De Joria qualifies for first national event in Seattle
KENT, Wash. - NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car rookie Alexis De Joria qualified for her first national event in the Tequila Patrón/Jack O'Bannon Racing Dodge Charger during this past weekend's Schuck's Auto Supply Nationals at Pacific Raceways just outside of Chicago. The event was plagued by rain, limiting competitors to just one qualifying session.
De Joria, 29, of Venice, Calif., qualified for her first show in the 13th spot with a 5.954 second elapsed time at 246.35 mph. In round one, she squared off with No. 4 qualifier Ken Kraus. De Joria, the daughter of Patrón Spirits Co., and Paul Mitchell Hair Care Products founder John Paul De Joria, then rocketed to a career best 5.736 at 252.71 mph but lost on a holeshot to Kraus' 5.897 at 242.89 mph.
"Overall, it was a good weekend for us," said De Joria. "We knew we were only going to get one shot to qualify, so my Crew Chief Randy Anderson told me to do whatever it took to get the car down the track. It started shaking and I tried to drive through it, but it wasn't recovering. I pedaled the car and got it down track to a 5.95, which was good enough to qualify. It was so exciting to finally qualify for a national event and make it to the first round. I know that was a big boost to the team."
"In the first round, the guy I had to run had run in the 5.60's in qualifying," De Joria continued. "So I knew I was going to have to cut a light on him. I was really amped up to cut a light and he deep staged on me, which threw my concentration off. I made the mistake of taking my eye off the tree and looking at his side of the tree. Next thing you know, the tree had come on and I was way late. The run ended up being our quickest and fastest run ever, which is a step in the right direction for us. That was a huge improvement. I just got a little distracted on the line. There's so many little things you have to work on driving these cars. To win it takes the whole package. That's why I'm here, to learn and gain experience. Jack O'Bannon has put together a wonderful team to train me. We run Sonoma next week, and I'm really going to work on my focus. Hopefully we can make another good showing in this Tequila Patrón Dodge Charger."
The Tequila Patrón/Jack O'Bannon Racing Team will head south to the wine country of Northern California for this weekend's Fram-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
About The Patrón Spirits Company:
Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company's eight distinctive products now share the Patrón label; Gran Patrón Platinum, Patrón Añejo, Patrón Reposado, Patrón Silver, Patrón XO Café, Patrón Citrónge, Pyrat Cask 23, Pyrat XO Reserve. Each brand is the finest in their category. The newest, Gran Patrón Platinum, is an extraordinary triple distilled pure tequila. sPatrón Tequila is today, the world’s number one ultra premium tequila. In 2004 & 2005, Patrón Tequila was recognized with the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences Five Star Diamond Award. Patrón is the first spirits brand ever to receive this prestigious honor. Patrón Tequila continues to set new sales records every year.
To find out more about the Jack O'Bannon Racing team, log on to their website at www.jackobannonracing.com
To find out more about the team's quality partners, visit these websites:
The Patrón Spirits Company - Find out more about the world's number one tequila - Tequila Patrón.
Hoosier Racing Tire -- Tires Designed For Champions - "Tires Designed for Champions"
Lubrication Engineers,® Inc. - Welcome. - Lubrication Engineers - "Leaders in Lubrication"
