Alexis DeJoria’s Return To NHRA Funny Car Action Not Without Growing Pains
For DC Motorsports co-owner Alexis DeJoria, restarting the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season was Christmas in July.
“I was really excited when I heard we would open at Indy,” the driver of the ROKiT Phones Toyota Camry Funny Car said.
DeJoria had won the 2014 U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, and that, she said, “was the high point of my career.” The anticipation had her sleepless.
After all, she had taken a hiatus, one that gnawed at her. She knew she needed to address family concerns, but at the same time, she hardly could stand not being in the seat of her 11,000-horsepower, nitro-burning chariot. And just when she got a reminder of the 330-mph thrills she had been missing, the sport had to pause, as well.
“It was harder mentally than physically. I loved this sport from the first day I saw it at 16,” DeJoria said. “I had people tell me I might have picked the wrong season to come back, then we heard about schedule updates and those were shut down and at times, I just got really depressed. At times, I thought we might get shut down for the whole season.”
What buoyed her was spend extra time with daughter Isabella. “That was the bright spot. I tried to work out and stay in shape to be ready to go when the time came. I also worked on the simulator to stay sharp. Then we just tried to stay safe and quarantine,” she said.
The NHRA hasn’t shut down the season – at least not yet. As more and more races became unfeasible amid reported spikes in coronavirus cases, it simply adjusted and added three Indianapolis races. Lucas Oil Raceway, for drag racers, is hallowed ground. And here DeJoria would be getting to race at Lucas Oil Raceway again, multiple times, in front of fans in the grandstands. And that’s something NHRA’s IndyCar Series cousins have not been able to accomplish five miles to the east at Roger Penske’s massive, tradition-rich Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And that had DeJoria – in her lingo – “super-stoked.”
She said, “As it kept getting closer, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The night before our first test day, I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited. I was like a little kid.”
This week, as she and team co-owner / crew chief Del Worsham prepared for the Saturday-Sunday Dodge Indy Nationals – the third straight at Indianapolis, with spectators – DeJoria has come to understand that growing pains are part of any start-up team . . . even when it jumps out to an impressive start.
“We had tested quite a bit heading into the season, and our ROKiT Phones Camry came out strong at Pomona and Arizona [in February]. And I was feeling pretty good,” she said. And it was no wonder – she had reached the 100-round-win plateau. “Then, all of a sudden,” she said, “it [the series] was just shut down. That was really hard to take.”
For that July 11-12 race, DeJoria made a few test passes that Thursday, helping her qualify fifth in the 16-car field. She won her first-round race, but in the second round, her parachutes popped out prematurely, before halftrack.
“We just had a weird gremlin and that was the end of our day. It was unfortunate, because we were set up to run a 3.97[-second elapsed time], which would have won the race,” she said. Paul Lee put her on the trailer in the opening round of the second Indianapolis race.
Worsham said, “We had some early success in going to the semifinals in Pomona, and then we just got parked. That definitely was tough, as I thought we were just starting to get a little groove going. The car doesn’t run perfectly yet. We need all the runs we can get.”
This ROKiT Phones operation is rather curious.
“We’re a new team, but in many ways we aren’t,” DeJoria said.” We’ve got a long history working together, but we’re still working on the new car and trying to put it all together.”
The positive news is that she said, “I feel great in the car. It’s like I never left.”
“When we formed DC Motorsports,” Worsham said, “we started running the car the week after the finals in Pomona last year, so at least we had a little experience together heading into the season. While we’re a new team, we’ve all worked together before as a crew, and I’ve worked with Alexis both as crew chief and as a teammate. So we had some familiarity coming in so, luckily, we had some stuff to fall back on. Yet, I’m sure if we had run together for the last five years, it would be a lot easier as we’re coming back at it.”
DeJoria knew the task at hand: “Now we need to get back up to speed quickly.”
Grateful for continued sponsorship, Worsham agreed.
“Fortunately, our sponsors have been great. We’ve been able to work with each other to make sure we can keep this entire team together. With ROKiT and ABK coming on board for their first year and sticking with it. I’ve been with Toyota for over 10 years and they’ve been outstanding and they’ve stuck with us. As far as sponsors go, we’ve been pretty lucky to hold everyone together,” he said. “Our biggest problem is we just need track time.”
That’s no problem. Along with all the pros, DeJoria will have two qualifying chances Saturday, with eliminations set for Sunday.
“I’m just so appreciative of our fans,” she said. “We have the greatest fans in the world, and I want to thank the people who have come out -- and for those who can’t make it out, please stay safe and watch us on FS1 and FOX. I can’t wait for the day when everyone can get back out together.”
