{"id":3811,"date":"2014-03-03T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T17:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=3811"},"modified":"2014-02-28T16:50:10","modified_gmt":"2014-03-01T00:50:10","slug":"alexis-dejoria-talks-drag-racing-and-her-place-in-the-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/alexis-dejoria-talks-drag-racing-and-her-place-in-the-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexis DeJoria Talks Drag Racing and Her Place in the Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"14AlexisDeJoriaPomonaScoreboard\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos: Gary Nastase\/Patron XO Racing<\/p>\n

Alexis DeJoria and her Patron XO Caf\u00e9 Funny Car team are climbing up the NHRA charts faster than a rock band with a hit song.<\/p>\n

After coming off fresh from her first major NHRA nitro win behind the wheel of her Kalitta Racing Toyota Camry at last weekend\u2019s CARQUEST Auto Parts Nationals, DJoria’s future has never looked brighter and her focus is clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look back at 2013, it was Tommy (Delago) and Glen\u2019s (Huzsen) first year on the car,\u201d said DeJoria. \u201cThey have a different setup and if Del would have had one more year on the car, he probably would have got it figured out, too.\u00a0 We\u2019re a new team, realistically, and it takes time to build credible runs and information with a brand new car, brand new setup and everything including a brand new team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was more of a stepping stone or building block process in learning last year.\u00a0 Towards the end of the year we were starting to get that consistency and some good fast runs, but still wasn\u2019t anywhere where we wanted to be, of course.\u00a0 It was an okay year, we went rounds, but it wasn\u2019t great and we didn\u2019t win our first race like we were hoping.<\/p>\n

At Pomona\u2019s 2014 season opening Winternationals, she started things off with a bang as the first female driver to enter the coveted 3-second Funny Car zone.<\/p>\n

\"14AlexisDeJoriaPhoenixPomonaCockpit<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, I understood it was going to take time and I have tons of patience, you\u2019ve gotta have that in this sport.\u00a0 Going out to Pomona and running that 3.99, it was like \u2018Ya know we\u2019re here, we have a good car and it\u2019s going to be our year.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It all starts with a great race team turning the wrenches.\u00a0 Her drag racing instruction is coming from some of the best in the business.\u00a0 The Kalitta Motorsports team is loaded with talent behind the wheel, but even more in the trailer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very passionate, diehard group of racers over at Kalitta ,\u201d stated DeJoria. \u00a0\u201cJimO (Jim Oberhofer, VP of Operations) has been with Connie so long and so are a lot of the guys over there like that.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of those teams that everyone supports each other one hundred per cent.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see all the guys up there on the starting line when one of the Kalitta cars is in the finals, and sure enough they were all there for my run.\u00a0 The official \u2018Kalitta mosh pit\u2019 came shortly after.\u00a0 It\u2019s such a great feeling to be on such a passionate team.\u00a0 When you say Connie Kalitta, he\u2019s such a legend in this sport.\u00a0 To be able to race for him and win, the day before his birthday (Kalitta turned 76 on Monday), it feels so good to do that for that man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winning has been on DeJoria\u2019s mind for some while, and after all her success at Pomona, she had a sense that maybe her time had finally arrived.<\/p>\n

\"14AlexisDeJoriaPhoenixStartingLine\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI did actually,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cBefore I left the house on Thursday night to go to Phoenix I told my husband, Jessie, as we walked out the door that we\u2019re going to win this race.\u00a0 I felt it.\u00a0 He reminded me of that just this morning, and he said, \u2018you told me, you called it, you knew you were going to do it that weekend\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just in my gut and after we ran that 3.99 at Pomona were just so proud of just being able to do that because I knew we could and I knew we were a good team. \u00a0I knew we could be fast, running in three seconds and that was just one more goal that had been accomplished.\u00a0 Then it\u2019s on to the next.\u00a0 Now we need to focus on going rounds, being consistent and win our next race.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a time before all this success came when she, like so many sportsman racers, had to apply her talent and dedication to steadily rise to the professional level.\u00a0 It all started during her late teenage school years and yes, it was all about the driving.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, it\u2019s funny because in high school all my friends were hot rodders,\u201d said DeJoria, who now drives a Lamborghini Murcielago that her husband, Jessie James, bought her as wedding present.\u00a0 \u201cThey had Chevelles, Bel Airs, Novas, and everyone was building them up and racing around town.\u00a0 That\u2019s when I got my start and my love for everything fast like that.\u00a0 I knew I wanted to race; I wasn\u2019t quite sure what kind of racing.\u00a0 I went to different racing schools like Skip Barber and things like that to learn all I could.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to a drag race when I was 16 in Pomona with a friend of mine that I used to race with and he basically introduced me to NHRA Drag Racing.\u00a0 Ever since then, it just took me.\u00a0 That was, a nitro Funny Car to be more specific, something that I ultimately saw myself doing.\u00a0 It took a little while to get there.\u00a0 I still had to finish school and I still had other priorities at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked for my father\u2019s company right out of high school.\u00a0 That was what everybody in the family did and that\u2019s work for the family business \u2013 Paul Mitchell.\u00a0 After four years being there and working in different departments trying to get a feel for the entire company as a whole, which was the plan anyway, I still wanted to race.<\/p>\n

“I told my father, ‘Hey Dad, this is my passion and I know the company is your passion and I love and thank you so much for this opportunity.\u00a0 I learned so much and maybe one day I\u2019ll come back.\u00a0 But for right now, I need to go do this.’<\/p>\n

“Sure enough he said, ‘Okay, if you\u2019re serious about it, go out and go to the school and get licensed and see if you want to do it.’\u00a0 I went and got my license, came back and I showed him and he was, ‘wow, all right then, go for it\u2019.\u00a0 Then I found an old used car and started racing in the sportsman categories.\u00a0 From there I worked my way up and I think the level of confidence and perseverance that I had really proved myself to my father, He\u2019s been supportive ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

As her biggest supporter and No. 1 fan, her father, Jean Paul DeJoria, was very proud of his daughter winning the Phoenix race<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I landed in Austin, I finally got to talk with him,\u201d said DeJoria.\u00a0 \u201cHe was ecstatic sitting in front of the TV watching it Sunday night.\u00a0 Everyone had already called him to say your daughter won and the ESPN show hadn\u2019t come on, yet.\u00a0 He was just thrilled.\u00a0 The last time I talked with him before I won was after I beat John Force and I was going to the finals.\u00a0 He was just freaking out.\u00a0 People at the house were telling me they have never seen him so excited.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to have a celebratory dinner very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"14AlexisDeJoriaPhoenixParachuteShot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To get to victory lane, DeJoria had to defeat a very tough group in the Valley of the Sun.\u00a0 She started her raceday against Jeff Arend, second round, her teammate, Del Worsham, then, 16-time Funny Car champion John Force and in the finals, Robert Hight, who she\u2019s been undefeated since 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome!\u201d she smiled after she saw the win light against Force in the semi-finals.\u00a0 \u201cThe man is on fire, obviously. He won Pomona, won his 16th<\/sup> championship last year, making three-second runs at Pomona and Phoenix.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say he\u2019s been around for a long time.\u00a0 Anytime you beat that man is definitely an accomplishment.\u00a0 After all, to be the best, you have to beat the best.\u00a0 Just being able to do that and go on to my first final round in over a year; it was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then to win, she had another Force car in the Finals with Hight at the helm.\u00a0\u00a0 As the light went green, his tires started smoking, losing traction giving her clear sailing to the finish line\u00a0 as running her best time of the day– 4.043 seconds.<\/p>\n

It vaulted her to third in the points and now she\u2019s entered into the Traxxas Shootout at Indy, which places her Patron XO Caf\u00e9 team in the right direction to reach her first NHRA Countdown to the Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, no more voting for me!\u201d she stated knowing now she\u2019s in a $100,000 race and doesn\u2019t have to depend on the fan vote in the Traxxas Shootout.\u00a0 \u201cWe got that out of the way early and I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then it’s onto the campaign for the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s putting one foot in front of the other.\u00a0 Obviously, we wanted to do that last year, but we did finish a little bit better. One step up from the year before.\u00a0 In 2012, we finished 12th<\/sup>, last year 11th<\/sup> and hopefully this year our eyes are set on finishing in the Top 10.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series moves cross country for the big 2014 east coast debut at the Gainesville Raceway for the Amalie Oil Gatornationals in two weeks.\u00a0 Now a nitro winner, DeJoria understands the need for intense focus to maintain this level of performance.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of stress, anxiety, and anticipation in keeping things together, but that\u2019s what make her team so strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really does,\u201d said DeJoria. \u201cGainesville is one of my favorite tracks on the circuit. \u00a0It always has been.\u00a0 I used to live right outside of Gainesville for a few years when I raced the Top Alcohol Funny Car of Bob Newberry and Nick Bastiao (Stealth Motorsports).\u00a0 I was fortunate to run record numbers there.\u00a0 I won my first round of Funny Car there, too!\u00a0 I have a lot of memories about that place.\u00a0 I feel really good going there.<\/p>\n

“At the end of the race at Phoenix, Tommy (crew chief, Delago) and I were talking about it, like our heads are already there thinking about what we\u2019re going to do in Gainesville.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fast track and I can\u2019t wait.\u00a0 I\u2019m really excited to go racing there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photos: Gary Nastase\/Patron XO Racing Alexis DeJoria and her Patron XO Caf\u00e9 Funny Car team are climbing up the NHRA charts faster than a rock […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,3399],"tags":[554,76,38,593,75,591,592,440,509],"class_list":["post-3811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-nhra","tag-2014-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-series","tag-alexis-dejoria","tag-funny-car","tag-gatornationals","tag-john-force","tag-patron-xo-racing","tag-phoenix","tag-robert-hight","tag-winternationals"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/14AlexisDeJoriaPhoenixStartingLineFeature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-Zt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3811"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3818,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3811\/revisions\/3818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}