POMONA >> For Alexis DeJoria’s Southern California NHRA fans, they’ll get a chance to see her for the first time in a year when the Winternationals opens the 2017 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Friday at Auto Club Raceway.
DeJoria missed the final two events of the 2016 schedule — Las Vegas and the Auto Club Finals at Pomona — because of a concussion symptoms. Earlier in the season, violent contact with a retaining wall at Sonoma Raceway broke her pelvis and she was forced to skip the next NHRA event in Seattle.
La Verne’s Jeff Arend subbed for DeJoria in the NHRA season-finale at Pomona last November.
Despite missing three national events, DeJoria finished 10th in the Funny Car standings.
During the three-month off-season, DeJoria was on a limited schedule but returned last week for spring training in Phoenix.
Her best run during the preseason testing was a 3.904-second run over 1,000 feet, eighth best among the Funny Car drivers who participated.
This will be her sixth season in the class. DeJoria has four wins, four No. 1 qualifying positions and three top 10 finishes.
“I’m really excited to start the 2017 race season in my new Toyota Camry,” she said at testing. “We’re representing the same brand, Patrón, and we did something a little different. We added some grey to it and we wanted to put a little more matte paint on there.
“It’s going to look cool, especially when it’s going 330-mph down the race track.”
DeJoria has get a goal of rebounding from a hard 2016 campaign.
“For me, a great season — 2017 season in particular — means more consistency, going rounds, winning more races and finishing in the top five,” she said. “Obviously, that would be ideal. I love these guys and I’m super grateful that everybody stuck it out through that tough season last year.
“We’re all here to fight another day and it’s going to be good. That’s what makes or breaks a team. When you can make it through the rough times … and start winning again, it just makes everything so much more worth it.”
In addition to the new paint scheme on her race car for Kalitta Motorsports, DeJoria will have a new co-crew chief this season. Nicky Boninfante, who was an eight-year member of the DHL Funny Car for the team, will once again team with Tommy DeLago, this time on the DeJoria entry.
“It’s cool having Nicky over here now. He was always right next door and we would always go back and forth,” said DeJoria. “We had really good communication between the two teams. It’s just like having another friend over here.”
Boninfante is excited about the move.
“I’m really excited about the upcoming season because I get to work (with) Alexis for the first time since she got her Funny Car license,” he said at Phoenix. “We have a good relationship and we’re good friends.
“I’m also really looking forward to working with Tommy again. It will be the good old days, only better. Tommy and I have both matured as crew chiefs, so now we get to put our heads together and maybe not swing for the fence quite as much as we used to when we were younger, but just try to build a consistent car and a consistent team.”
DeLago has worked with DeJoria since 2012 and has been with her for her first win, top qualifying spot and a top 10 points finish in 2014.
“There’s not really going to be a transition period with the addition of Nicky. We’ve been friends for a long time, worked together for three years on Bob Gilbertson’s Funny Car (2005-07),” DeLago said. “We’ve always wanted to work together again but at a place that had a budget.
“Now we have a budget, we have a team and a car that has the ability to win a championship. I think it’s going to bring a lot of fun into this season, being able to work with him again.”
DeJoria was hooked on drag racing as a 16-year-old at Pomona for her first event. She started her NHRA career in 2005 in Super Gas and Super Comp, winning the Sportsman Nationals at Fontana a year later. She then advanced to alcohol Funny Car, racing at that level for six seasons.
She scored a national event victory in Seattle in 2011 and made her pro debut later in the season at the FallNationals in Ennis, Texas, competing in the final three events of the season.
Her official NHRA rookie season was in 2012.
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