{"id":6714,"date":"2025-05-14T22:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T22:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=6714"},"modified":"2025-05-14T22:48:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T22:48:59","slug":"green-light-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=6714","title":{"rendered":"Green Light for Return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Blake Alexander<\/strong> returns to Funny Car action this weekend (May 16-18) at the NHRA Gerber Collision Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Dragway when he pilots the 11,000-horsepower Pronto Auto Service Centers Funny Car for <strong>Chad Green Motorsports<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alexander, a three-time NHRA national event winner from Charlotte, comes to the Chicagoland area in search of his first 2025 NHRA win as he teams up with Chad Green in a potent two-car Funny Car effort as the Bond-Coat team seeks another NHRA victory. Green won the NHRA season-opening Gatornationals in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Alexander, the move to Chad Green Motorsports has been a smooth transition as the squad expanded from a single-car operation to a two-car organization. CGM purchased all new equipment for Alexander\u2019s ride including a new chassis from John Force Racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blake explains that his crew has been learning with new parts and pieces as the team comes to Joliet this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the first time I have had this kind of equipment with all new pieces,\u201d said Alexander. \u201cIt took us time to develop the new car with myself and Hunter Green at the wheel. I drove the first three events this year (Gainesville, Phoenix and Pomona) and Hunter drove the Four Wide races at Las Vegas and Charlotte. Now, I\u2019m ready for a strong performance at Route 66 this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alexander, a two-time NHRA Funny Car national event winner as well as a Top Fuel event titleholder, has proven to be one of the quickest in reaction times and figures to be a top contender when qualifying gets underway this Friday (May 16) at 2 p.m. CDT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blake-Alexander-and-Pronto-Funny-Car-e1747262759674.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Blake-Alexander-and-Pronto-Funny-Car-e1747262751618-1024x497.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6713\" width=\"550\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe new car is a bit different from my previous Funny Car, but I\u2019m used to the new chassis now,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cWe are ready to take the reins off this Pronto machine. The Route 66 track can be tricky at times, but our crew, led by Matt Bynum, has worked with Chad\u2019s group and we expect both CGM cars to be in the fight for the win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Green enters this weekend\u2019s action ranked sixth in the NHRA Mission Funny Car standings, with his Bond-Coat nitro-burning mount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s great to have Blake return to action at Route 66 after two races with Hunter at the wheel,\u201d said Green \u201cBlake is a race winner and tremendous driver in the Funny Car class. He has won NHRA events in the last two years and we want to put him back in the winner\u2019s circle this year. We will have both cars ready to go when qualifying opens this Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Green\u2019s crew chiefs Dean Marinis and Joe Serena have been working hard to match Chad\u2019s Gatornationals victory with new setups heading into the Route 66 event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know that our crew, led by Dean and Joe, have had a few weeks to prepare for this weekend\u2019s Joliet race,\u201d said Green. \u201cYou don\u2019t always have a three-week layoff between races, and this gives our crews the time to have the cars in top shape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alexander and Green will take to Route 66 Dragway\u2019s racing surface this Friday for qualifying runs scheduled for 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. CDT. Saturday\u2019s qualifications are set for 12:40 p.m. and 3:10 p.m. CDT. Final eliminations are scheduled for Sunday at 10:30 a.m. CDT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NHRA Gerber Collision Route 66 Nationals will be televised on Fox Sports 1 this Sunday at 2 p.m. EDT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Posted by Tom Blattler, TB Communications<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blake Alexander returns to Funny Car action this weekend (May 16-18) at the NHRA Gerber Collision Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Dragway when he pilots the 11,000-horsepower Pronto Auto Service Centers Funny Car for Chad Green Motorsports. Alexander, a three-time NHRA national event winner from Charlotte, comes to the Chicagoland area in search of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[188,208],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6714"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6719,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6714\/revisions\/6719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}