RICKY HORD EARNS FIRST FLEXJET FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN NO. 1 QUALIFIER AT LAS VEGAS FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS
APRIL 13, 2024
LAS VEGAS, NV (April 13, 2024) — After four rounds of qualifying and preparing for the unique Las Vegas NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Ricky Hord powered his Chevrolet COPO Camaro to the No. 1 qualifier with two strong runs today at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hord earned his first career Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown No. 1 qualifier on the strength of his third-round pass of 7.939 seconds at 172.54 mph. The run moved the driver from Orlando, Fla., into the top spot around provisional No. 1 David Janac. Hord will lead a tough Factory Stock field into eliminations in front of No. 2 qualifier Mark Pawuk and his Dodge Drag Pak, the Gatornationals winner and Winternationals runner-up. After he had secured the quickest run of the weekend Hord was all smiles talking about the accomplishment.
“It’s a good feeling and we’ve been working really hard the last couple of seasons,” said Hord, who is a relative newcomer. “This is only my third season running any kind of car let alone a Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown car. It felt good to come out and run well. We had some issues in Pomona and the car was kind of all over the place, so it felt good to come back and make ‘A to B’ passes in every run at the four wide. To be the No. 1 qualifier is awesome.”
The complexity of racing four-wide was not lost on Hord or the rest of the class. Heading into tomorrow’s eliminations, concentration and patience will be keys to success if a driver is looking to see three win lights in Las Vegas.
“It’s hard to stage four cars at the same time anyways and you have some guys that have never done it before,” said Hord. “I’ve only done it twice now so it’s a little bit of a trip to look around and try to figure out how everything works. It will make for an exciting race day. I want to thank everyone on my team for all their hard work. Keeping up with the information to run in four different lanes isn’t easy but it makes it pretty fun.”
Hord will be looking to chase the Flexjet $1,000 bounty from Stephen Bell who won the Winternationals during the final qualifying session today and enters the race as the No. 6 qualifier. Bell added the win to his runner-up finish and along with Pawuk would be considered favorites to take home a second win of the year.
“The four-wide nationals is just pretty interesting because you don’t have to be the best you just want to be one of the first two guys to the finish line,” said Bell. “If you are one or two in the first couple of rounds you are doing well and then you have the final which is a free-for-all. I’m just going to try to get in the car and do my job tomorrow. I’ve got the best crew with Aaron and Greg Stanfield. We have a lot of fun and I’m just happy for everyone on my team that we got one win and we get the chance to go after another one tomorrow.”
David Janac was the provisional No. 1 qualifier after Friday’s lone session posting a time of 7.984 seconds at171.27 mph. Right behind Janac and his Janac Brothers Chevrolet COPO Camaro sits fellow Camaro racers Scott Libersher, Ricky Hord and Lee Hartman. Mark Pawuk was the best Dodge Drag Pak sitting sixth after the first session running 8.034 seconds at 171.86 mph.
First Round Match-ups
- No. 1 Ricky Hord vs. bye vs. bye vs. bye
- No. 2 Mark Pawuk vs. No. 7 Raymond Nash vs. No. 11 Anthony Troyer vs. bye
- No. 3 David Janac vs. No. 6 Stephen Bell vs. No. 10 Doug Hamp vs. bye
- No. 4 Scott Libersher vs. No. 5 David Davies II vs. No. 8 Tony Scott vs. No. 9 Lee Hartman
2024 FLEXJET NHRA FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN SCHEDULE
- May 17 – 19: 24th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Chicago, Ill.
- June 7 – 9: 23rd annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol Dragway, Bristol, Tenn.
- June 27 – 30: 18th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Summit Motorsports Park, Norwalk, Ohio
- Aug. 15 – 18: 42nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, Minn.
- Aug. 28 – Sept. 2: 70th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Indianapolis
- Sept. 12 – 15: 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, Maple Grove Raceway, Reading, Pa.
- Sept. 27 – 29: 13th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals, World Wide Technology Raceway, St. Louis
About Flexjet
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Flexjet, Inc., a global leader in subscription-based private aviation, first entered the fractional jet ownership market in 1995. Flexjet offers fractional jet ownership and leasing and is the first in the world to be recognized as achieving the Air Charter Safety Foundation’s Industry Audit Standard, is the first and only company to be honored with 25 FAA Diamond Awards for Excellence, upholds an ARG/US Platinum Safety Rating, a 4AIR Bronze Sustainable Rating and is IS-BAO compliant at Level 2. Red Label by Flexjet™, a market differentiator, which features the most modern fleet in the industry, flight crews dedicated to a single aircraft and the LXi Cabin Collection of interiors. To date there are more than 40 different interior designs across its fleet, which includes the Embraer Phenom 300 and Praetor 500, Bombardier Challenger 350, the Gulfstream G450 and G650. Flexjet’s European fleet includes the Embraer Praetor 600 and the Gulfstream G650. Flexjet’s helicopter division sells fractional, lease, and on-demand charter access to its fleet of owned, operated and maintained Sikorsky S-76 helicopters which boast 55,000 hours of safe flying certified by Wyvern and ARG/US and serving locations throughout the northeastern United States, United Kingdom and southern Florida. Flexjet is a member of the Directional Aviation family of companies. For more details on innovative programs and flexible offerings, visit www.flexjet.com or follow us on Instagram @FlexjetInc.
MEDIA CONTACT
Elon Werner, 214-244-1184, [email protected]
