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JCM Racing Post-Race Recap: Brainerd
- joec570
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Event 13 of 20
Brainerd International Raceway
Brainerd, Minn.
Aug. 15 – 17, 2025
Alexis DeJoria and Bandero Café Funny Car Team Continue to Post Quick and Consistent Numbers in Brainerd
BRAINERD, Minn. (August 17, 2025) – At the facility where she powered to victory 2017 and became the first drag racer to record the track’s first sub-four-second Funny Car pass in 2014, Alexis DeJoria was eager to return to Brainerd International Raceway in hopes of turning on more win lights and breaking through with her first victory of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. She and her Mike Neff-led team were strong throughout qualifying at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals to earn a spot in the top half of the field and carried that momentum into race day, but were outpaced to the finish line in a tight side-by-side race during the opening round of eliminations.
With four semifinal finishes to-date, the first-year JCM Racing Bandero Café Funny Car team appears to be right on the cusp of reaching their first final round together and despite the early exit, continued to show more of that promise this weekend in Brainerd, Minn. While DeJoria’s machine was up in smoke during the first qualifying round, she quickly rebounded with three stout passes in the remaining sessions. In Q2, she clocked a 3.942 E.T. to place sixth on the timing sheet. During Saturday’s first round, she was straight down the groove in 3.913 seconds at 332.51 mph, which held up to be the third-quickest run of the session. DeJoria kept her machine firing on all eight cylinders once again in the final qualifying session to lock in the No. 6 seed. Facing Spencer Hyde in the first round of eliminations for the second event in a row, DeJoria took the Bandero Café Funny Car on its best run of the weekend, recording a 3.878 E.T. It was the third-best elapsed time of the opening elimination round, but unfortunately Hyde’s starting line advantage allowed him to power through the finish line beams first, ending DeJoria’s day early.
“Everyone knows how important the last race before Indy is,” said DeJoria, who will be making her ninth playoff appearance when the 2025 NHRA Countdown to the Championship gets underway next month. “My old team and I won this race in 2017, and I always love coming back here. Our JCM Bandero Café Funny Car team has been progressively getting better. We’re chipping away at it. We had some good runs, qualified in the top half of the field and went out first round and ran our very best E.T. of the season. I’ve got a great car underneath me. I believe in this team, and I believe in myself. Confidence level is high right now. I was a little off on my reaction time today and got beat but we’re staying to test tomorrow and we’re just going to get better and better. We’ve come so far in such a short time. I know my potential. I know how to win, Zippy knows how to win. We know what it takes to be successful. We’re right there and it’s only a matter of time before it all comes together. Simply put, I cannot wait for the U.S. Nationals.”
DeJoria leaves Brainerd ranked 10th in the Funny Car point standings and will compete next at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend, where she returns as the 2014 Funny Car event champion.
Qualified: No. 6 (3.913 E.T. at 332.51 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 3.878 E.T. at 331.77 MPH defeated by Spencer Hyde 3.904 E.T. at 327.51 MPH
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car Point Standings (Unofficial):
1 Austin Prock 1140
2 Jack Beckman 898
3 Matt Hagan 871
4 Ron Capps 840
5 Paul Lee 767
6 J.R. Todd 720
7 Dan Wilkerson 664
8 Spencer Hyde 620
9 Chad Green 577
10 Alexis DeJoria 568
Ida Zetterström Eyes Indy Reset After Early Brainerd Exit
Heading into the weekend of the one-year anniversary of her American Top Fuel debut, multi-time European drag racing champion Ida Zetterström was looking to repeat the success of her 2024 Brainerd, Minn. outing, which saw her advance to the semifinals. Unfortunately for Zetterström, the JCM Racing dragster shook the tires early during the first round of eliminations on Sunday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals while her opponent clocked his best pass of the weekend in the opposite lane to advance, ending her anniversary weekend much earlier than she had hoped.
Zetterström’s outing at Brainerd International Raceway began with a 3.877-second pass to place her third on the timing sheets after the first round of qualifying. She lost traction during Friday’s evening session, but bounced back on Saturday with a 3.829 at 325.40 mph run. A loss of traction followed in Q4, and Zetterström eventually settled into the No. 11 spot on the Brainerd Top Fuel ladder, pitting her against a tough opponent in Billy Torrence during Sunday’s first round of eliminations. Against the elder Torrence, Zetterström’s machine overpowered the track early. Her years of driving experience came into play as she successfully pedaled her red, white, and blue dragster, which sported a throwback livery from her ’24 campaign, but unfortunately for Zetterström, Torrence made a quick and clean pass in the opposite lane. Despite getting her car to quickly hook back up, Zetterström wasn’t able to chase him down as he crossed the finish line beams in 3.706 seconds to her 6.7-second pass.
“We’re frustrated right now,” said Zetterström. “We wanted more on both ends; we wanted to run quicker and put up a good fight against Billy Torrence. I pedaled, the car hooked, I felt good about my pedal job but unfortunately, when I pedaled and the car recovered, is right around the time that I saw Billy swing by me, and at that point I had to lift because there’s no sense in potentially hurting parts.
“We changed things in the car for this race. I had really hoped it was going to show in a big way, and it didn’t, but like a lot of people keep reminding me, it takes time. You don’t change something and then in one round it’s going to be an automatic fix; it takes time. It’s just not translating yet.”
Like many of the nitro-powered teams, the JCM Racing cars will remain in Brainerd through Monday to test in preparation of the upcoming NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend.
“I’m really glad we have the opportunity to try some things tomorrow,” Zetterström added. “It’s been a while since we’ve tested. I feel like what we’re lacking is consistency. We can run well, but we need to be quicker. Even when we run our personal best, we’ve got a ways to go to be able to run with the strongest cars in the field, and that’s where we need to be in order to be competitive, qualify higher, and get round wins on race day. We need to be consistently running in the 60s when conditions allow. I know that’s what my crew chiefs are working towards, and it’s not going to happen overnight, so having opportunities to test are important – especially so for a team like ours that is still relatively new in the grand scheme of things and not able to run a full schedule on a regular basis. I was hoping this weekend was going to be our breakout event. Our goal for tomorrow is to get us to a place where we have a good baseline to work off of for Indy. Testing here last year went really well; one of the best test sessions we’ve had. So, we’re looking for tomorrow to be a good reset for us and hoping we can go into Indy with a fresh mindset and a renewed sense of confidence.”
Zetterström and the JCM Racing Top Fuel team will compete next at the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Aug. 29 – Sept. 1.
Qualified: No. 11 (3.829 E.T. at 326.40 MPH)
Elimination Round Results:
E1: 6.733 E.T. at 89.99 MPH defeated by Billy Torrence 3.706 E.T. at 335.73 MPH
About JCM Racing:
Established in 2022, the Maynard family’s JCM Racing organization is a multi-car NHRA team owned by Joe and P.J. Maynard. The executive staff operates out of Clarksville, Tennessee, while the team’s racing headquarters is located in Brownsburg, Indiana. JCM Racing owns 11 national event wins to date.
Competing in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series as the sport’s first all-female nitro team, Alexis DeJoria drives the Bandero Premium Tequila Funny Car while Ida Zetterström pilots the JCM Racing Top Fuel dragster. DeJoria is a multi-time NHRA national event champion and the first woman to break the three-second barrier in the Funny Car category. In addition to her six Funny Car triumphs, DeJoria found success in the Sportsman ranks and is the only driver to own the trifecta of Super Comp, Top Alcohol Funny Car, and Funny Car victories. Hailing from Sweden, Zetterström is a European drag racing champion on both two wheels and four, having become the first woman to win an FIM Super Street Bike title in 2019 and again in 2020. Before relocating from Sweden to the Indianapolis area to prepare for her 2024 NHRA debut, Zetterström also clinched the 2023 FIA European Top Fuel crown.
In an effort to support the future generations of drag racers, JCM Racing operates a Driver Development program, which provides assistance to youngsters competing in the NHRA’s Jr. Drag Racing League.
For more information, visit @jcmnitro on Twitter and Instagram, @JCMNitro on Facebook, and JCMNitro.com
Media Contacts:
Allison McCormick
ABM Communications
(305) 764-5377
Jessica Hatcher
ABM Communications