You are here: Home / Drag News & Stories / TEAM CASTROL/NEFF AND FORCE PRE-RACE PACKAGE FOR VEGAS #2

TEAM CASTROL/NEFF AND FORCE PRE-RACE PACKAGE FOR VEGAS #2

October 27, 2011 Posted By

TEAM CASTROL/JFRJOHN FORCE/MIKE NEFFPre-Race Package for the 11th annual Big O Tires Nationals
Oct. 28-30, 2011
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nev.Fifth race in the Countdown to 1 playoffs for the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Championship
* * * *
follow John Force Racing at www.twitter.com/jfr_racing
* * * *
2011 Season at-a-glance:
                          Mike Neff                      Robert Hight                    John Force Event                  Castrol GTX Ford               Auto Club Ford                      Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford
                          Q/F/Pos/Performance        Q/F/Pos/Performance             Q/F/Pos/Performance
Pomona 1           3rd/3/3rd/4.060-312.42       4th/W/1st /4.056-313.00          5th /6/6th/4.093-310.48
Gainesville          3rd/W/1st/4.059-312.71      10th/8/3rd/4.079-312.57          7th /9/9th/4.119-310.48
Las Vegas 1       4th/9/3rd/4.153-306.46        3rd/W/1st/4.149-309.56          1st/5/9th/4.139-309.27
Charlotte 1          4th/7/2nd/4.072/308.75       2nd/6/1st/4.062/313.07           1st/5/7th/4.056-315.19Houston              4th/2/1st/4.122-310.34       12th/13/2nd/4.216-305.08        1st/5/7th/4.097-310.37
Atlanta                6th/2/1st/4.091-306.19       13th/13/3rd/4.172-302.62        1st /5/7th/4.072-310.98
Topeka               4th/2/1st/4.070-310.98        3rd /W/3rd/4.067/312.21         9th/10/7th/4.095-310.21
Englishtown        7th/W/1st/4.067-314.09      2nd/9/3rd/4.090-310.34           5th/10/6th/4.107-309.49
Bristol                3rd/6/1st/4.082-314.53        6th/W/3rd/4.047-316.45          8th/11/8th/4.090-311.63
Norwalk              5th/W/1st/4.110/309.06      1st/5/3rd/4.065-306.53            3rd/3/7th/4.097-307.51
Chicago              1st/W/1st/4.110-304.19      13th/14/3rd/4.287-289.94        6th/10/8th/4.158-295.14
Denver                4th/6/1st/4.204-302.21       2nd/3/2nd/4.172-300.93           5th/W/7th/4.207/297.68
Sonoma              9th/12/1st/4.135-305.49     2nd/5/2nd/4.084-300.49           1st/3/7th/4.060/311.99Seattle                5th/9/1st/4.134-307.58       4th/3/2nd/4.125-307.37           2nd/5/7th/4.115-308.85
Brainerd              12th/8/1st/4.195-292.20     5th/9/2nd/4.152-305.77            15th/15/7th/4.409-255.10
Indianapolis         9th/W/1st/4.060-314.61      8th/11/3rd/4.098-312.06          7th/10/7th/4.097-313.15
Countdown to 1 Playoffs
Charlotte 2          2nd/2/1st/4.038-314.17       8th/11/5th/4.060-314.90          11th/12/8th/4.098-312.86
Dallas                 5th/10/1st/4.151-305.70      4th/9/6th/4.154-304.32           8th/11/8th/4.173-301.40
Reading              8th/6/2nd/4.066-316.45       11th/W/4th/4.041-317.42        2nd/9/9th/4.011-319.22Phoenix              4th/10/2nd/4.251-287.23     13th/8/5th/4.361-292.71          12th/14/9th/4.352-283.31
Q – Qualifying position
F – Finishing position (W, winner; 2, runner-up; 3-4, semifinal loser [position to highest qualifier]; 5-8, second round loser; 9-16, first round loser).
Pos – Position in Full Throttle points at end of the event
Performance – Best individual elapsed time and speed of the event (underlined indicates best overall)
* * * *
This Week On ‘Nitro Rewind’
Bob Tasca III discusses his season in the Quick Lane/Motorcraft Ford plus Johnny Gray on being the spoiler in his Service Central Dodge, Antron Brown on the Full Throttle Championship and Phoenix race winner Jack Beckman.  Host: Bill Stephens for John Force Entertainment.  Visit http://www.youtube.com/ and search: Nitro Rewind.
* * * *
Mike Neff Countdown to….. 6 wins in a season
Only six Funny Car drivers have won as many as six races in a single season.  If he can win one of the two remaining races in the Countdown to 1 playoffs, Mike Neff would become the seventh, joining boss and teammate John Force, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, Cruz Pedregon, Tony Pedregon and Bruce Larson, all current or former series champions.
* * * *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEforce’s gamble still could pay big dividends
 LAS VEGAS, Nevada – John Force normally is not a betting man, but the gamble he took last January when he gave Mike Neff the “keys” to his Castrol GTX Ford, the Funny Car in which he won the 2010 Full Throttle championship, could pay off in spades beginning with this week’s 11th annual Big O Tires Nationals.
 Although Neff starts the week in third place in the Funny Car driver standings, he is poised not only to win an 18th NHRA championship in 22 years for John Force Racing, Inc., but to become the first ever to win a series champions as crew chief one year and driver the next. 
 Moreover, in this age of specialization, he could become the first in 37 years to win a Funny Car title in the combined role of driver/crew chief.  The last to do so was the late Shirl Greer back in 1974, the first year that championships were determined on an accumulative points basis.
 In order to make history, though, the 45-year-old with the laid-back demeanor may have to duplicate Force’s dramatic drive to last year’s title which, coincidentally, began with a victory at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 
 Neff brings last year’s race-winning Mustang back to LVMS for this week’s penultimate event in circumstances not unlike those he faced a year ago when he was handling just one job – making all the mechanical decisions for Force. 
 In 2010, the deficit to Matt Hagan at Las Vegas was 64 points.  Force made that up in two races, winning both.  This year, the deficit is smaller but, instead of trailing just one driver, Neff will have to move around two – Jack Beckman, who leads by 22 points, and Hagan, who is 17 points ahead.
 Nevertheless, he still believes he has the car and the team to go the distance – even after teammate Robert Hight took him out in the first round two weeks ago at Phoenix, Ariz.
 The truth is, Neff is just happy to be in a position where he has even a chance to win the championship considering the fact that, nine months ago, he was busy putting together a crew chief’s strategy for Force’s title defense. 
 That all changed with Ashley Force Hood’s January announcement that she was taking a year off to start a family.
 Given a reprieve on a driving career he believed was over when economics compelled Force to park on of four Ford Funny Cars after the 2009 season, Neff has made the most of the opportunity, taking his green-and-white Ford to nine final rounds with a category-best five wins (equaling the total of teammate Robert Hight).
 “Our car is running good,” said the man who won his first world championship in 2005 as crew chief to Gary Scelzi, “(and) we have come from behind and won championships before.  A lot can happen in two races.”
 Neff, who won the regular-season championship, just as Force did in 2010, credits his success to his support team.
 “You get good people and you delegate,” he said.  “All these guys are efficient.   You can’t do everything by yourself and, if you try, you won’t be effective. You have to trust your people.”
* * * *
JFR history @ THE STRIP AT LVMS:
 Wins – 9, three by John Force for Castrol GTX (fall, 2002 and 2010, and spring, 2010); three by Robert Hight for the Automobile Club of Southern California ( spring, 2007, fall, 2009, and spring, 2011); two by Tony Pedregon for Castrol SYNTEC (spring and fall of 2003); one by Gary Densham for the Auto Club (spring, 2002).
 Last year – After qualifying second, John Force beat points leader Matt Hagan in the final round to win his fifth race of the season and give himself a chance to win a record 15th championship.  Robert Hight’s nightmare of a Countdown continued when he failed to qualify his Auto Club Ford.
 Last spring – After qualifying third, Robert Hight beat Jim Head, Jack Becman, Cruz Pedregon and Johnny Gray to win the SummitRacing.com Nationals for the second time at the wheel of the Auto Club Ford Mustang.
 Notable #1 – When John Force failed to qualify for the SummitRacing.com Nationals on April 14, 2007, it ended at 395 his record-setting streak of consecutive starts on the NHRA circuit that dated to the start of the 1988 season.
 Notable #2 – Robert Hight’s 2007 victory in the SummitRacong.com Nationals was particularly emotional insomuch as it was the first event in which John Force Racing drivers participated after teammate Eric Medlen lost his life in a testing accident in Florida.  Hight and Medlen had worked together as crewmen on Force’s championship-winning Funny Cars in the 1990s.  
 Notable #3 – Tony Pedregon’s sweep of the two Vegas races in 2003 powered him a series championship, the first JFR title not won by John Force.  The year before, Force’s victory over Pedregon in the final round of the fall race secured a 10th consecutive title for the sport’s biggest winner.
 Notable #4 – En route to his 15th series championship last season, John Force won both races contested at Pomona, Calif., and both events contested at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Robert Hight is hoping this year to achieve the same sweep with the same result.
* * * *
PRO POINTS (Current 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Series point standings after four of six events in the Countdown to 1 playoffs):
 FUNNY CAR  – 1. Jack Beckman, Valvoline Dodge Charger, 2362; 2. Matt Hagan, Die Hard Batteries Dodge Charger, 2357; 3. Mike Neff, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 2340; 4. Cruz Pedregon, Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry, 2314; 5. Robert Hight, Auto Club Ford Mustang, 2304; 6. Jeff Arend, DHL Toyota Camry, 2239; 7. Ron Capps, NAPA Dodge Charger, 2223; 8. Bob Tasca III, Quick Lane/Ford Parts Ford Mustang, 2221; 9. John Force, Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang, 2168; 10. Tim Wilkerson, Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Mustang, 2157.
* * * *
TELEVISION (all on ESPN2, all times Eastern Daylight):
Qualifying – 10:30 pm-12 midnight, Saturday, Oct. 29
Race Highlights – 7-10 pm, Sunday, Oct. 30
* * * *
NEXT EVENT (2011 NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship):

47th annual Automobile Club of Southern California Finals, Nov. 10-13, Pomona, California.

* * * *
For additional information or photos, contact one of the representatives above or go to www.johnforceracing.com or www.nhra.com.
* * * *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEforce is the x-factor in championship battle
 LAS VEGAS, Nevada – John Force could be the most dangerous driver in the  field this week when the Full Throttle drag racing tour returns to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the11th running of the Big O Tires Nationals, the next-to-last race in the NHRA’s Countdown to 1 playoffs. 
 The 15-time NHRA Funny Car champion owes that distinction NOT to the fact that he is the reigning series champion; NOT to his status as the defending event champion; NOT even to the fact that he’s just four round wins shy of another NHRA career milestone (1,100 rounds won).
 Nope, the reason the 62-year-old icon is such a formidable threat this week is because he has a fast car, a bruised ego and absolutely nothing to lose. 
 After playing his way out of any chance of successfully defending his most recent championship, Force brings his erratic Castrol GTX HIGH MILEAGE Ford Mustang back to an LVMS track on which he swept both races a year ago and on which he has posted a 13-4 record since missing the 2007 race because of injuries sustained in a life-threatening crash at Dallas, Texas.

 “I’ve just been getting spanked,” Force said of the downward turn his season has taken since he won the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Denver in July, earning his record 133rd career victory.  

 “What bothers me the most,” he volunteered, “is that I can’t run for the championship (after falling almost 200 points behind pacesetting Jack Beckman, to whom he lost two weeks ago at Phoenix).  All I can do now is try to beat some of these guys to help Mike Neff and Robert (Hight, presently third and fifth in points).
 “As a team, we’ve still got a shot at this title, but I’ve got to get my hot rod back in the game.  (Don) Schumacher has four good Dodges with Beckman and (Matt) Hagan (plus Johnny Gray and Ron Capps) and we’ve got two really good Mustangs.
 “But, at the end of the day, we need all three of our cars to be able to do some damage,” said the 2008 inductee into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.  “That means we’ve got to step up with my hot rod – and I think we can.  ‘Guido’ and Ron (crew chiefs Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas) have been working hard and so have I.  There’s two more races to turn it around.”
 Amazingly, Force hasn’t won a round since Aug. 7, when he beat Jeff Diehl in the first round at Seattle.  Since then, he’s lost to Beckman twice, to Ford Racing teammate Bob Tasca III twice, to Cruz Pedregon, Johnny Gray and Dale Creasy Jr.

 In fact, he is a very un-Force-like 14-19 for the season and, barring a spectacular turnaround, he will finish the season with a losing record for just the second time in the last 27 seasons.

 The only driver in any motor sports discipline to have won races in 24 different seasons (Richard Petty won NASCAR races in 23), Force has started from the No. 1 spot five times this season, second only to Cruz Pedregon (six), but rarely has his qualifying success translated into anything positive on race day.
 He’s won just four rounds against Countdown drivers this year and, significantly, lost four straight races to Beckman.
 Those are stats that stick in his craw.
 “Yeah, we’ve struggled,” Force said, “and they don’t pay us to struggle.  This team is known for winning and we’lI win again – I promise you that.  But right now we have to get Neff and Robert back to the top and get another championship for Castrol and Ford, Auto Club, Mac Tools and BrandSource.”
* * * *
John Force  and NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson, Side-by-Side
                                          Force                                                  JohnsonBirthdate                             May 4, 1949                                         Sept. 17, 1975
Residence                           Yorba Linda, Calif.                                El Cajon, Calif.
Identifying vehicle                 Castrol GTX Ford Mustang                    No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet
Series                                 NHRA                                                 NASCAR
Career races                        577                                                     358
Career wins                         133                                                     55
% of events won                   23.0%                                                 15.4%
Runner-ups                          81                                                       30
No. 1 qualifiers/poles            139                                                     25
Championships                    15                                                       5
Signature season                 1996 (won 13 of 19 races with 3 2007     (won 10 of 36 races
                                          2nds and 13 No. 1 starts)                      with 2 2nds and 4 poles)
Signature performance(s)      15-time All-American Driver                   2009 AP Male Athlete of Year
Last racing year                   Still active                                            Still active
First win at age                    38                                                       26
Last win at age                    62                                                       36
-www.johnforceracing.com-

Discover more from Drag Racing List

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Filed Under: Drag News & Stories