2023 AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals
Gainesville Raceway
Gainesville, Florida
March 10-12, 2023
KICKING OFF THE 2023 SEASON IN GAINESVILLE
As the 2023 NHRA season kicks off in Gainesville, Florida, Chevrolet looks to defend multiple titles from 2022. With Brittany Force’s second Top Fuel title in the Chevrolet dragster, Erica Enders’ fifth Pro Stock championship in the Chevrolet Camaro, and David Barton’s Constant Aviation Factory Stock Showdown in the Chevrolet COPO Camaro, Chevrolet enters the new year looking to defend their most recent Manufacturers Cup.
The site of her first career NHRA victory in 2016, Brittany Force looks to keep her and her Chevrolet team’s strong momentum rolling into the weekend’s AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at John Force Racing. Alongside her, teammate Austin Prock enters his fourth season in Top Fuel competition looking to build on his achievements heading into the new year.
In Funny Car, John Force looks to continue his legendary drive this season while defending his historic stats of 16 championships, 155 wins, and 165 No. 1 qualifiers. His teammate, Robert Hight, looks to defend and add to his three Funny Car championships, in addition to his 61 career wins (26 supported by Chevrolet), and 77 career No. 1 qualifiers.
In Pro Stock, Chevrolet once again joins Erica Enders and Elite Motorsports in the drive for a sixth championship, along with Greg Anderson at the newly formed KB Titan Racing in seeking his sixth Pro Stock title. Joining Enders in the Elite Motorsports camp in the hunt for the Winner’s Circle this year is Bo Butner, Troy Coughlin Jr., and Aaron Stanfield. Racing to add to her achievements in her Rookie of the Year season in 2022, Camrie Caruso joins Anderson at KB Titan Racing, along with Dallas Glenn (the 2022 Pro Stock winner at Gainesville), Kyle Koretsky, and Deric Kramer.
Kicking off their 2023 season, the COPO Camaro drivers of the Constant Aviation Factory Stock Showdown take to the starting line once again in the fight to defend the 2021 and 2022 Chevrolet-supported back-to-back championship runs, captured by Aaron Stanfield and David Barton respectively, as well as the 2022 Gainesville victory by Len Lettig.
The 2023 AMALIE Motor Oil Gatornationals get underway starting with Qualifying Friday, March 10, broadcasting March 11 at 10 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Saturday’s qualifying from Gainesville will air also on FS1 Sunday, March 12 at 9 a.m. ET, with eliminations on Sunday airing at 12 p.m. ET on FOX.
MOST RECENT DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIPS IN NHRA BY CHEVROLET
2022: Brittany Force, Top Fuel
2022: Erica Enders, Pro Stock
2022: David Barton, Factory Stock Showdown
2019: Robert Hight, Funny Car
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)
Brittany Force, driver of the Monster Energy/Flav-R-Pack Chevrolet Top Fuel Dragster for John Force Racing:
“We are pumped coming in here after finishing so strong and winning a championship together. We are looking forward to seeing what we can do this season. Last season we had five wins and we want to go beyond that. We want more wins. We’d like to set more track records, but the ultimate game plan is to win the championship for this team.
We came out early and did six days of testing. We’re pretty confident going into this race weekend, especially because it’s two races in one. It’s the PepBoys All-Star Call Out, it’s going to be fun. I already kind of had a brief discussion with (David) Grubnic on who we are going to call out, so we already have a game plan in mind. We’ll see how it goes. There’s no good team or driver to call. They’re all going to be tough, that’s why we are all up there together. There are eight of us. Either way, it’s going to be tricky but we are ready for the challenge.”
Brittany on competing at Gainesville:
“Gainesville is definitely a special place for me. I’ve been coming up here since I was a kid watching my dad and Ashley (Force Hood) race. My first win in a Top Fuel car was here in 2016. Again, it’s a special place. I love it here. It’s the Gatornationals; it’s just a big one. It’s the one race I remember as a kid that was such a unique one. I knew it was a big race. It was the Gatornationals. It drew in a huge crowd, and it had so much momentum and excitement behind it. It is one you never wanted to miss.”
Austin Prock, driver of the Montana Brand/Rock Mountain Chevrolet Top Fuel Dragster for John Force Racing:
“I’m looking forward to the first race of the year. We have a lot going on. We’ve got the Pep-Boys Call Out that we qualified for and there are a lot of good cars in there. It’s a good competition and it’s always fun. We have a new crew chief with Joe Bartlum and Chris Cunningham and a handful of new guys on the car. Everybody has been doing a great job and I’m looking forward to seeing how we hash up against everyone else and to see if we can pick up from where we left off.”
Austin on Gainesville and pre-season testing:
“The first test session that we had in Gainesville, we ran mid-to-low 60’s just like we did at Pomona. Then we changed a bunch of things in the bell housing and clutch discs in the second half of the season and it all responded really well. We should be able to go out there and compete for a Wally the first week out!”
CHEVROLET BY THE NUMBERS IN NHRA
1,421: Round wins for John Force (1st all-time)
591: Round wins for Robert Hight (14th all-time)
366: Number of wins in Pro Stock since 1970; 247 won in the Chevrolet Camaro body
264: Final Round wins by John Force (the last coming in Topeka, runner-up)
165: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for John Force (1st all-time)
155: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins since 1967
77: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Robert Hight (6th all-time)
75: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins with the Camaro body
42: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Brittany Force
27: Number of NHRA championships Chevrolet holds as a manufacturer since entering the first in 1966. No other manufacturer has won it more than Chevrolet.
24: Wins by John Force in a Chevrolet-bodied Funny Car
18: Number of Pro Stock championships
16: Chevrolet career Top Fuel wins in NHRA
16: Number of Chevrolet career wins by Brittany Force
7: Number of Funny Car driver championships
2: Number of Top Fuel driver championships
UPCOMING NHRA MILESTONES
950: Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) is second all-time with 912 elimination round wins. He could reach 950 round wins with a decent run in the 18-race schedule.
600: Robert Hight has 591 Funny Car elimination round victories to rank 14th on the all-time NHRA list. Reaching 600 round wins would put him 13th all time.
436: By qualifying for his next race, Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) will extend his NHRA record to 436 consecutive race day appearances.
138: Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) ranks third on the NHRA all-time list with 121 No. 1 qualifiers. He could pass Warren Johnson (Pro Stock, 138) for second to John Force (165) on the list.
62: Robert Hight will move into the top 10 on the all-time NHRA victory list with his next win, tying the retired Larry Dixon (Top Fuel) with 62 wins. Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock, retired) is ninth on list with 65.
46: Erica Enders has 43 career Pro Stock victories (all with Chevrolet). Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) is the all-time NHRA female leader with 46. 18: Brittany Force (16 Top Fuel career wins) will move past Shirley Muldowney (18 wins) into third on the NHRA all-time victory list for females. Erica Enders (Pro Stock, 43) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle, 46) are ahead.
6: Erica Enders (Pro Stock) could tie Warren Johnson (6 Pro Stock championships) for second on the class list. The same holds for Greg Anderson. Bob Glidden is the leader with 10.
3: Brittany Force (Top Fuel, 2 championships) would tie Shirley Muldowney (Top Fuel) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) for second on the NHRA all-time championship list by females with another title in 2023. Erica Enders (Pro Stock, 5) is the leader.
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
