TEAM CASTROL/JOHN AND ASHLEY PRE-RACE PACKAGE FOR
POMONA
TEAM CASTROL
NHRA COUNTDOWN TO 1 PLAYOFFS
Race 6 of 6
NHRA AUTO CLUB FINALS
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif.
Nov. 13-15
Key elements: Track features a 660-foot concrete launch pad that
transitions into asphalt. Elevation is 1,100 feet above sea level and the course
runs slightly downhill although it is barely perceptible. Track hosts both
the first and last races in the series.
Notable: John Force has won 101 racing rounds at Auto Club Raceway, the
only driver to have won more than 100 rounds at any single track.
JFR drivers at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona:
Races Starts
Finals Wins Won-Lost
Robert Hight 4 4 1
1 7-3
All Pomona races 9 9 4
3 20-6
FAST FACT: Robert is seeking his fourth victory at Auto Club Raceway; his
second in the Auto Club Finals. His wins at Pomona have come from the No.
9, No. 12 and No. 14 qualifying positions.
Ashley Force 2 2 0
0 2-2
All Pomona races 5 5 0
0 5-5
FAST FACT: Reached the Funny Car semifinals at the 2008 Winternationals;
was the Top Alcohol Dragster winner at the 2004 Auto Club Finals where she
shared the winners' podium with her father.
John Force 27 26 11
7 55-19
All Pomona races 59 56 19
12 101-44
FAST FACT: one of only two drivers to have won THREE different races at
Auto Club Raceway: the Winternationals, the Auto Club Finals and the NHRA
50th Anniversary race. Auto Club Finals wins came in 1988, 1994, 1996, 2000,
2002, 2004 and 2006.
Mike Neff 2 2
0 0 2-2
All Pomona races 4 4 0
0 2-4
FAST FACT: As crew chief, directed Gary Scelzi to the semifinals of the
Auto Club Finals in 2004 where, ironically, he lost to John Force.
* * * *
Team info at _www.johnforceracing.com_ (http://www.johnforceracing.com/)
Follow John Force Racing at _www.twitter.com/jfr_racing_
(http://www.twitter.com/jfr_racing)
Follow John Force RaceStation store at _www.twitter.com/JFRaceStation_
(http://www.twitter.com/JFRaceStation)
Follow Courtney Force at _www.twitter.com/courtneyforce_
(http://www.twitter.com/courtneyforce)
* * * *
COUNTDOWN TO ONE POINTS AFTER FIVE OF SIX RACES
(Qualifying bonus points in parentheses)
FUNNY CAR
1. Robert Hight, Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang, 2485 (23)
2. Ashley Force Hood, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 2380 (21)
3. Tony Pedregon, Q Racing Chevrolet, 2372 (13)
4. Jack Beckman, Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger, 2371 (7)
5. Ron Capps, NAPA Dodge Charger, 2358 (6)
6. Tim Wilkerson, Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Mustang, 2353 (6)
7. Del Worsham, Al-Anabi Toyota Solara, 2299 (2)
8. Bob Tasca III, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang, 2294 (7)
9. John Force, Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang, 2268 (7)
10. Mike Neff, Ford Drive One Ford Mustang, 2235 (3)
TOP FUEL
1. Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army dragster, 2485 (17)
2. Larry Dixon, Al-Anabi dragster, 2484 (34)
3. Cory McClenathan, Fram dragster, 2437 (15)
4. Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster, 2405 (17)
5. Brandon Bernstein, Budweiser dragster, 2383 (14)
6. Spencer Massey, US Smokeless Tobacco dragster, 2337 (8)
7. Morgan Lucas, GEICO Insurance dragster, 2300 (4)
8. Shawn Langdon, Lucas Oil dragster, 2289 (2)
9. Doug Kalitta, Kalitta Racing dragster, 2270
10. Clay Millican, Nitrofish dragster, 2093
PRO STOCK
1. Mike Edwards, Young Life/Penhall Pontiac, 2594 (54)
2. Greg Anderson, Summit Racing Pontiac GXP, 2455 (21)
3. Jason Line, Summit Racing Pontiac GXP, 2406 (12)
4. Greg Stanfield, Attitude Apparel Pontiac GXP, 2348 (2)
5. Jeg Coughlin Jr., Jeg’s Chevrolet Cobalt, 2344 (7)
6. Ron Krisher, Valvoline Chevrolet Cobalt, 2303 (8)
7. Allen Johnson, Team Mopar Dodge Stratus, 2278 (4)
8. Johnny Gray, Johnny Gray Racing Dodge Stratus, 2267 (1)
9. Kurt Johnson, ACDelco Chevrolet Cobalt, 2215 (5)
10. Rickie Jones, Quarter-Max/RJ Race Cars Dodge Stratus, 2111
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
1. Hector Arana, Milltown, Ind., Buell, 2525 (24)
2. Eddie Krawiec, Englishtown, N.J., Harley-Davidson V-Rod, 2471 (18)
3. Andrew Hines, Brownsburg, Ind., Harley-Davidson V-Rod, 2372 (27)
4. Matt Smith, King, N.C., Suzuki, 2334 (13)
5. Michael Phillips, Baton Rouge, La., Suzuki, 2288 (3)
6. Douglas Horne, Aberdeen, Md., Buell, 2262 (1)
7. Karen Stoffer, Smith, Nev., Suzuki, 2213 (1)
8. Shawn Gann, Stoneville, N.C., Buell, 2209 (6)
9. Craig Treble, Harvey, La., Suzuki, 2168
10. Matt Guidera, Loomis, Calif., Buell, 2020
* * * *
TELEVISION (all on ESPN2, all times Eastern Daylight):
Qualifying – Saturday, Nov. 14, 10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m.
NHRA RaceDay – Sunday, Nov. 15, 11 a.m.
Race Highlights – Sunday, Nov. 15, 7-10 p.m.
* * * *
CONTACTS:
JFR Team PR and Marketing:
Dave Densmore Elon Werner
214-244-0008 214-244-1184
_denswood@aol.com_ (mailto:denswood@aol.com)
_elon@johnforceracing.com_ (mailto:elon@johnforceracing.com)
Kelly Antonelli Chad Light
Andrew Hagstrom
317-858-8900 714-921-8123
714-326-3450
_kelly@johnforceracing.com_ (mailto:kelly@johnforceracing.com)
_chad@johnforceracing.com_ (mailto:chad@johnforceracing.com)
Sponsor PR:
Lori Anne Gola Rick Lalor
BP/Castrol Auto Club of Southern California
973-633-2393 714-885-2085
_lorianne.gola@bp.com_ (mailto:lorianne.gola@bp.com)
_lalor.rick@aaa-calif.com_ (mailto:lalor.rick@aaa-calif.com)
* * * *
For Immediate Release
FORCE HAS ONE LAST CHANCE
TO EXTEND CAREER RECORDS
14-Time Champion Trying to Recapture Past Form
POMONA, Calif. – Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to
move forward. That's the situation in which drag racing icon John Force
finds himself this week when he sends his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford
Mustang into the season-ending 45th annual Auto Club Finals at Auto Club Raceway
with no chance of moving up in the Full Throttle driver standings.
Already certain to finish worse than he has in his last 25 years on
the NHRA pro tour, Force opted last week to begin testing for a 2010 season
in which he will celebrate a quarter century with Castrol as his primary
sponsor.
Since that most recent test session was his fifth of the year,
exceeding the NHRA-imposed limit of four, the sport's most high profile driver is
ineligible to earn any additional points this weekend.
That means he will finish the season no better than ninth. That's
his worst showing since 1984, when he was 12th, and it's only the fourth time
in 25 years that he has finished outside the Top 5.
That said, the 126-time tour winner still hasn't given up on the
prospect of extending his streaks for most consecutive seasons with a final
round appearance (currently 24 and holding), most with a victory (stalled at
22 in succession) and most with a winning record (also on pause, at 24
straight years).
-more-
Force/Auto Club Finals
2222
"Robert and Jimmy Prock turned things around with the Auto Club Ford and
they were struggling worse than me," Force said, referring to teammate,
son-in-law, and title favorite Robert Hight who, after almost failing to make
the Countdown, leads teammate Ashley Force Hood, Force’s daughter, by 105
points. "We're trying to get better. We've just had some issues."
Primary among those issues has been the inconsistency of a car that
once was the most dominating hybrid in the sport.
Force hasn't started a race from the No. 1 qualifying position in
more than three years and hasn't been in a final since winning at Topeka in
2008. That remains his only tour victory since coming back from
life-threatening injuries suffered in a 2007 crash at the Texas Motorplex.
Nevertheless, it's been anything but a throwaway season for the
14-time Auto Racing All-America selection.
For one thing, he is the owner of the Ford Mustangs that enter the
Auto Club Finals 1-2 in Full Throttle points, a circumstance that virtually
has assuredan unprecedented 16th championship in 20 seasons for John Force
Racing, Inc.
For another, 2009 this has been a year of validation for the Hall of
Fame driver's safety initiatives. The challenge undertaken by the Eric
Medlen Project has begun to pay dividends in the form of a much safer race
car, one from which rookie driver Daniel Wilkerson emerged with not so much as
an scratch after slamming into the guardwall last month at Memphis, Tenn.
"Winning is still a priority, but now it goes hand-in-hand with
safety," Force said. "Vince Lombardi said winning is everything, but I don't
think he ever lost a man on the playing field (and) we owe Eric Medlen to
make the sport safer for the next generation."
* * * *
Did You Know?
– Last year, John was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of
America.
– This is the furthest John ever has gone into a season without at least
reaching one final round.
– John hasn't qualified No. 1 since Sept. 1, 2006. That's a span of 72
races, the longest such streak of his pro career.
– Auto Club Raceway is the only track in the Full Throttle Series on which
John has won three different events. In addition to the Auto Club Finals
and the season-opening Winternationals, John won the special 50th
Anniversary NHRA Nationals, contested one year only, in 2001.
For the Record:
– John is trying to extend to a record-setting 23 the number of
consecutive seasons in which he has won at least one NHRA tour event and to 25 the
number of successive years in which he's appeared in a final.
– John has won 12 races and an amazing 101 racing rounds at Auto Club
Raceway at Pomona. In the Auto Club Finals, he has gone to the final round 11
times with seven wins.
– If he is to secure a winning record for the 25th straight season, John
must reach the final round of this week's race. He comes in with a 22-23
record.
– John is the only driver in the Funny Car Top 10 who hasn't gone to a
final round this season. He's reached the semifinals on six separate
occasions but has yet to advance.
– All of John's wins in the Auto Club Finals have come in even numbered
years, the most recent in 2006, the last time he won the championship. Of
his other five wins at Pomona, four came in odd-numbered years.
-www.johnforceracing.com-
For more information about Castrol-branded products and services, please
visit us at Castrol.com/US
Force/Auto Club Finals
3333
FORCE's Edge
Overall NHRA records (and Funny Car division records)
Most career victories (126)
Most series championships (14)
Most career final rounds (202)
Most career rounds won (1037)
Most consecutive series championships (10, 1993-2002)
Most consecutive seasons with one or more victories (22)*
Most consecutive seasons with at least one final round appearance (24)*
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)
Highest winning percentage, one season (91.5%, 65-6)
*tied with Warren Johnson, Pro Stock
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 (525)
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)
Force/Auto Club Finals
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 (and only) drag racer to win 1,000 racing rounds, May 4, 2008,
Madison, Ill.
* * * *
JOHN FORCE By the Numbers
3 screws securing ankle bones from compound fracture suffered in the
2007 accident.
5 seasons with 10 or more tour victories (1993-94, 1996, 1999-2000).
6 semifinal appearances this year without advancing to a single final
round.
7 victories in the Auto Club Finals (1988, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002,
2004, 2006)
9 runner-up finishes before winning for the first time.
10 straight Funny Car titles (1993-2002).
14 times named to AARWBA Auto Racing All-America Team.
22 consecutive seasons with at least one NHRA tour victory.
25 consecutive Top 10 finishes.
101 rounds won at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
126 tour events won
1037 competitive rounds won.
-www.johnforceracing.com-
For more information about Castrol-branded products and services, please
visit us at Castrol.com/US
For Immediate Release
FORCE HOOD HANGS TOUGH
IN BID FOR FUNNY CAR TITLE
Trails Teammate Entering Season-Finale at Auto Club Raceway
POMONA, Calif. – It'll be a bittersweet season finale for Ashley
Force Hood who, barring the alien abduction of points leader Robert Hight,
appears destined to fall agonizingly short in her bid to become the first woman
to win an NHRA Funny Car championship.
After a dismal performance two weeks ago at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway, where her usually consistent Castrol GTX® Ford Mustang was
victimized by engine woes, Force Hood enters this week's 45th annual Auto Club
Finals at Auto Club Raceway trailing Hight by 105 Full Throttle points.
The irony is that without the help of Ashley's crew chiefs, Dean
"Guido" Antonelli and Ron Douglas, Hight has said many times that he would not
now be in position to deliver a 16th championship in 20 years to John Force
Racing, Inc.
That her team played a role in Hight's recent success provides some
small measure consolation for Ashley who, through the first three quarters
of the season, was the team's lone championship contender.
She started from No. 1 a category-best five times, advanced into
seven final rounds, won two races including the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the
sport's most important single event, and swapped the points lead with Ron
Capps and Tony Pedregon. In the Countdown, though, the 26-year-old has
struggled, winning just six rounds in five races.
-more-
Ashley/Auto Club Finals
2222
"This is one of the weirdest times of my life," Ashley said. "It is like
crushingly sad (for my team), but so exciting for Robert. I'm really proud
of Robert's team. They took a way longer journey than the rest of us to
get to this spot. They went from the very back of the pack to the front
(and) that's what we're all so proud of."
Despite her disappointment, Ashley still considers this a successful
season, one in which her team established itself as one of the best in the
series.
"I've got the best bunch of guys," she said. "We were in a position
to win but things don't always go like we want them to. I've said before
that in addition to skill, you have to have a little luck, too."
In Ashley's case, the luck she got down the stretch was all bad. The
grooves in the new pistons delivered to the team at Las Vegas Nationals
were not within the normal tolerences. As a result, the engine suffered
significant damage on four straight runs culminating in a No. 14 starting spot
and a first round loss to Hight. That turned a 13 point deficit into 105.
Still, for the graduate of Cal State-Fullerton, a former high school
cheerleader, it's not all bad.
"Here we are in just our third year (as a team) and we're battling
for the NHRA championship," she said. "That's a pretty neat spot to be in
(and) we're trying to enjoy it and not let (everything) take away the fun of
it."
Is it important for her to be the first female Funny Car champion?
If not this year, then next?
"It's not a big deal to me," she said. "I had nothing to do with
being a female. I'm just a race car driver. I have a team of men that work
on my car (and) it's them and me, together as a team, that are going for
that championship.
"I've made plenty of mistakes," she said, "but it's been a big
advantage that I've had a team that has supported me. Guido' (Antonelli) and
Ron and the team have given me such a good race car, it really shortened the
learning curve for me, I think."
* * * *
Off the Track:
– Ashley was among a group of drivers and NHRA sponsors who participated
in the Opening Bell ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange on June 10. She
was joined by BP/Castrol executive Marci Brand, Regional Vice-President,
Automotive Americas, among others.
– Ashley and her cat, Simba, are featured in a coffee table book devoted
to celebrities and their pets created by photographer David Woo.
Did You Know?
– Ashley is one of only two Funny Car drivers, along with brother-in-law
Robert Hight, to have led the Funny Car points each of the last two years.
– Ashley was named 2008 Female Athlete of the Year by the Los
Angeles-based Jim Murray Memorial Foundation.
– Regardless of where she ultimately finishes in the points this year,
Ashley will start the 2010 season, her dad's 25th with Castrol sponsorship, as
one of the Funny Car favorites.
-www.johnforceracing.com-
For more information about Castrol-branded products and services, please
visit us at Castrol.com/US
