith and this entire team. We came to another semifinal here in New Hampshire. A win here has eluded me, but we’ll be back next year. I’m excited we get to run again next weekend and I don’t have to wait too long, but it was a great weekend overall. We qualified well, we went rounds, and we moved up in points from No. 11 to eighth, so we’re going in the right direction.”
DeJoria will continue the quest for her first victory of the season in just a few days at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, where she was the event winner and No. 1 qualifier in 2021. She’s also a two-time runner-up at Bristol.
Qualified: No. 6 (3.909 E.T. at 329.58 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.926 E.T. at 324.98 MPH defeated Ron Capps 8.903 E.T. at 84.79 MPH
E2: 4.232 E.T. at 221.13 MPH defeated Paul Lee 7.188 E.T. at 94.12 MPH
E3: 3.971 E.T. at 324.90 MPH defeated by J.R. Todd 3.889 E.T. at 333.08 MPH
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DeJoria made a baseline run in the first qualifying session to sit No. 8 before throwing down a 3.909-second blast at 329.58 mph, the fourth-quickest pass of the second session, to take the provisional No. 5 position going into Saturday qualifying. She posted a consistent 3.927 E.T. at 331.77 mph in the third session, earning one bonus point for recording the third-quickest pass of the round. In the final session, her car lost traction and she shut it off early. By the time qualifying wrapped up, DeJoria sat in the No. 6 position, tied for her best start of the season.
DeJoria’s first-round opponent was a familiar one: Ron Capps, who defeated DeJoria in the opening round at the recent Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. DeJoria got redemption, leaving first with the quickest reaction time of the round and winning with a 3.926 E.T. at 324.98 mph to a tire-smoking Capps. DeJoria and second-round opponent Paul Lee left the starting line together before Lee went into tire smoke. DeJoria had her own traction struggles, but she held on to get the Bandero Café Funny Car to the finish line first. The JCM Racing Funny Car team worked hard to return to the ready line for the semifinals, where DeJoria raced to a 3.971-second pass to finish behind J.R. Todd and his 3.889 E.T.
“We’ve had a great start to the season with this brand-new team,” said DeJoria, who has strong New England roots having spent much of her childhood in the Narragansett, R.I. area. “I’m really proud to be a part of the JCM crew working with (crew chiefs) Mike Neff and Todd Smith and this entire team. We came to another semifinal here in New Hampshire. A win here has eluded me, but we’ll be back next year. I’m excited we get to run again next weekend and I don’t have to wait too long, but it was a great weekend overall. We qualified well, we went rounds, and we moved up in points from No. 11 to eighth, so we’re going in the right direction.”
DeJoria will continue the quest for her first victory of the season in just a few days at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, where she was the event winner and No. 1 qualifier in 2021. She’s also a two-time runner-up at Bristol.
Qualified: No. 6 (3.909 E.T. at 329.58 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.926 E.T. at 324.98 MPH defeated Ron Capps 8.903 E.T. at 84.79 MPH
E2: 4.232 E.T. at 221.13 MPH defeated Paul Lee 7.188 E.T. at 94.12 MPH
E3: 3.971 E.T. at 324.90 MPH defeated by J.R. Todd 3.889 E.T. at 333.08 MPH
Continue reading...
