JCM Racing Post-Race Recap: Epping

NHRA New England Nationals

Event 7 of 20

New England Dragway

Epping, N.H.

May 30 – June 1, 2025

Alexis DeJoria Makes Moves with Semifinal Appearance at NHRA New England Nationals

EPPING, N.H. (June 1, 2025) – Alexis DeJoria raced to a semifinal finish in her Bandero Café Funny Car Sunday afternoon at the NHRA New England Nationals, marking the third time she’s been to the semifinals this season. By earning two round wins, DeJoria moved well into the top 10 in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car points standings going into a jam-packed stretch of races in June. The JCM Racing driver is now ranked eighth after rolling into New England Dragway in the No. 11 spot.

DeJoria made a baseline run in the first qualifying session to sit No. 8 before throwing down a 3.909-second blast at 329.58 mph, the fourth-quickest pass of the second session, to take the provisional No. 5 position going into Saturday qualifying. She posted a consistent 3.927 E.T. at 331.77 mph in the third session, earning one bonus point for recording the third-quickest pass of the round. In the final session, her car lost traction and she shut it off early. By the time qualifying wrapped up, DeJoria sat in the No. 6 position, tied for her best start of the season.

DeJoria’s first-round opponent was a familiar one: Ron Capps, who defeated DeJoria in the opening round at the recent Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. DeJoria got redemption, leaving first with the quickest reaction time of the round and winning with a 3.926 E.T. at 324.98 mph to a tire-smoking Capps. DeJoria and second-round opponent Paul Lee left the starting line together before Lee went into tire smoke. DeJoria had her own traction struggles, but she held on to get the Bandero Café Funny Car to the finish line first. The JCM Racing Funny Car team worked hard to return to the ready line for the semifinals, where DeJoria raced to a 3.971-second pass to finish behind J.R. Todd and his 3.889 E.T.

“We've had a great start to the season with this brand-new team,” said DeJoria, who has strong New England roots having spent much of her childhood in the Narragansett, R.I. area. “I'm really proud to be a part of the JCM crew working with (crew chiefs) Mike Neff and Todd Smith and this entire team. We came to another semifinal here in New Hampshire. A win here has eluded me, but we'll be back next year. I'm excited we get to run again next weekend and I don't have to wait too long, but it was a great weekend overall. We qualified well, we went rounds, and we moved up in points from No. 11 to eighth, so we're going in the right direction.”

DeJoria will continue the quest for her first victory of the season in just a few days at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, where she was the event winner and No. 1 qualifier in 2021. She’s also a two-time runner-up at Bristol.

Qualified: No. 6 (3.909 E.T. at 329.58 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:

• E1: 3.926 E.T. at 324.98 MPH defeated Ron Capps 8.903 E.T. at 84.79 MPH

• E2: 4.232 E.T. at 221.13 MPH defeated Paul Lee 7.188 E.T. at 94.12 MPH

• E3: 3.971 E.T. at 324.90 MPH defeated by J.R. Todd 3.889 E.T. at 333.08 MPH

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car Point Standings (Unofficial):

1 Austin Prock 550

2 Jack Beckman 532

3 Paul Lee 472

4 Matt Hagan 455

5 Ron Capps 379

6 J.R. Todd 376

7 Chad Green 350

8 Alexis DeJoria 325

9 Dan Wilkerson 318

9 Cruz Pedregon 318

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Last-Minute Epping Appearance Leads to Quarterfinal Finish for Ida Zetterström

Just days before the NHRA New England Nationals, Ida Zetterström and the JCM Racing Top Fuel team added New England Dragway to their limited 2025 schedule. The move paid off Sunday morning when Zetterström scored her first round-win of the season using a career-best elapsed time in the JCM Racing dragster. She matched that performance in the quarterfinals, capping off a promising outing in her Epping debut.

Zetterström kicked off qualifying on a high note when she recorded a 3.78 E.T. at 328.78 mph to move to the middle of the pack in the No. 7 spot. She lost traction early in the second qualifying attempt, then bounced back with an improved 3.764 E.T. at 328.06 mph in the third session. Zetterström stepped up again in the fourth and final session, tying her season-quickest pass with a 3.741-second run at 330.55 mph to end up in a season-best No. 8 spot on the final qualifying sheet.

On Sunday, Zetterström paired up with multi-time world champion Steve Torrence, who she defeated to get her first career NHRA Top Fuel round win in her debut at Brainerd last season. This meeting went Zetterström’s way as well, as she charged to a career-best 3.720 E.T. at 332.18 mph, while Torrence lost traction early. In a battle of Top Fuel champions, Zetterström, the 2023 FIA champion, lined up against 2023 NHRA world champion Doug Kalitta in the second round. The two drivers left the starting line together and raced side-by-side to the finish line, which Kalitta crossed first with a 3.68 E.T. to Zetterström’s 3.72-second performance. She was the third-quickest driver in the round.

“I’m so happy we were able to add this race at the last minute,” said Zetterström, who didn’t compete in the most recent NHRA Mission Foods Series race in Chicago. “When we left Charlotte, we felt like we had made big moves in the right direction with this program. We made some big changes going into Charlotte, which we felt paid off, but we wanted more track time to really see what we could do with it. Coming here, we proved that what we saw in Charlotte wasn’t just a one-off, and improving on that felt really good. We broke a long streak of losing in the first round. That was a slump I really wanted to break out of. Everyone on the team has kept their head up and worked through it. We got a lot of great data to bring with us to Bristol. This is the best our team has ever been with this car and combination. Overall, I’m very happy.”

Zetterström will roll right into the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, June 6-8, at Bristol Dragway, which is the home race for the Maynard family.

Qualified: No. 8 (3.741 E.T. at 330.55 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:

• E1: 3.720 E.T. at 332.18 MPH defeated Steve Torrence 7.295 E.T. at 121.23 MPH

• E2: 3.720 E.T. at 330.55 MPH defeated by Doug Kalitta 3.680 E.T. at 330.31 MPH

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JCM Racing developmental drivers AJ Gouveia and Alicia Gouveia joined the team at the New England Nationals where they spent time with Alexis DeJoria and Ida Zetterström