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JOHN FORCE CONSISTENT AND CONFIDENT HEADING INTO SUNDAY; BRITTANY FORCE No. 2 IN TOP FUEL

TEAM JFR QUALIFYING
REPORT2016
NHRA Final Qualifying Summary19th
of 24 races in the NHRA Mello Yello Series1st
of 6 races in Countdown to the Championship  9th
annual Carolina NHRA NationalszMax
DragwayCharlotte,
NCSeptember
16-18, 2016Photos courtesy of Gary
Nastase Photography for media use only. *
* * *JOHN FORCE CONSISTENT AND CONFIDENT
HEADING INTO SUNDAYBRITTANY FORCE No. 2 IN TOP
FUELCHARLOTTE,
NC – John Force has the most consistent race car going into Sunday’s
elimination rounds at the 9th annual Carolina NHRA Nationals that the 2-time
2016 winner has had all season. Force’s Advance Auto Parts PEAK Chevrolet
Camaro SS Funny Car was one of the top three quickest Funny Cars every session
of qualifying earning a total of eight qualifying bonus points. Force will go
into race day as the No. 3 qualifier and will face Dave Richards in the first
round.Joining
Force in the top half of the Funny Car field will be Robert Hight, No. 7 and
Courtney Force, No. 8 qualifier. JFR could advance three Chevrolet Camaro SS
Funny Cars to the semifinals.In
Force’s final two qualifying runs the 145-time winner had the second quickest
race car and picked up four qualifying bonus points. In the final session he
blasted down the track with an impressive 3.914 second elapsed time. This was the
first time this season that Force collected qualifying bonus points in every
session and he was the only Mello Yello Series driver to achieve that feat this
weekend at zMax Dragway.“This
race car is running now. It struggled the last three races. We mixed it up over
here adding Jason McCulloch to work with Jon Schaffer and Nick Casertano. We
got some more help and my guys are really working well together,�?? said Force from
his pits at the end of the day.Force
will face non-Countdown qualified driver Dave Richards in the opening round of
eliminations. This will be only the fifth round of eliminations this season that
Force has faced a non-Countdown qualified Funny Car, the fewest such match-ups
of any Countdown Funny Car driver. This is Force’s best starting position since
he was No. 2 in 2009 and 2010.John
Force Racing president and two-time Carolina NHRA Nationals winner Robert Hight
will start from the No. 7 position tomorrow. On Friday night Hight secured his
best elapsed time of 3.912 seconds under the lights at zMax Dragway. Today the
Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car was aggressively attacking the track and
while they may not have seen the results on the scoreboard Hight was confident
about his race car for Sunday.“Knocking
the blower off on the first run yesterday made us have to be cautious on the second
run last night. We made a good run but today we didn’t’ quite get it perfect on
our two runs in the heat. (Crew chief) Mike Neff was trying some things that he
believes will help us tomorrow. We are going to be in the heat all day. Let the
games begin,�?? said Hight.Hight’s
final run of the day was a solid 3.985 seconds at only 297 mph. The 37-time
winner shut the motor off before the finish line. In the first round Hight will
have a tough match-up with two-time world champion Cruz Pedregon. Hight is
24-13 against Pedregon over his career. At the Carolina Nationals Hight is 1-1
against Pedregon dropping a first round race in 2011 and winning a quarterfinal
race in 2013 on his way to victory.Courtney
Force and the Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car were on a strong pass in
the third qualifying session when the Goodyear tires hazed themselves at about
600 feet. Force’s early numbers were impressive and Force’s Traxxas team led by
Danny Hood and Ronnie Thompson continued to work on a race day tune up. The
scoreboard lit up after 4.549 seconds but her team knew they picked up some
valuable info on how much power the race track could handle in the heat.In
the final session today Courtney was in the quickest side by side run of the day
with Tim Wilkerson. Force lit up the scoreboard with an impressive 3.934 second
elapsed time. At the end of the day the youngest Force was encouraged by her
race cars performance and her chances on the first day of the Countdown to the Championship.“We
are qualified in the No. 8 spot. We tried to push it on those two runs. We didn’t
have the conditions we had last night. I am excited we have a pretty consistent
race car and we made that 3.93 run on a hot track. I think we are in a pretty
good position going into race day. We are qualified exactly where we wanted to
be but we were able to pick up a bonus point yesterday,�?? said Force, who is No.
4 in the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings. “We’ll have lane choice
tomorrow and this is a huge race for this Traxxas Chevrolet Camaro team. We have
a brand new paint scheme on this Chevy which the fans love. The Countdown to the
championship starts tomorrow we are looking to go some rounds so we can start
creating a gap on our competitors. We need to make it count tomorrow.�??Force
will face Matt Hagan in the first round in a monster match-up with championship
implications. While a first round loss would not derail either driver’s
championship hopes the importance of a first round win is critical. The last
time Force faced Hagan was in the semifinal round of the Traxxas Nitro Shootout
where Force was victorious.The
Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster will start the race as the best qualified John
Force Racing entry. Brittany Force powered her 10,000 hp dragster to the No. 2
qualified position. On Friday night she made a strong run and was only out
distanced by Doug Kalitta. As track temperatures soared today there was no
movement at the top of the field and while Force’s Monster Energy entry did not
gran the top spot the team did position itself for a strong performance
tomorrow.In
the first session today Force was the third quickest driver and in the final
session crew chief Brian Husen put in an aggressive tune-up and hazed the tires
just past half-track. The team will be able to look at that data and put
together a very competitive tune-up for Sunday. The last time Force was in
elimination rounds at zMax Dragway the fourth year pro was on her way to winning
the second Top Fuel race of her career at the Four-Wide Nationals.“It
is pretty crazy to think that this is the first race of the Countdown. It seems
like we were just here winning in Charlotte a few weeks ago. This is a good
race track for us. We won the Four-Wide so I am hoping we can get another win
here at the first race of the Countdown. That would be awesome,�?? said Force who
has three wins this season. “We are qualified No. 2 and we have Chris
Karamesines in the first round. I have to thank this Monster Energy team. They have
been putting everything they have into this Top Fuel dragster and we’ll be
ready to go after it tomorrow.�??Force
will be looking for her first round win at the Carolina Nationals. Final
eliminations will begin at noon.  *
* * *NHRA ON TVSunday, Sept. 18, FS1 will televise one hour of qualifying
coverage at 11 a.m. (ET).Sunday, Sept. 18, FS1 will televise three hours of live finals
coverage starting at 2:30 p.m. (ET).*
* * *THE DRIVERSJOHN
FORCE,
67, Advance Auto Parts/PEAK Antifreeze 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SSFinal
Qualifying: 3rd at 3.881, 331.04 mph Bonus
Qualifying Points: +8 (Quickest of Q1, 3rd quickest of Q2 and 2nd
quickest of Q3 and Q4)First
round opponent (W-L): Dave Richards (2-0)ROBERT
HIGHT,
47, Auto Club 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS
Final Qualifying: 7th at 3.912, 323.66 mphBonus
Qualifying Points: 0First
round opponent (W-L): Cruz Pedregon (24-13)COURTNEY
FORCE,
28, Traxxas 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS
Final Qualifying: 8th at 3.934, 322.81 mph
Bonus Qualifying Points: +1 (3rd quickest of Q1)First
round opponent (W-L): Matt Hagan (10-8)BRITTANY
FORCE,
30, Monster Energy Top Fuel Dragster
Final Qualifying: 2nd at 3.729, 324.67 mph
Bonus Qualifying Points: +3 (2nd quickest of Q2 and 3rd
quickest of Q3)First
round opponent (W-L): Chris Karamesines (3-1)*
* * *RACE SCHEDULE:Sunday, September 18Final
eliminations                    Noon ****FOLLOW
JOHN FORCE RACING AT www.twitter.com/jfr_racing****PR
Contact: Elon
Werner                                               
                              John
Force Racing,
Inc.              .214-244-1184                           
                
Elon@johnforceracing.com           www.johnforceracing.com

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