Tough Track Conditions Yields Disappointment for Mopar at NHRA SpringNationals
· Challenging racetrack conditions bring Mopar’s 13 title and 11 event win streak to an end at the NHRA SpringNationals
· No.1 qualifier Coughlin takes his Mopar to Pro Stock semifinals
· Don Schumacher Racing driver Capps is top Mopar Funny Car with semifinal appearance
· ‘Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar’ Funny Car of Hagan remains second in the points standings
· Johnson’s Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger stays in second place in Pro Stock standings
Houston, Texas (Sunday, April 28) – Tricky conditions at Royal Purple Raceway near Houston proved to be a bit more of a challenge for the Mopar contingency than was expected for the 26th annual NHRA SpringNationals presented by Super Start Batteries. The semifinals were as far as Pro Stock’s No. 1 qualifier Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Funny Car driver Ron Capps got for Mopar, bringing a streak of 13 wins in 11 events, dating back to September 2012, to an end.
The rain that fell and washed out most of qualifying on Saturday continued through the night and proceeded to wash away much of the rubber that had been laid on the racetrack. That made track conditions for eliminations an unknown entity with lack of traction becoming a concern for all sending teams scrambling to make adjustments to their car set-ups in order to compensate.
Coughlin was looking fast and strong as the top Pro Stock qualifier with consistent runs through the first two rounds but saw his JEGS.com Mopar get squirrely at the 200 feet mark in a semifinal loss to eventual title winner Jason Line.
“Two more win lights would have made this weekend extra special but anytime you can get multiple round wins on race day, it’s pretty hard to be upset,” Coughlin said. “The JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger is running great and earning that No. 1 qualifier was a nice feather in our caps. It proves just how much horsepower Roy (Johnson, engine builder) is making. We’re still very pleased with how we’re running and I don’t expect any letdown next weekend in Atlanta.”
After having a motor expire during a burnout in Saturday qualifying, Allen Johnson had his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger back it top shape for his first round elimination matchup, running his quickest pass of the event with a 6.566-second (211.99 mph) elapsed time run. Things didn’t go quite as well in the second round when Johnson was out of the gate first, but ended up turning the car off after strong tire shake brought his efforts to a end.
“I didn’t back it down far enough and the track got hot and we didn’t adjust enough to it,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t get it back in gear after it shook or it would have been a good drag race because it looked like he (Shane Gray) did the same thing on the other side, but he just got his back in gear and I didn’t. Overall it was a decent weekend for the Mopar contingent. We’re normally a bit better than this on big-power hot-weather tracks but we lost a run there yesterday with a broken motor and that got us behind and in a bad qualifying spot. We just didn’t overcome it this weekend but we’ll be ready to make another run at a title in Atlanta next weekend.”
Two-time defending winner at the SpringNationals, Vincent Nobile faced his own premature exit after a second elimination round loss. Fellow HEMI-powered Dodge, V. Gaines also fell out of the running early with tire shake in the first round.
Despite the difficult weekend, Johnson remains second in the NHRA Mello Yello series points standing with two wins in the first six events. Mopar teammate Coughlin is right behind him in a third place tie with Erica Enders-Stevens while Nobile drops out of the top-5 into sixth spot, dislodged by the SpringNationals title winner Jason Line. Gaines also falls one position into eighth place.
Track conditions were just as difficult in Funny Car eliminations as only two machines were able to make clean passes on the Royal Purple Raceway without hazing the tires or having to pedal. One of those runs was made by Don Schumacher Racing’s Ron Capps in his first round Mopar match-up against teammate Matt Hagan in the ‘Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar’ machine.
Capps took his Dodge Charger R/T to the semifinals as the last Mopar standing against Tim Wilkerson, the only other driver with a complete run without traction issues in prior rounds. Capps had a good start for the lead before his run also went up in tire smoke. The good news is that the semifinal appearance moved Capps up into fourth spot in the points standings while Hagan remains in second place.
Mopar teammates Jack Beckman and Johnny Gray both had traction issues that led to second round losses and are now seventh and fifth respectively in the standings.
The Mopar teams and drivers will now regroup and prepare for the next event on the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule; the 33rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals from May 3-5 near Atlanta, Georgia.