Annie Whiteley looking for another breakthrough in Vegas

Annie Whiteley looking for another breakthrough in Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Just a few days removed from her first career win at last weekend’s NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Western Regional at “The Strip” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Top Alcohol Funny Car rookie Annie Whiteley and her YNot Racing team will be looking for their first taste of national event success during this weekend’s SummitRacing.com Nationals at the same venue. This will be her second national event start.

Whiteley, who helps her husband Jim run their business J&A Services in Grand Junction, Colo., has the same approach for this weekend as she did at last weekend’s Regional event: to get her first round win. Her focus then was to get her first regional round win, and this weekend it will be to get her first national round win.

“I am still on cloud nine,” said Whiteley. “Last weekend was pretty amazing. It is finally starting to set in. I don’t think any of us on the team expected to get a win this quickly. It definitely has helped morale and has us motivated to try to go win more. It has also helped my confidence. Over confidence can get you in trouble in any sport, but I think a healthy amount of confidence in yourself is good in our sport.

“This weekend we are just trying to get our first round win at a national event,” Whiteley continued. “That was our goal last weekend. If this weekend goes the same way that would really be something. I don’t know if we could have a better moment.”

While her win last weekend is already in the books, she still has a chance to be part of Top Alcohol racing history as her husband Jim was a finalist in Top Alcohol Dragster. As her husband and his opponent Chris Demke left the starting line in the final, a piece of debris blew through the timing traps, which left no way to declare a real winner. The pair will re-run the final during this weekend’s event in qualifying. If Jim wins, it will be the first husband and wife winner’s circle in Top Alcohol history.

Qualifying begins on Friday for the alcohol cars with two sessions, followed by one final session Saturday morning. Eliminations begin with round one Saturday evening and final eliminations will conclude the event on Sunday.

To find out more about YNot Racing’s promotional partners, visit the websites below:

RaceGoodyear.com - Goodyear's position as the leading tire maker in drag racing is unquestioned. The quickest, fastest and most powerful earth-bound machines in the world look to Goodyear for tires that generate enough traction to take advantage of their stunning ability to go fast in a straight line.

NGKSparkPlugs.com - When performance counts, the fastest teams on two wheels or four, on land or on water choose NGK Spark Plugs.

The team would also like to thank the continued support of J&A Services and Advanced Oilfield Services.


Contact: Pro Race Communications 979.415.4959
Attached photo courtesy of James Drew Photography