Funny Car Driver Alexis DeJoria says ‘We need to get people’s eyes on what we do.’
- If Formula 1 fans were to see an exhibition of raw horsepower from an NHRA Top Fuel or Funny Car, it would shake them to their FIA-approved flameproof underwear.
- In the spirit of promoting motorsport, a long, smoky burnout would be enough to grab the crowd’s attention.
- All we’re asking for is a few minutes next fall during the F1 weekend for an NHRA-style burnout or two on the Las Vegas strip.
After NASCAR repaved the iconic Olympic and football venue Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and turned it into a stock-car short track for a wildly successful weekend earlier this year, the NHRA needs to grab up the thrown-down gauntlet.
Excuse us to dream on the NHRA for a moment.
Imagine Formula 1 and local authorities at next fall’s Formula 1 night race through the heart of Las Vegas providing the perfect stage for drag racing to showcase its sensory-overload experience.
The NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series, on the surface, sounds incongruous with the wine-and-brie elite open-wheel set. But if those F1 fans were to see an exhibition of raw horsepower from a Top Fuel or Funny Car—one that blasts from a standing start to 330-plus mph in less than four seconds—it would shake them to their FIA-approved flameproof underwear.
All we’re asking for is a few moments next fall during the F1 weekend for an NHRA-style burnout or two on the Las Vegas strip.
Already a captivating spectacle with its ear-splitting cackle and roar, smoky tire smaze, sticky-sweet nitro odor, and bone-rattling launch, an NHRA Top Fuel or Funny Car could show off another kind of motorsports that happens at Las Vegas twice a year, sometimes four-wide in 44,000-horsepower glory.
It’s an engineering feat that would mesmerize F1’s finest.
So “How about it?” Funny Car racer Alexis DeJoria says.
She told Autoweek, “That would be incredible. Put in a good word for me.”
All right . . . here we go:
Stefano Domenicali, you’re the president and CEO of Formula 1. You love fast cars. You were born in Imola, right in the pocket of Italy’s motorsports passion, for goodness sake. You worked with Ferrari and Lamborghini. You would love these Top Fuel and Funny Car beasts. The sheer power would impress you.
So would Alexis DeJoria. She’s fearless. She has been aboard the Sea Shepherd, getting a first-hand look in choppy ocean waters at how to help endangered animals. Years ago, she traveled to North Korea on a diplomatic mission. She has modeled and worked with her entrepreneur billionaire father John Paul DeJoria and even has been up for a culture-shock move from funky, skateboard-surfing-centric Venice Beach, Calif., to Austin, Texas, where she has lived on a ranch and even raised pigs and chickens and explored her faith. She says “badass” and “I’m stoked” at lot but easily can carry on an intelligent conversation beyond racing and is a thoughtful single mom of a bright young woman. She has elaborate and colorful tattoos adorning her arms, but don’t let that scare you. She’s the sweetest, happiest, easy-going woman – oh, until she gets into a race car – an 11,000-horsepower, fire-belching beast called a Funny Car . . . which, by the way, produces speeds about 100 mph more than the sleek and artsy machines of F1. Anyway, she’s relentless. You would love her.
But you would love what she can do in that race car. And what a chance you have to let her shine at your Formula 1 race at Las Vegas, where her family has lived and she has won a couple of times at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway just north of the city.
So how does all that affect you? Oh, Stefano, just picture it. Alexis—and someone from the Top Fuel class (those are the long, skinny cars that also launch at nearly 6Gs and throw out parachutes to stop at a negative 5Gs and literally can tear your eyeballs’ retinas)—can warm up your crowd. It would be great—talk to the mayor of Las Vegas or whoever you need permission from. Alexis and her Top Fuel colleague could do a long, smoky burnout right down The Strip. If that didn’t get the crowd’s attention, nothing will.
You know, Stefano, when the pandemic hit and Formula 1 was in a bit of tailspin like every other business, you wisely saw the opportunity—you called it a “take-it-or-leave-it opportunity”—and you said, “You cannot leave it.” Now, you have another one of those “take-it-or-leave-it” chances. This is a chance to share the beauty of motorsports, a chance to build relationships and establish some cross-pollination networking to make the entire industry strong. Don’t leave the chance on the table. Take it.
Erica Enders would be more than happy to perform a burnout at and F1 event, all in the spirit of a little cross-promotion.
NHRA/National Dragster
There you go, Alexis. Maybe you’ll finally get that platform beyond a dragstrip to showcase why you became hooked on your sport at age 16, watching those crazy dragsters at Pomona.
DeJoria said, “I had a chance to do that at the Bristol NASCAR track, and it ended up getting rained out at the beginning. They cut us, and they cut the country singer who was going to do the national anthem. So I haven’t gotten to do that yet. That would be incredible. I love Vegas. It sounds amazing. That would be great.
“The closest, I think, we could get is maybe doing a burnout at a closed-off, safe-as-possible (place). Or maybe just bringing a car down there and maybe giving it a couple of throttle whacks would be sufficient,” she said. “I know that would be loud and get everybody’s attention in F1, and I think it would be really great for our sport to get some cross-branding.
Alexis DeJoria lives in Austin, Texas, and would be happy to put on am NHRA show of nitro power at COTA.
NNHRA
“Our issue,” DeJoria said, “is that we need to get people’s eyes on what we do. We need to give people the experience in any way, shape, or form, whether it’s just starting the car up, giving it a good throttle whack, doing a burnout—just something—to get that feeling, sound, speed, everything across to get people to come to the races. That’s what’s such a big deal. Watching it on TV is incredible. I’m still a fan, even at the end of the day when I lose. But you have to go to a race to fully appreciate what it’s all about. So, bringing that to F1 . . . their minds are going to be blown. Everyone we’ve ever brought to the track from other forms of motorsports is like, ‘Oh my God, you guys are crazy. This is amazing.’ It’s very possible. We’ll see.”
DeJoria lives not far from COTA, the Circuit of the Americas, which hosts a Formula 1 race in October. COTA would seem to be at the very least a intriguing facility to add an NHRA-sanctioned dragstrip.
“Back in the day, the people who run COTA met with the heads of NHRA, Graham Light at the time, and they wanted to know what every length of every track is—from the finish line to the sand trap,” DeJoria said. “They wanted schematics for everything, because they wanted to do that. There’s tons of land over there—I mean, they’re building an amusement park over there. How great would it be to have the two quickest motorsports in the world at one facility, F1 and Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Car? That would be incredible,” DeJoria said.
Formula 1 will visit the famous Las Vegas Strip in 2023.
F1
“They wanted to make sure they weren’t stepping on anyone’s toes. I think it was a little political,” she said. “There are already two races in Texas, so they didn’t want to compete with the other tracks and whatnot. They said if one track went away, then they would look back into it. And it mostly likely would be a four-wide.”
Next weekend’s SpringNationals at Baytown, Texas, will mark the end of a 34-year run for the NHRA at Houston Raceway Park, which is set to be plowed under for global logistics solutions firm Katoen Natie’s expansion. So here’s a chance for two major motorsports sanctions to pool their resources and show America what the industry has to offer.
Four-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Erica Enders doesn’t have a race car with header flames and doesn’t crank out 11,000 horsepower. But the Houston native who’s the most successful racer at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway seconded DeJoria’s suggestion.
“I might be a little biased, but our sport is so unique.”
“I might be a little biased, but our sport is so unique,” Enders said. “It provides such a great platform for kids to start on and work their way through the ranks. People like me and JR Todd and Leah Pritchett and Shawn Langdon—these kids got their start in Jr. Drag Racing and worked through the programs and went pro. It’s really neat . . . how many strong, independent, successful women there are, racing on the track. You don’t see us in bikini magazines. You see us holding the Wally (the NHRA trophy, named in honor of the sport’s founder, Wally Parks) at the end of the track and a bottle of champagne.
“All across the board, our sport is awesome. Every ticket’s a pit pass. You can come and stand at the pit and watch us work on our card, take pictures, talk with the crew—and that’s not something any other motorsport offers,” Enders said. “I absolutely love our sport, and to see the stands packed this year is so cool. Gainesville was a sellout. Houston’s on its way to a sellout. The spring race in Las Vegas was packed on Sunday. So, I think the trend is heading in the right direction, and I’m really proud to be associated with it. “
As Stefano Domenicali put it, “We need to see what are the other opportunities.”
Hey, Stefano, here’s a creative and huge one for you. Here’s a chance to set territorial tendencies aside, to unite as motorsports leaders, and to raise awareness for the excitement and variety of auto racing.
What do ya’ say?
Keyword: Let Us Dream on a Little NHRA Cross-Promotion with F1 at Las Vegas or COTA