John Force threw down the gauntlet to his crew chiefs prior to the 28th annual Lucas Oil NHRA
Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. They needed to immediately step up the performance of
his four Mustangs across the board with three races left before the cut-off for the Countdown to
One.
On Friday during the second qualifying session Force's crew chief brain-trust of Austin Coil and
Bernie Fedderly stepped up to the challenge tuning his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang to a
4.245 second run at 281.19 mph good enough for the provisional number one spot at the time.
Unfortunately Force's first round time left him in the middle of the qualifying session and a
number of hitters followed him ultimately pushing him back to number three spot as 2008 Funny Car
champ Cruz Pedregon and fellow Ford Mustang driver Bob Tasca III improved as well.
At the top end following his pass Force knew holding on to the number one spot would be
problematic.
"When you have to run this early because you are bad the round before they know what is out there
just by watching you. No big deal. We'll see what happens," said the winner of 11 of the past 15
Brainerd national events. "For Castrol, Ford, Auto Club and Mac Tools a lot of people it is really
an exciting time for us. For the fans it is good to be back in Brainerd and hear them cheer. Thank
you for just bringing NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing here it is really cool."
A few pairs after Force's run John Force Racing teammates Mike Neff and Robert Hight made their
second qualifying runs with mixed results. Both of these drivers are battling to stay or move up
into the Top Ten.
Neff and his John Medlen tuned Ford Drive One Mustang blasted down the 1000 foot track flying
through the speed traps in 4.267 seconds at 273.50 mph. Hight piloting his Auto Club Ford Mustang
was less than spectacular slowing to 5.101 seconds. At the top end Neff was excited with his team's
performance but he was also looking forward to getting back on the track on Saturday.
"It left good and then it put a cylinder out. It just took off on me. It probably looked like Ray
Charles was driving it. It is tricky out there but the Ford Drive One Mustang moved up to number
two," said Mike Neff who eventually landed in the number four provisional spot. "Right now that is
not too bad. Hopefully conditions will be a little bit better tomorrow and we can improve on that.
Not bad."
After the first session Hight summed his goals for this weekend and they did not include one of the
most popular Brainerd pastimes.
"We've been working really hard on this Auto Club Ford Mustang. We were testing in Norwalk and then
in Indianapolis. I didn't come to Brainerd to fish I came to get into the Countdown to One. We'll
keep working at it," said Hight.
Hight will go into Saturday's qualifying rounds on the outside of the provisional top twelve but he
will not be alone as Ashley Force Hood, currently number three in the Full Throttle points
standings, and her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang struggled in both sessions today. In the first session
she shook the tires loose at half track and slowed to 5.492 seconds. During the Friday night
session she improved slightly running 5.177 seconds but not enough to work her way into the top
twelve.
RACE SCHEDULE:
Saturday-
Nitro Qualifying 12:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Sunday -
Pre-race: 10:00 a.m.
Final eliminations: 11:00 a.m.
THE DRIVERS
JOHN FORCE, 60, Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang Friday Qualifying: 3rd at 4.245
seconds, 281.19 mph
Quotable: "When you have to run this early because you are bad the round before they know what is
out there just by watching you. No big deal. We'll see what happens. For Castrol, Ford, Auto Club
and Mac Tools a lot of people it is really an exciting time for us. For the fans it is good to be
back in Brainerd and hear them cheer. Thank you for just bringing NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing
here it is really cool." - JOHN FORCE
ASHLEY FORCE HOOD, 26, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang Friday Qualifying: 18th quickest pass at
5.177 seconds, 148.22 mph
ROBERT HIGHT, 39, Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang Friday Qualifying: 15th
quickest pass at 4.666 seconds, 206.13 mph
Quotable: "We've been working really hard on this Auto Club Ford Mustang. We were testing in
Norwalk and then in Indianapolis. I didn't come to Brainerd to fish I came to get into the
Countdown to One. We'll keep working at it." - ROBERT HIGHT
MIKE NEFF, 41, Drive One Ford Mustang
Friday Qualifying: 4th at 4.267 seconds, 273.50 mph
Quotable: "It left good and then it put a cylinder out. It just took off on me. It probably looked
like Ray Charles was driving it. It is tricky out there but the Ford Drive One Mustang moved up to
number two. Right now that is not too bad. Hopefully conditions will be a little bit better
tomorrow and we can improve on that. Not bad." - MIKE NEFF
http://www.johnforceracing.com
FOLLOW JOHN FORCE RACING AT http://www.twitter.com/jfr_racing.com
