Aboard her new-look Toyota GR Supra, 2014 NHRA U.S. Nationals Funny Car event champion Alexis DeJoria and the DC Motorsports team were a dominant force throughout the weekend at the 70th running of the annual event at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Debuting a blacked-out Bandero Café paint scheme, which she will carry on her 11,0000-horsepower machine through the remainder of the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, DeJoria qualified ninth out of 18 cars battling to clinch a spot in Monday’s U.S. Nationals eliminations show.
DeJoria opened the weekend with a clean, straight pass of 3.987 seconds on Friday night. In Saturday’s first session, she clocked a 3.911 at 323.50 mph run to place her seventh on the ladder. She then recorded her third consecutive 3.9-second run before lining up on Sunday for the Pep Boys All-Star Funny Car Callout against Matt Hagan, who selected DeJoria as his first-round opponent the day prior. For the first time all weekend, DeJoria’s machine spun and dropped cylinders, slowing to a 4.812 E.T. while Hagan posted a 3.931 for the win to advance. The Bandero Café Toyota GR Supra closed out qualifying for the ‘Big Go ‘with another clean, straight pass.
On Monday morning, DeJoria had the opportunity to avenge Sunday’s loss to Hagan when she lined up opposite the reigning world champ once again during the first round of eliminations. Against Hagan, she took her Del Worsham-tuned machine on its quickest ride of the weekend, posting a 3.886 to defeat Hagan’s 4.225-second effort. In the quarterfinals, DeJoria recorded another stout pass. She bested her previous time with a run of 3.876 seconds, but Austin Prock’s slight starting line advantage coupled with his 3.879 E.T. propelled him across the finish line first in a tight side-by-side race, ending the team’s day after round two.
With the car’s performance steadily improving over the past several events, DeJoria is eager to get the Countdown to the Championship started as she feels her team has honed-in on their combination at the point in the season when it matters most.
“You never want to peak too early,” said DeJoria. “We’ve done that, where we peaked early and then dropped off in the Countdown. This year, we had some struggles early, but we’ve turned it around when it really counts.
“We had a good showing this weekend,” she added. “Out of all five qualifying runs, we made four clean runs down the race track; solid, consistent runs, and qualified ninth for Monday. We ran a good number this morning – a 3.88 – got the win against Hagan, which solidified our spot in the Top 10 to start the Countdown. Second round, we bested our E1 time with that 3.87. Our 60-foot times are getting better. We got beat second round, but we didn’t give it away. I got beat by a little bit of a holeshot on the starting line, but I still had a good light and it was a really close race. I’m just proud of all of us for sticking it out. We’ve been working so hard to get this car back to where it needs to be and it’s finally here, and I just want to thank Del and my guys so much for everything they’ve done. All the hard work, all the times we’ve gone up there and done our best and lost in the first round over and over and over again. We all feel really relieved going into the Countdown that we finally have the hot rod that we’ve been working toward all season long.”
DeJoria starts the Countdown to the Championship from the No. 10 seed. She has six prior Top 10 finishes, with her best showing coming from the 2021 season when she finished the year ranked sixth. The playoffs get underway September 13 – 15 in Reading, Pennsylvania when the Mission Foods Series returns to Maple Grove Raceway for the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals.
This story was originally published on September 3, 2024.
The post Bandero Café Supra Quick and Consistent at Indy, DeJoria Ready to Charge Hard in NHRA Countdown first appeared on Drag Illustrated.