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NHRA Gatornationals
Event 1 of 20
Gainesville Raceway
Gainesville, Fla.
March 7 – 9, 2025
Semifinal Finish Sends Alexis DeJoria’s Confidence Soaring at NHRA Gatornationals
Going into a new season with a new car, new crew chiefs, and a new team can come with its fair share of challenges, but Alexis DeJoria and her Bandero Café Funny Car team performed like they’ve worked together for years at Sunday’s NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. Led by crew chiefs Mike ‘Zippy’ Neff and Todd Smith under the JCM Racing umbrella, DeJoria charged to a semifinal finish at the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season opener. Now ranked third in the Funny Car points standings, DeJoria leaves Gainesville with her confidence at an all-time high.
DeJoria joined JCM Racing over the offseason to form NHRA’s first all-female nitro team with Ida Zetterström as her Top Fuel teammate. The duo made its debut on the perfect weekend, as the team celebrated International Women’s Day on Saturday.
In Friday’s opening qualifying session, DeJoria fired off a 3.932-second pass at 324.75 mph to sit solidly in the field in the No. 5 spot. She launched hard in the second qualifying session, but when she started moving around down track, she wisely lifted off the throttle. After Saturday’s two qualifying sessions were canceled due to inclement weather, DeJoria ended up No. 7 on the final qualifying order.
DeJoria and the rest of the Funny Car class waited out a long rain delay that started with just two pairs of Top Fuel left to run Sunday morning. When racing fired up again, DeJoria paired up with fellow Texas resident Terry Haddock. DeJoria grabbed a sizable starting line advantage and powered to a 3.921 E.T. at 329.75 mph to turn on her first win light of the new season. The victory came with some extra work, though, as an explosion at the finish line caused damage to the upstart team’s only Funny Car body. A mad thrash ensued in the JCM Racing pits as the Top Fuel and Funny Car teams worked together to get the Bandero Café entry repaired and ready for the second round.
“Had a great light and ran low E.T. of the session, which was a huge confidence booster,” DeJoria said. “We only had two months to get this program together, so we only have one body and one chassis. Ida’s whole team came over to help us out, and being part of this multi-car team is really incredible because when one team goes out, the other team rushes in and all hands are on deck. My dad was helping me pack the parachutes. Top Fuel cars were running and we hadn’t even warmed up yet. Luckily, we were last pair, but still, I don’t know how we pulled this off, but we did.”
The thrash was worth it, as DeJoria went on to defeat Bob Tasca III in the second round. She left first and continued to lead through the finish line with a 3.999-second run at 322.58 mph, while Tasca lost traction early. In the semifinals, DeJoria was off the line first for the third consecutive round, but her hot rod went silent around 300 feet down the track, allowing Ron Capps to move on.
The Gatornationals was a feel-good weekend for DeJoria, who was surrounded by family while she was going rounds on Sunday. She also spent some quality time with her team, going through the highs of win lights to the tense moments of a mid-round thrash together.
“The joy and the stoke in everybody’s eyes here on this team is real,” DeJoria said. “What a bonding experience this has been for our brand-new team. To make it to the semifinals was truly a statement. We went through a couple of blocks. We still have our body, we still have our chassis, and we still have our pride. I’m going to hold my head up high. I had better lights every round. My confidence is through the roof right now and that is a dangerous spot.
“We’re leaving here in the No. 3 spot at our very first race as a brand-new team and that’s something to be proud of,” DeJoria continued. “Mike Neff, Todd Smith, all these guys on this Bandero Funny Car for JCM Racing, we’re killing it right off the bat.”
DeJoria and the Bandero Café Funny Car team will head West for the NHRA Arizona Nationals, March 21-23, at Firebird Motorsports Park outside Phoenix where DeJoria claimed her first professional win in 2014.
Qualified: No. 7 (3.932 E.T. at 324.75 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.921 E.T. at 329.75 MPH defeated Terry Haddock 4.202 E.T. at 280.19 MPH
E2: 3.999 E.T. at 322.58 MPH defeated Bob Tasca 6.565 E.T. at 103.18 MPH
E3: 5.949 E.T. at 115.35 MPH defeated by Ron Capps 4.012 E.T. at 28078 MPH
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car Point Standings (Unofficial):
1 Chad Green 111
2 Ron Capps 97
3 Alexis DeJoria 73
4 Matt Hagan 72
5 Jack Beckman 64
6 Bob Tasca III 59
7 Bobby Bode 54
8 Buddy Hull 52
9 Paul Lee 37
10 Dan Wilkerson 35
Early Exit for Ida Zetterström During Gatornationals Debut
Multi-time European drag racing champ Ida Zetterström will have to wait until the next event on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour to capture her first win light of the year as the Swedish speedster bowed out in the first round of eliminations at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals on Sunday morning.
Aboard the JCM Racing Top Fuel dragster and making her Gainesville Raceway debut, Zetterström qualified her machine 13th after an abbreviated qualifying show due to persistent rain showers washing out all on-track activity on Saturday. In the weekend’s opening session, Zetterström’s machine shook early, and she ended the round in the fourteenth spot. In the second session, she took her 11,000-horsepower rail straight down the groove with a clean pass of 3.781 seconds at 316.67 mph to move one position on the ladder up to 13th. With racing canceled on Saturday, Zetterström was locked into the No. 13 position to start race day and faced Doug Kalitta in the opening round, setting up a showdown between Zetterström, the 2023 FIA European Top Fuel champ, and Kalitta, who secured his first NHRA Top Fuel title that same year. Unfortunately for Zetterström, the race would go Kalitta’s way. She stood on the throttle and her machine instantly lost traction while her opponent crossed the finish line in 5.575 seconds to score the ugly round win.
“Obviously, a very tough weekend. We only got the two qualifiers. Didn't make it down the track on the first one and struggled with some parts on the second one. Then today, I did the burnout and even when backing up, you could see that there was no traction on the starting line,” Zetterström said, referring to the unfavorable track conditions on Sunday morning after several bouts of heavy rain.
“Watched four pairs of pedalfests in front of me before it was our turn. Hit the throttle and it was up in smoke instantly. Tried to pedal it, but the car didn't want to settle down and I had to shut it off and watch as Doug Kalitta drove down the track. Obviously, not the best weekend for us, but also not the best weekend for me as a driver either. I feel like I can do better. My reaction times haven't been where I want them to be, but I’ll keep working at it and hopefully soon, me and the car can become one. Despite all of that, it was good to see so many fans out here. They stuck it out despite the rain even though we didn't make a single pass down the track on Saturday, which gave us drivers plenty of time to spend with the fans. I signed autographs for hours and so many fans stayed and hung out even though it was raining and that's always very nice to see the support we have out here. It was also the first weekend with VP Racing as the official racing fuel of the NHRA, which is really cool. I’m proud to have them on the side of my car.”
While Zetterström’s duties behind the wheel were complete after the first elimination round, the day ended up still being a busy one for the European transplant, who jumped in to help her new JCM Racing teammate Alexis DeJoria. During the first elimination round, DeJoria suffered an engine blowup near the finish line. Crew members from both sides of the JCM Racing organization quickly sprang into action to get the team ready to make the call for round two.
“There was obviously a lot of work to do to get that team ready to go back up and race for round two in time,” Zetterström said. “Jon (Schaffer), my crew chief, got started on working on the carbon fiber on the body and we had everyone from our team pitching in. I helped change the windshield out, get a new one on, helped mix the fuel, fuel the car, and just pitched in wherever I could. And then of course we were on such a time crunch, I helped her get suited up and into the car because she had to already be in the car when we left the pit. I was just a small part of this, but it was really cool to see both teams come together like that. I don’t know how we pulled it off, but we did.”
Up next for Zetterström is the NHRA Arizona Nationals near Phoenix where she will make her Firebird Motorsports Park competition debut. It is the second of 10 scheduled events for Zetterström and her JCM Racing Top Fuel team, who are competing on a limited schedule as they seek additional funding.
Qualified: No. 13 (3.781 E.T. at 316.67 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 11.004 E.T. at 74.49 MPH defeated by Doug Kalitta 5.575 E.T. at 193.13 MPH