It was at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip that John Force Racing’s Jordan Vandergriff got his first taste of the sensory overload that is NHRA drag racing and it’s there during the April 8-10 NHRA Winternationals that the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car driver hopes earn his first event win in the sanctioning body’s 1,000th Funny Car race.
This weekend will be the first time the California native has competed in the Winternationals but he does have prior experience at the legendary drag strip. In the last event of his 11-race Top Fuel rookie season, at the 2019 NHRA Finals, Vandergriff beat Austin Prock in Round 1 before losing to Leah Pruett in the second.
“Pomona is my hometown track,” said Vandergriff. “It’s the track I grew up going to and it holds a special place in my heart because it’s where drag racing was introduced to me. I’ve only run there once before, in my rookie year at the Finals. So, this will be my second time there and I can’t wait to be in the Cornwell Tools Funny Car.
“Pomona was where I first got the feel for the speed and what it was about,” Vandergriff added. “It was the heyday of Tony Schumacher, when he was winning everything and John Force was winning everything. It was just a different era of drag racing when I was growing up, and now, to be ushering in this new era of drag racing at Pomona is unreal. I can’t wait to go back.”
Vandergriff sits seventh in the Funny Car point standings after the season’s first two races. He earned a semifinals finish at the season-opening Gatornationals in his John Force Racing debut and a second-round showing two weeks later in the Arizona heat.
Overall, John Force Racing drivers have won 32 times in three events at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip (17 times in the Winternationals, 14 times in the Finals plus John Force’s win in the 50th Anniversary NHRA Nationals in 2001).
“Getting my first win in the NHRA’s 1000th Funny Car race, at my hometown track, would be amazing. I think you couldn’t write a script any better than that, and Hollywood’s not too far away. It just would be unbelievable for it to happen and we’re going there with the idea that it’s going to happen. We have a good Cornwell Tools Chevy, and the weather should come into the wheelhouse, so we’ll be ready. Chris Cunningham and Jason Bunker (crew chiefs) will tune that thing up and I’m going to hop in it and try to get that win.”
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