With the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season kicking off in just over a week, the JCM Racing organization is hard at work putting the finishing touches on any remaining pre-season preparations as they get ready to head south to Gainesville, Fla. for the NHRA Gatornationals, March 7 – 9.
Alexis DeJoria will hit the track with her new JCM Racing team for the first time on Tuesday, March 4, where she will participate in the NHRA’s two-day pre-season test session at Gainesville Raceway. Helping to lead the Bandero Café Funny Car team is renowned tuner Todd Smith, who joins Mike ‘Zippy’ Neff in a co-crew chief role. Smith joined JCM Racing in late January after a nine-year tenure with Kalitta Motorsports. Prior to that, Smith held crew chief roles at John Force Racing and Don Schumacher Racing, where he helped guide Jack Beckman to the 2012 Funny Car championship.
“This is pretty much a brand-new operation we’ve been assembling for Alexis at JCM, and it’s been a fun challenge to build this thing from essentially the ground up with Zippy and get everything ready in time for Gainesville,” Smith said. “Both Alexis and I are new to JCM and Zippy is back tuning a Funny Car after a few years on a dragster team, so this kind of feels like a new beginning for all of us. We’re ready to come out of the gate swinging, and plan to utilize every minute of those two testing days making as many runs as possible and getting acclimated as a team.”
As for Zetterström, she and her Jon Schaffer-led JCM Racing Top Fuel team made a trip down to Gainesville last week where they also spent time testing. Zetterström will return to the historic facility alongside her new teammate where she’ll make her Gatornationals competition debut, kicking off a 10-race schedule consisting of the following events:
- NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville, Fla.
- NHRA Arizona Nationals, Phoenix
- NHRA Winternationals, Pomona, Calif.
- NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Charlotte, N.C.
- NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol, Tenn.
- NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Sonoma, Calif.
- NHRA U.S. Nationals, Indianapolis
- Reading NHRA Nationals, Reading, Pa.
- Texas NHRA FallNationals, Dallas
- NHRA Finals, Pomona, Calif.
While Zetterström is pleased to have increased her schedule from last season when she made her NHRA Top Fuel debut competing in the final eight events of the year, she has been vocal about the fact that she and her team would like the opportunity to compete for a championship and continue to add as many races as possible to her current schedule.
“It all comes down to funding,” said Zetterström who was named ‘Best New Talent’ in the 2024 National Dragster All-Star Team fan vote. “The more funding we have, the more races we can run. We’re working hard to secure the right partners to help us complete the full season and chase championships. Every race counts and we’re ready to make this season one to remember.”
Organizations and individuals interested in partnering with Zetterström and JCM Racing should contact: [email protected] and [email protected].
This story was originally published on February 25, 2025. 
