Jordan Vandergriff had a successful NHRA professional debut in 2019 at Firebird Motorsports Park when he competed in Top Fuel for his family-owned team and he’s looking to go a couple round-wins better when he returns in the John Force Racing Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car for the March 20-22 FMP NHRA Arizona Nationals presented by NGK Spark Plugs.
“The Cornwell Tools Chevy team left Gainesville fourth on the points. You know, that’s really a great start,” said Vandergriff. “We’ve gelled so quickly as a team and were able to find some success right off the bat. We know that we’re capable of doing even better so we’re looking forward to Phoenix. Phoenix is going to be hot so the track is going to be tricky, but Gainesville was hot and we handled it pretty well, so I feel confident we’re going to handle Phoenix well, too.”
This weekend’s event will be just the second time Vandergriff has competed at Firebird Motorsports Park but the Atlanta-area resident made the best of his inaugural visit with a seminal showing. After qualifying fourth, he ran low ET of the first round to defeat Brittany Force and then put Doug Kalitta on the trailer with a holeshot of almost three-hundredths of a second and a run just one-thousandth of a second quicker. Vandergriff cut a strong light in the semifinal against eventual race winner Billy Torrence (.064 to Torrence’s .062) but smoked the tires shortly into the run.
The Cornwell Tools team, led by crew chiefs Chris Cunningham and Jason Bunker, qualified eighth and reached the semifinal at this season’s opening round at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway. Vandergriff defeated John Force Racing teammate Jack Beckman in the first round, John Smith in the second, and got the holeshot in the semifinal against eventual event winner Chad Green, running 4.068 seconds at 300.40 mph to Green’s 3.980 at 324.83.
“It was huge for us, being a new team with Chris and Jason as crew chiefs and a whole new crew, and me as a new driver,” Vandergriff said. “We came in there and just wanted to do the best we could and that semifinal finish for us is really, really good. We came together so quickly and we’ve gelled so quickly. We knew we could do the job and, looking forward to the rest of the year, we know we’re capable of doing even better.”
