TEAM CASTROL/JOHN AND ASHLEY PRE-RACE PACKAGE FOR PHOENIX
TEAM CASTROL/JFR 25TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON JOHN FORCE/ASHLEY FORCE HOOD Pre-Race Package for the 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals Feb. 19-21, 2010 Firebird International Raceway Chandler, Ariz. (Phoenix) Second event in the Countdown to the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Championship * * * * follow John Force Racing at _www.twitter.com/jfr_racing_ (http://www.twitter.com/jfr_racing) * * * * Castrol/JFR 25th Anniversary Flashback: After signing Castrol as an associate sponsor in 1986 – for $5,000 cash and oil – John Force was introduced a year later as the Funny Car member of the new Castrol GTX Super Team that also included Gary Ormsby (Top Fuel), Larry Morgan (Pro Stock), Bill Barney (Top Alcohol Dragster), Pat Austin (Top Alcohol Funny Car) and David Nickens (Competition Eliminator). In just his sixth race in the green, red and white Castrol GTX colors with which he would become synonymous, Force won the Molson Grandnational at Montreal, Quebec, Canada – June 28, 1987. It was the first of his record 127 victories, all with Castrol GTX sponsorship. Nevertheless, it was his only win in a year that ended in disappointment when he failed to qualify for the season-ending World Finals and slipped from second to fourth in the final Funny Car standings. EVENT OVERVIEW: Coming off a unexpected victory in the season-opening Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals last week at Pomona, Calif., John Force tries to maintain momentum in his bid for an unprecedented 15th NHRA Funny Car championship on one of his favorite racetracks. Force has won eight of the last 16 races at Firebird International Raceway, the only John Force Racing driver to have won on the Arizona track. Force and crew chief Austin Coil, who are in their 26th season together, have raced together in every NHRA event at Firebird, never failing to put their car in the 16-car starting lineup. Force’s record at Firebird is a stellar 51-17 although he has been eliminated in the first round in each of his last three appearances. Although he has yet to win at Firebird, reigning series champion Robert “ Top Gun�?? Hight has reached the finals two of the last three seasons and in 2007 recorded the quickest quarter mile time EVER for a Funny Car when he was clocked in 4.636 seconds. While Hight is seeking his first event victory at Firebird, teammate and sister-in-law Ashley Force Hood is seeking her first round win in a Castrol GTX Ford Mustang in which she failed to qualify for the 2008 race and failed to advance out of the first round in 2007 and 2009. * * * * JFR RACING HISTORY AT FIREBIRD RACEWAY: Wins – 8, all by John Force (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005), Last year – Seeing double duty as both crew chief and driver of the Ford Drive One Mustang in the absence of ailing crew chief John Medlen, Mike Neff qualified No. 2 and posted the quickest time of eliminations before a clutch malfunction on the final round burnout ended his day. Notable – Robert Hight recorded the quickest quarter mile time in Funny Car drag racing history at the 2007 race, stopping the timers in 4.636 seconds in the Auto Club Ford Mustang. * * * * PRO POINTS (Current 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Series point standings): Funny Car – 1. John Force, Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang, 121; 2. Ron Capps, NAPA Dodge Charger, 94; 3. Bob Tasca III, Quick Lane/Motorcraft Ford Mustang, 78; 4. Jack Beckman, MTS Dodge Charger, 74; 5. Del Worsham, Al Anabi Toyota Solara, 59; 6. Matt Hagan, Diehard Dodge Charger, 57; 7. Ashley Force Hood, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 56; 8. Cruz Pedregon, Snap-on Tools Toyota Solara, 51; 9. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 43; 10. Tie, Tony Pedregon, Quaker State Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and Jim Head, Toyota Solara, 33 each. Top Fuel – 1. Larry Dixon, 122; 2. Doug Kalitta, 96; 3. Cory McClenathan, 86; 4. Tony Schumacher, 81; 5. Shawn Langdon, 55; 6. Tie, Antron Brown, Brandon Bernstein, and Troy Buff, 52 each; 9. Morgan Lucas, 36; 10. Tie, Thomas Nataas and Steve Torrence, 34 each. Pro Stock – 1. Mike Edwards, Pontiac GXP, 130; 2. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GXP, 95; 3. Allen Johnson, Dodge Avenger, 78; 4. Larry Morgan, Lucas Oil Ford Mustang, 71; 5. Rodger Brogdon, Pontiac GXP, 54; 6. Greg Stanfield, Pontiac GXP, 53; 7. Ronnie Humphrey, Pontiac GXP, 52; 8. Shane Gray, Pontiac GXP, 51; 9. Jeg Coughlin Jr., Chevrolet Cobalt, 42; 10. Ron Krisher, Chevrolet Cobalt, 39. * * * * TELEVISION (all on ESPN2, all times Eastern Daylight): Qualifying – Sunday, Feb. 21, 2-4 am. NHRA RaceDay – Sunday, Feb. 21, 11 am Race Highlights – Sunday, Feb. 21, 7-10 pm Repeat race highlights – Wednesday, March 3, 3-5 am * * * * NEXT EVENTS (2010 NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship): 41st annual Tire Kingdom Gatornationals, March 11-14, Gainesville, Fla. Inaugural NHRA Charlotte Nationals, March 25-28, Charlotte, N.C. 23rd annual O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals, April 9-11, Houston, Texas 11th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals, April 16-18, Las Vegas, Nev. 14th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals, April 30-May 2, Madison, Ill. 30th annual Summit Southern Nationals, May 14-16, Atlanta, Ga. * * * * CONTACTS: For John Force Racing, Inc.: Elon Werner Kelly Anontelli Chad Light 214-244-1184 317-858-8900 714-921-8123 _elon@johnforceracing.com_ (mailto:elon@johnforceracing.com) _kelly@johnforceracing.com_ (mailto:kelly@johnforceracing.com) _chad@johnforceracing.com_ (mailto:chad@johnforceracing.com) For BP/Castrol: Dave Densmore Lori Anne Gola _denswood@aol.com_ (mailto:denswood@aol.com) _lorianne.gola@bp.com_ (mailto:lorianne.gola@bp.com) 214-244-0008 973-633-2393 For Ford Racing: Kevin Kennedy _kkennedy@pcgcampbell.com_ (mailto:kkennedy@pcgcampbell.com) 313-203-7108 For the Auto Club of Southern California: Rick Lalor _lalor.rick@aaa-calif.com_ (mailto:lalor.rick@aaa-calif.com) 714-885-2085 * * * * For additional information or photos, contact one of the representatives above or go to _www.johnforceracing.com_ (http://www.johnforceracing.com/) or _www.nhra.com_ (http://www.nhra.com/) . * * * * For Immediate Release FORCE BACK IN FRONT AFTER POPULAR WIN Winternationals Victory Ended 40-Race Drought PHOENIX, Ariz. – Coming off a wildly-popular victory in last week’s season-opening Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals, a win that carried him to the very top of the Funny Car point standings for the first time in more than three years, John Force rolls into Firebird International Raceway touting the benefits of a concept he once feared. Force won a record 126 NHRA tour events largely because he was able to avoid change. He won No. 127 because he embraced it. The Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang Force will drive in this week’s 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals is brand new, top-to-bottom. The support crew is new, too, with only clutch technician Tom Ekstrom returning from a 2009 season in which Force failed to win a race for the first time in 23 years. However, perhaps the most compelling change came at the crew chief level where Force partnered Mike Neff with veterans Austin Coil and Bernie Fedderly. “Obama may be struggling with change, but John Force isn’t,�?? said the 14-time NHRA champion. “I changed last year. I knew Robert Hight could drive a race car. I knew he could win a championship (and) I knew that Jimmy Prock could tune that car, but there was something wrong.�?? Hight, a perennial championship contender, had gone 16 races without reaching a final round, the longest such drought of his brief career. -more- John Force at the Arizona Nationals 2222 Force opted to swap teams with Hight. For one weekend, Force drove a car prepared by Prock and his Auto Club crew while Coil and Fedderly worked with Hight. A race later, defying logic, Hight went to the finals for the first time all season, won three of the last six races and, ultimately, the Full Throttle championship. If some change is good, Force reckoned, more is better. So, he turned his attention to his own team and, as he said last week, “the proof is in the pudding.�?? After two seasons of struggle that followed a devastating 2007 crash at Dallas, Texas, Force demonstrated last week that, even at age 60, he still can bring it. His 1000 foot times of 4.132, 4.120, 4.125 and 4.124 seconds recalled the dominating consistency that led him to 10 straight titles (1993-2002). More discomforting for rivals, however, may have been the fact that Force drove the wheels off the green, red and silver Mustang that celebrates his 25 seasons with Castrol sponsorship. He was the quickest to react to the green start signal in every round and his .057-.073 edge over Ron Capps was the difference in the final round. The win was only the second for Force since his accident and the first on the shortened 1000 foot course. It likely won’t be his last. “We had to shuffle the cards a little bit,�?? Force said. “For financial reasons, we couldn’t run the fourth car this year (the Drive One Mustang in which Neff won last November’s Auto Club Finals). So it only made sense (to move Neff over to Force’s car) since he was a crew chief (who) beat Coil and Bernie and me in 2005 (with driver Gary Scelzi). “We just put a young (guy) in with the older generation to mix it up a little bit and they gave me a good hot rod,�?? Force said. “To get a win after so many losses, it was big, but what was really big was we did it with the all-Ford chassis and the Ford BOSS 500 motor (both developed at the John Force Racing facility in Brownsburg, Ind.). That thing ran and it made the driver look good. It just whipped the numbers out.�?? Force will be looking for big numbers again this weekend in a race he has won eight times previously, most recently in 2005. “We want to get John Force Racing back to when it used to dominate,�?? Force said. “We had that (at Pomona). Let’s see if we can do it again at Phoenix.�?? * * * * Force at the Arizona Nationals: �??More wins in the Arizona Nationals than any other driver but hasn’t advanced out of the first round the last three years. �??Has never failed to make the starting field at the Arizona Nationals. �??Win in 1995 was noteworthy because it represented the poorest starting position from which he has won a race in his career. Arizona Nationals summary: 25 Starts, 12 Final Rounds, 8 Wins, 6 No. 1 Qualifiers, 51-17 Record Notable: Is the only John Force Racing, Inc., driver to have won at Firebird International Raceway Quotable: “I am humbled beyond belief. People say, ‘what is it like to win again?’ Well, it wasn’t so much the winning as it was the coming back from the cellar, because after not winning at all last year, I was in the cellar. When you’ve won all those championships, you start to think winning is easy. It’s not.�?? – JOHN FORCE, after winning last week’s Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., thereby ending a 40-race victory drought. -www.johnforceracing.com- For more information about Castrol-branded products and services, please visit us at Castrol.com/US. John Force at the Arizona Nationals 3333 FORCE’s Edge Overall NHRA records (which also are Funny Car division records) – Most career victories (127) – Most series championships (14) – Most career final rounds (203) – Most career rounds won (1042) – Most consecutive series championships (10, 1993-2002) – Most consecutive seasons with one or more victories (22, 1987-2008) – Most consecutive seasons with at least one final round appearance (24, 1985-2008) – Most consecutive seasons with multiple tour victories (18, 1990-2007) – Most consecutive national events without a DNQ (395, 1988-2007) – Most consecutive Top 10 seasons (25, 1985-present) – Highest winning percentage, one season (91.5%, 65-6) Other NHRA Funny Car division records – Most final rounds, one season (16, 1996) – Most victories, one season (13, 1996) – Most rounds won, one season (65, 1996) – Most career No. 1 starts (131) – Most No. 1 starts, one season (11, 1996) – Most consecutive final round appearances, one event (nine, 1992-2000, Atlanta, Ga.) – Career starts (527) Awards – Driver of the Year (1996) – Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2008 inductee) – AARWBA Auto Racing All-America Team (14 times, 1990, 1993-2002, 2004-2006) – Jerry Titus Memorial Award (most AARWBA votes, 4 times, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002) – AARWBA Comeback Award (2008) – Speed TV Comeback Award (2008) – SAE Motorsports Achievement Award (2008) – AutoSport Magazine’s John Bolster Award for lifetime achievement (2005) John Force at the Arizona Nationals 4444 Milestones – First round win, over Tom McEwen, June 1, 1979, Cajun Nationals, Baton Rouge, La. – First No. 1 qualifier, May 25, 1986, Cajun Nationals, Baton Rouge, La. – First tour victory, June 28, 1987, Le Grandnational Molson, Montreal, Canada – First Funny Car driver to break 4.90 second barrier, July 6, 1996, Topeka, Kan. – First drag racer to win Driver of the Year award for all of American motor sports (1996) – First Funny Car driver to break 4.80 second barrier, Oct. 24, 1998, Dallas, Texas – First (and only) drag racer to win 100 events, April 14, 2002, Houston, Texas – First Funny Car driver to break 4.70 second barrier, Oct. 2, 2004, Joliet, Ill. – No. 2 (behind Don Garlits) in balloting to determine Top 50 drivers in NHRA’s first 50 years (2001) – First win at 1,000 foot distance, Feb. 14, 2010, Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals, Pomona, Calif. – First (and only) drag racer to win 1,000 racing rounds, May 4, 2008, Madison, Ill. * * * * JOHN FORCE By the Numbers 1 in Funny Car points for the first time since Nov. 12, 2006 2 victories since a 2007 crash in Dallas, Texas 3 screws securing ankle bones from compound fracture suffered in a crash 4 time winner of Jerry Titus Memorial Award for receiving most votes in balloting for the Auto Racing All-America Team (1996, 1999, 2000, 2002). 5 seasons with 10 or more tour victories (1993-94, 1996, 1999-2000). 6 No. 1 starts at the Arizona Nationals, but none since 2002 8 victories in the Arizona Nationals (1994-1997, 1999-2001, 2005) 9 runner-up finishes before winning for the first time at Montreal, Canada in 1987. 10 straight Funny Car titles (1993-2002). 14 times named to AARWBA Auto Racing All-America First Team. 25 consecutive Top 10 finishes (1985-present) 127 tour events won 1042 competitive rounds won. -www.johnforceracing.com- For more information about Castrol-branded products, contact us at Castrol/US.com To celebrate 25 years of Castrol sponsorship, go to _www.castrolforce.com_ (http://www.castrolforce.com/) For Immediate Release FORCE HOOD UPBEAT AS TOUR MOVES EAST Castrol GTX Driver Eyes First Round Win at Phoenix PHOENIX, Ariz. – Despite a second round exit in the season-opening Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals and the fact that she never has won a competitive round at Firebird International Raceway, Ashley Force Hood rolls into this week’s 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals both confident and upbeat. The confidence comes from three successful seasons at the wheel of the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, an historic victory in last year’s Mac Tools U.S. Nationals and the knowledge that, under the old points system, she, not brother-in-law Robert Hight, would have been the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle champion. “I’ve got the best bunch of guys,�?? said the 2007 NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year. “Yes, we were in a position to win (last year), but things don’t always go like you want them to. Talent, skill, equipment, those things are so important, but sometimes you just need a little bit of luck. That’s part of racing as well.�?? Instead of dwelling on the past. Force Hood prefers to focus on what most see as an extremely bright future. The first woman to reach an NHRA Funny Car final and the first to win a Funny Car race, she has overcome an inherent shyness to star on the same stage as her bigger-than-life father, 14-time champion John Force. Amazingly, the girl who took auto shop and hung at the back of the chorale so she wouldn’t have to sing an obligatory solo has found her niche in a 310 mile an hour race car. “There were times in the past when I just had to go sit down in a dark corner and go ‘holy cow, how am I going to get through this weekend and do my job with so many people around?,’�?? she said. -more- Ashley at the Arizona Nationals 2222 “But now that I’ve gotten a little more used to it and it’s not so overwhelming for me, it’s fun. It’s exciting to interact with people, especially all the little girls who come to my ropes. They understand that I can’t stop and talk for half-an-hour. It took me awhile to learn that our fans understand that we have a job to do. They’re visiting us in our workplace. “I’ve always had a nice, protective bubble around me with my father and our team. But I’ve had a lot of support even from my own competitors. I have people I compete with, (Tim) Wilkerson, (Tony) Pedregon. They come over (and tell me) if you need to talk to someone other than your dad, or if you need another opinion. That’s pretty cool. I don’t think it’s like that in all types of motor sports.�?? As for her upbeat attitude entering an event in which she has struggled, Ashley points to the successful test she completed last January on the same racetrack. “We had a really good test session,�?? she said. “We ran 4.06 and 4.07. The only one quicker was Robert and he ran 4.05. So we have that to build on this weekend. “We’ve really taken baby steps (the last three years),�?? she said. “We’ ve never gotten too far ahead of ourselves. I think we can continue to get better as long as we continue to learn from our mistakes. “We just want to go out and qualify well and go some rounds (at Firebird), �?? she said. “That’s our only goal. If we’re in the points later in the year, there’ll be plenty of time to stress about it. Right now we’re going to try to have fun and go rounds.�?? That’s a philosophy that, so far, has served her well. Coming off a season in which she went to eight final rounds, won twice and started No. 1 for a category-best six times, the new face of high performance is just trying to stay focused. * * * * Ashley at the Arizona Nationals: �??Looking for first ever round win after first round losses in 2007 and 2009 and a DNQ in 2008. �??Had solid test at Firebird in January with a best time of 4.06 at 310.34 mph, just a tick off brother-in-law Robert Hight’s best-of-the-session 4.05. �??Arizona Nationals summary: 2 Starts, 1 DNQ, No Final Rounds, No Wins, No No. 1 Qualiifiers, 0-2 Record �??Career summary: 66 Starts, 13 Final Rounds, 3 Wins, 9 No. 1 Qualifiers, 81-63 Record �??Notable: Reigning Mac Tools U.S. Nationals Champion �??Quotable: “I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but it’s been a big advantage that I’ve had a team that has supported me. ‘Guido’ (crew chief Dean Antonelli) and Ron (Douglas) and the team have given me such a good race car. It really shortened the learning curve for me, I think.�?? -www.johnforceracing.com- For more information about Castrol-branded products and services, please visit us at Castrol.com/US
