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NHRA Arizona Nationals
Event 2 of 20
Firebird Motorsports Park
Chandler, Ariz.
March 21 – 23, 2025
Ida Zetterström Shows Progress at NHRA Arizona Nationals
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel fan favorite Ida Zetterström is leaving Arizona with newfound confidence after making positive forward progress behind the wheel of her JCM Racing dragster this weekend at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. The sophomore driver made her Firebird Motorsports Park debut this weekend in front of sold-out crowds.
After a lackluster start to qualifying on Friday afternoon, Zetterström clocked an impressive pass of 3.763 seconds at 327.03 mph in the second round of qualifying. Just moments after crossing the finish line, however, the engine let go and lit up the sky with an explosion.
The JCM Racing team leaped into action and worked to get the car performance-ready before an early qualifying session on Saturday morning. Zetterström had a good-looking pass early on in the third qualifying opportunity of the weekend, but hazed the tires a little after half-track, slowing her down to record a pass of 4.140 at 219.79. On Saturday afternoon, the European world champion showed fans what she’s made of when she sped to a fierce run of 3.897 at 322.65 in the heat of the day.
From the ninth place on the competition ladder, Zetterström faced No. 6 qualifier Justin Ashley in the first round of eliminations on Sunday. Ashley got the starting line advantage over Zetterström, but she stayed hot on his tail to the finish line. While Ashley turned on the win light, Zetterström is buoyed by her team’s overall performance this weekend in Arizona.
“Overall I think we had a strong weekend,” said Zetterström. “We ran well in qualifying and found a lot of things we’ve been looking for, for a while. So, it was a good progress weekend. We did have an explosion in Q2 right before the finish line but the numbers up until then looked like they had the potential to be really good. Even today, on race day, we put down a strong run. It’s quite a hot track out here and we just didn’t have enough facing Justin Ashley. He had a little more than I did on both ends of the track.
“It’s hard to lose again. I feel like I’ve gotten good at losing and I don’t like it. But at the same time, I feel like we made really good progress. We had great turnarounds; we made good runs with the car and good data. So, I feel very good moving into Pomona because this was the kind of progress we wanted to see in Gainesville but couldn’t find because of the tricky conditions. Now I feel like we got the right start to the season to keep going.
“We are rolling into Pomona with some newfound confidence. We had some brand-new stuff in the car this week that I’d never used before. And I feel like it’s getting better and better, I just need some more runs to dial it in. When we can get that together, it’s going to be good.”
The JCM Racing team will head directly to Pomona, Calif. for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, March 28-30.
Qualified:
No. 9 (3.763 E.T. at 327.03 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.818 E.T. at 324.51 MPH defeated by Justin Ashley 3.805 E.T. at 327.19 MPH
Alexis DeJoria Looking Ahead to Pomona After Early Exit at Phoenix
Riding the excitement from a promising semifinal finish at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals, Alexis DeJoria went into the NHRA Arizona Nationals chasing another big performance in her Bandero Café Funny Car. DeJoria pushed the tree hard in her opening-round match, but she pushed it a touch too hard, leading to a red-light disqualification. Her Mike ‘Zippy’ Neff and Todd Smith-tuned JCM Racing hot rod continued to run in the 3.90-second range, though, keeping DeJoria’s morale high going into the next race in just a few days.
DeJoria lost traction early in her first qualifying attempt on Friday, but she bounced back with a 3.931-second pass at 324.75 mph to wrap up Friday in sixth. When DeJoria reached the semifinals at the Gatornationals, she qualified for the first Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge of the season in Phoenix. In the first round of the Challenge, which counted as the third qualifying session, DeJoria left first against Ron Capps, but her car went silent around 700 feet and finished with a 4.196 E.T. DeJoria and her team sat out the fourth session to prepare for Sunday eliminations out of the No. 6 position.
On race day, two pairs of Funny Cars ahead of DeJoria, Capps experienced a violent explosion and crash. Fortunately, he walked away from the incident without injuries, but the impact to the retaining wall did require repairs that put the rest of the round on a delay. Though DeJoria and her fellow competitors had the chance to get out of their cars during the delay, she did sit in her car for quite some time after it had been baking under the Arizona sun. When it came time to stage and launch, DeJoria stepped on the throttle .046 seconds too soon, giving the win to Cruz Pedregon.
“I don't want to make excuses by any means, but I was definitely hot in there and ready to go,” DeJoria said. “I saw the lights come down, but I still had the red light – just barely. I didn't know I red-lit and left the line and it was going good. We probably would have run a mid-3.90-something, but I saw Cruz's board lit up, so I realized at that moment, 'Oh, I was a little too good on the tree. I'm on the wrong side of it.’
“That was the end of our day, but luckily we get to race in another week,” DeJoria added. “I'm really looking forward to it because I know we have a car that can compete.”
DeJoria and the Bandero Café team will seek redemption at the NHRA Winternationals, March 28-30, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
Qualified:
No. 6 (3.931 E.T. at 324.75 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: Foul (Red Light) defeated by Cruz Pedregon 3.977 E.T. at 322.34 MPH
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car Point Standings (Unofficial):
1 Paul Lee 151
2 Jack Beckman 149
3 Bob Tasca III 143
4 Chad Green 139
5 Ron Capps 132
6 Austin Prock 127
7 Matt Hagan 124
8 Alexis DeJoria 107
9 Bobby Bode 87
9 Cruz Pedregon 87
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