Last season, JCM Racing fielded two Top Fuel cars in NHRA’s Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, for eight-time class champ Tony Schumacher and a late entry for 2023 FIA European Top Fuel titleholder Ida Zetterstrom. This year they’ll have a different look with Zetterstrom returning and, as earlier announced, Alexis DeJoria joining her in a Funny Car. Schumacher, lacking commercial backing, has no firm plans – yet – for the 2025 campaign.
So JCM Racing will be an all-female team in 2025, with one foot in Top Fuel courtesy of Zetterstrom and the other foot in the Funny Car wars. This will be the sport’s first all-female nitro team, with DeJoria piloting the Bandero Premium Tequila Funny Car, while Zetterstrom competes in her JCM Racing Top Fuel dragster.
This duo debuts during National Women’s Month, as the 2025 NHRA season kicks off with the Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. the weekend of March 7-9. As earlier indicated, DeJoria will take part in all 20 NHRA Mission Foods competitions, while Zetterstrom’s sophomore season will undertake a half-season consisting of 10 races; her goal is to add events in the hopes of making a full-season run.
“This sport has a long history of powerful women, who have made their mark – not only on NHRA drag racing – but the motorsports industry as a whole,” declared Joe Maynard, JCM Racing team owner. “Women have been at the forefront of NHRA for many years, and we’re proud to be the first organization to have an all-female roster of nitro-powered drivers. Ida and Alexis are the full package and will represent us well, both on and off the track.
“Working with Ida last year and seeing her drive and tenacity,” Maynard said, “I have no doubt that it’s only a matter of time before she has an NHRA championship to go along with her European championships. Her work ethic is incredible, and that translates to success on the track. I’m hopeful we can continue to add more races to her schedule this year and put her in a position to have a shot at the Countdown.
“As for Alexis, it’s clear that she is right there on the cusp, a champion-in-the-making, and our goal for this season,” Maynard added,” is to put her in the best car surrounded by a great team, so that she can make a run at becoming the first woman in NHRA history to win a Funny Car title.”
To advance that desire stated by Maynard for DeJoria, he has assigned Mike “Zippy” Neff, a former Funny Car race-winning driver and crew chief who has been instrumental in tuning multiple high-profile drivers to numerous race wins, as DeJoria’s crew chief. Neff has won two Funny Car championships as a crew chief.
Continuing their late-season 2024 partnership, Zetterstrom will work with Jon Schaffer, whose resume is jam-packed with highlights, including double-digit race wins and a series title since becoming an NHRA crew chief. At their first race together in Brainerd, MN, Zetterstrom and Schaffer earned an impressive semifinal result, but felt they didn’t truly hit their stride until several races later, as the season drew to a close.
“I feel like we left a lot on the table when it comes to showing people what we’re capable of,” Zetterstrom said. The recent winner of National Dragster’s All-Star ‘Best New Talent’ fan vote noted, “Everyone else had a 12-race head start on us, so by the time we came out in August, the rest of the field had several months of getting the kinks worked out. We were a brand new team that was starting from scratch and right as it started to feel like we were getting into our groove, the season ended.
“So we’re ready,” Zetterstrom stressed, “to get back out there and prove ourselves. I hope we can put together the proper funding to race a full season, but regardless, I’ll be out at the track every race weekend, either competing for win lights or supporting my new teammate from the starting line. I’m excited for Alexis and me to be teammates this year.”
The two racers, aside from their marketability, share an impressive list of credentials, having spent years climbing the ranks in straight-line motorsports. Zetterstrom is a European drag racing titleholder on two wheels as well as four and became the first woman to win an FIM Super Street Bike title, back to-back in 2019 and 2020, before earning the 2023 FIA European Top Fuel championship. DeJoria is a former U.S. Nationals champion and the first woman to clock a three-second Funny Car pass over 1,000 feet. As well as her six Funny Car victories, DeJoria found success in Sportsman racing and is the sole NHRA driver to have wins in Super Comp, Top Alcohol Funny Car and Funny Car.
“Ida was a great addition to the tour last year, and I”m looking forward to having her as a teammate,” DeJoria allowed. “We’re both fierce competitors and I feel like we’re going to motivate each other. I’m also really looking forward to working with Mike Neff. His credentials speak for themselves, and he’s had a lot of success in Funny Car. The guys are up in Indy, hard at work getting our car prepped and put together, so that we’re ready to go come March.”
Both Zetterstrom and DeJoria are going to the NHRA pre-season test session at the site of the Gatornationals, Gainesville Raceway, March 4-5. Zetterstrom schedule of events will be revealed closer to the start of the 2025 season.