Westerfield Having a Career Year in 2013

Courtesy of Todd Veney

Coming off a career-best season in 2012, when he finished in the Top 10 for the first time in his young career, Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Shane Westerfield has been even better this year, with a first career victory and already nearly as many round-wins at midseason as he had in all of 2012. 

Westerfield, who won the Houston Lucas Oil Series event with a string of 5.50s and a holeshot final-round win over John Lombardo, has a 13-6 win-loss mark so far this year. The 25-year-old is in the Top 5 in the national standings and his CP-Carrillo/Bullet Series Monte Carlo hasn't lost in the first round all year.

"After making the Top 10 last year, our goal for this season was to be in the top 7, and so far we're right on track," said Westerfield, of Lake Forest, Calif., who acknowledged sponsors CP-Carrillo, Fluid Sealing Products, Blake Bros. Racing, Lucas Oil, Coeste Design, Goodyear, and A1 Technologies. "Crew chief Bob DeVour and the entire team are doing a fantastic job, and we want to have a second half just like the first half."

Mission Accomplished: Westerfield Cracks TAFC Top 10

Courtesy of Todd Veney
Photo courtesy of David Smith

In just his third year in Top Alcohol Funny Car, 25-year-old Shane Westerfield joined Frank Manzo, Tony Bartone, Mickey Ferro, and Jay Payne in the prestigious NHRA Top 10. Needing to advance deep into eliminations in his final start of 2012 to make it, Westerfield reached the semifinals at the NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., eliminating Bernie Harrington and Jirka Kaplan for his fourth semifinal appearance of the season.

 "It was a weird race, but we got it done," said Westerfield, who defeated Kaplan in the second round in a tractionless free-for-all, 7.16 to 8.03. "I've never won a round like that in my life. The second time I pedaled, the back tires were a foot off the ground and the whole car was in the air."

Westerfield's CP-Carrillo team made the Top 10 with consistent performances all season, including a second career national event final-round appearance, at the Summer Nationals in Topeka, and at least a semifinal finish at half the races – four of eight at national events and two of four in regional competition. Westerfield's team, led by crew chief Bob DeVour, established a career-high in round-wins this year by going at least a couple of rounds at nine of 12 events, with no DNQs and an overall record of 14-12.

"Getting into the Top 10 was the whole goal at the beginning of the year," Westerfield said. "I won one round my first year in Alcohol Funny Car, seven rounds last year, and 14 this year. I really have to thank all the people who back this team – CP-Carrillo, Fluid Sealing Products, American Real, Lucas Oil, A1 Technologies, Coeste Design, Goodyear, Mike Blake, and Juice Plus – and our whole crew: Bob, Dustin Yoho, Scott DeFransico, Jim DeFransico, my mom and dad, Tami DeVour, and my fiancé, Kayleigh. It was our best year ever, and it ended on a good note. We beat some great racers like Jay Payne, Doug Gordon, John Lombardo, and Clint Thompson for the first time ever this year and won a lot more rounds than in the first two years put together. We figured it would be a good year if we could get into the Top 10, and it's our best one ever."

TAN

Westerfield Back on Brink of TAFC Top 10

Courtesy of Todd Veney
Photo courtesy of David Smith

Determined to get back in the Alcohol Funny Car Top 10, Shane Westerfield's CP-Carrillo team is headed to Las Vegas and Pomona for another crucial three-race swing. Westerfield, who re-entered the prestigious Top 10 this summer with late runs on consecutive weekends at Woodburn, Sonoma and Seattle, is looking to end the season the same way at back-to-back Las Vegas events and the NHRA Finals in Pomona.

"If we can win a round or two at all three, we're in," said Westerfield, whose car and rig will be featured in the upcoming movie Born to Race. "Pomona is our home track and everybody's going to be there, and Vegas is where we got to our first final."

At this race last year, Westerfield faced perennial championship contender Tony Bartone for the Big O Tires Nationals title in the first national event final of his young career. "I remember sitting in the stands the year before watching Doug Gordon and Mickey Ferro in the final and thinking it would be five years before I was ever in one," he said. "A year later at the same race, there we are and it's the same deal, sun going down, only it's me and Bartone. I was so nervous I thought I was going to be physically sick, but when we ran I was fine. I saw his front wheel just hanging there when we left, then he was gone."

Westerfield enters the final stretch of 2012 ranked 13^th in the country, one of just a handful of Top Alcohol Funny Car drivers with a winning record in national event competition. He has a single first-round loss in six national starts this season and at Topeka racked up a second career final-round appearance, also against Bartone, who drove around his holeshot lead.

"We're all geared up for these last three races with a lot of fresh, new parts ready to go," said Westerfield, who will be at the CP-Carrillo, Lucas Oil, and MavTV booths at the SEMA Show between Vegas races. "We're also looking forward to seeing everybody at the track – the CP-Carrillo people, John and Mike Blake from Fluid Sealing Products, Forrest and Charlotte Lucas and Tom Bogner from Lucas Oil, the MavTV guys, and our local sponsors, Orange County Mattress, and Irvine Lake Regattas."