![\"DeJoria](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Alexis-in-PRO-testing-2020-min.jpg\")
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The responsibility of a race car driver is to go fast and, hopefully, take that checkered flag, that Wally trophy… whatever symbol stands for a victory. This is often to the detriment of what happens outside the racetrack. Families can be torn apart by absences of a driver, a crew member, an official in any series. The road can be a lonely place when you\u2019re laser-focused on winning the next race.<\/p>\n
So it was for Alexis DeJoria, who realized she was missing out on the ability to see her family\u2019s growth as she worked the NHRA\u2019s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, chasing her dream of Funny Car victories and possible championships. So after the 2017 season, DeJoria stepped back.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a pivotal moment in my daughter\u2019s life. She had just gotten her driver\u2019s permit and was going to get ready to begin driving – and there\u2019s just so much the goes on at that age,\u201d five-time NHRA Funny Car winner DeJoria said. \u201cI wanted to be there for her, to teach her how to drive – she drives a Toyota Prius – and I just really needed to be there for her in person. It\u2019s hard to parent by proxy. I\u2019ve really been blessed spending time with my family these past two years off\u201d the drag racing circuit.<\/p>\n
But the urge to return was there. DeJoria\u2019s a competitor. She missed the adrenaline, the friendships that swirl through the NHRA pits. She missed driving her 11,000-horsepower Toyota Camry Funny Car. But she had to return on her terms; it had to be the right situation.<\/p>\n
That right situation turned up when she was able to team with mentor Del Worsham and Nicky Boninfante, who had been with DeJoria from her first days as part of Kalitta Motorsports. Worsham, the 2012 Top Fuel champion and 2015 Funny Car titleholder, joined with DeJoria to form DC Motorsports and plan the team\u2019s return to competition in 2020.<\/p>\n
![\"DeJoria](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Del-Worsham-2017-min.jpg\")
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Worsham was crew chief in DeJoria\u2019s first 2012 Funny Car season and her teammate from 2013-2016. Boninfante worked on DeJoria\u2019s car for several years and was her chief tuner in 2017. They were ready to work together again, starting the last weekend of January and into February, testing on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway dragstrip in anticipation of the 60th annual Lucas Oil Winternationals at the famed Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, held a week later.<\/p>\n
For DeJoria, the return seems natural. \u201cThere\u2019s not much that has changed car-wise,\u201d since she\u2019s been gone, \u201cbut I think my outlook on the year is a bit different. I\u2019m coming back a seasoned driver. There are no questions anymore,\u201d said the winner of 2014\u2019s Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, one of NHRA\u2019s most coveted victories. \u201cIt\u2019s just getting out here and doing what I love to do and being what I know I was meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
While she\u2019s had a few test sessions leading up to the PRO test at Las Vegas, DeJoria hasn\u2019t been in competition for a couple of seasons. \u201cI\u2019m getting acclimated to the speeds again, but as far as being in the car and working with the crew, I definitely feel at home. This is an incredible sport where I\u2019m able to make a comeback and pick up where I left off.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeJoria is bringing two new partners into the NHRA community with her DC Motorsports team and Toyota-powered Funny Car. She introduced ROKit phones as her primary partner, together with ABK beer. ROKit phones are the first mobile carrier to offer glasses-free 3D technology. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be recording a lot of footage out at the track that you can exclusively see on your ROKit phone in 3D – without glasses. It\u2019s just amazing. And fans will be able to sample the delicious Bavarian ABK beer at the races,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
As she returns to the difficult world of NHRA professional drag racing, DeJoria\u2019s thoughts return to her rationale for leaving the sport she loves: family. \u201cWith my daughter being the reason I did step out of the car in the first place, I had to get her approval before I came back. She was thrilled. She said to me, \u2018Mom, I didn\u2019t want you to stop racing anyway\u2019 and I said, \u2018I know, but I did it for you and when you\u2019re older, you\u2019ll appreciate why.\u2019 She\u2019s going to go on the road with me and we\u2019re going to travel the United States and see the sights. I\u2019m excited to have her on board with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"DeJoria](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Alexis-DeJoria-mug-2017-min.jpg\")
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DeJoria\u2019s a competitor. She missed the adrenaline, the friendships that swirl through the NHRA pits and driving her 11,000-horsepower Toyota Camry Funny Car. But she had to return on her terms.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":69197,"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","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,5029,3399],"tags":[76,5614,7472,79,2,38,41,7,1632],"class_list":["post-69195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","category-nhra","tag-alexis-dejoria","tag-anne-proffit","tag-dc-motorsports","tag-del-worsham","tag-drag-racing","tag-funny-car","tag-news","tag-nhra","tag-racing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Alexis-in-PRO-testing-2020-min.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-i03","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69195","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\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69200,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69195\/revisions\/69200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}