Mopar Racing–NHRA Carolina Nationals Elimination Rounds Postponed after Rain and On-Track Incident Halts Racing

NHRA Carolina Nationals Elimination Rounds Postponed after

Rain and On-Track Incident Halts Racing

Eliminations rounds at the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Carolina postponed after rain halted racing following on track incident
Carolina Nationals eliminations to be completed at the next scheduled event in Ennis, Texas, at the NHRA FallNationals
Mopar driver V. Gaines emerges uninjured after first round incident that heavily damaged his Dodge Dart Pro Stock vehicle
Jeg Coughlin Jr. earns first round win to keep alive hopes of defending Carolina Nationals Pro Stock title
Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) drivers Matt Hagan and Ron Capps advance past the first round of Funny Car eliminations

Concord, North Carolina (Sept. 14, 2014) – Mopar motorsports fans will have to wait a week to see the completion of the seventh annual Pep Boys National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Carolina Nationals, the first national event of the six-race playoff series called the “Countdown to the Championship”, after eliminations rounds were halted by rain shortly after a first round on-track incident involving Mopar driver V.Gaines at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte, North Carolina. The postponed elimination rounds will be completed at the following scheduled event in Ennis, Texas, next weekend at the NHRA FallNationals.

The on-track incident took place during the Pro Stock category first round match-up between fifth place qualifier Allen Johnson aboard his “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart, in the right lane and V. Gaines’ HEMI-Powered Dodge Dart, which was qualified 12th on the eliminations ladder, in the left lane. Shortly after the cars launched, Johnson’s machine sashayed its way over the centerline for disqualification, but all eyes were on V. Gaines moments later as his car made an unexpected move to the left and gave the affable driver a wild ride that led to a few tense moments. Gaines emerged uninjured from his heavily damaged vehicle.

“Nobody made it down that left lane so I was fully prepared to let out of it the minute it did anything stupid,” said Gaines who came into the Countdown eighth in points. “I was going right down the middle of the groove and everything was good. I knew I was ahead of Allen (Johnson) and then, boy, it just went. It just took a left turn on me and there was no correcting. It was just gone.”

Despite the unfortunate finish to his lap, Gaines earned the round win against Johnson and the NHRA will allow the use of a replacement car for the continuation of eliminations in Texas next weekend.

“I’m sad to lose the new car but we’ll come back from this,” Gaines said. “We’re here to fight in the Countdown. It was a hard way to get twenty points but we’ll get our (Dodge) Avenger out and do what we can.”

Also advancing to the second round of eliminations is the JEGS.com Mopar Dodge Dart driven by Jeg Coughlin Jr. who won his first round match-up against Greg Anderson to keep alive hopes of defending his Carolina Nationals Pro Stock title from last year. Match-ups will be determined after the final four pairs of cars in Pro Stock have a chance to finish their first round of eliminations.

Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Dodge Charger R/T drivers and teammates Matt Hagan and Ron Capps won their respective first round match ups and will advance to the rescheduled Funny Car quarterfinals next week that will run at the same time as qualifications for the FallNationals.

Hagan drove his Rocky Boots/ Mopar Express Lane machine to a 4.087 second elapsed time pass at 313.29 miles per hour over Tony Pedregon (4.478/227.42) for the round win and a second round match-up against Tim Wilkerson. Capps (4.068/314.39) eliminated teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. (4.075/311.85) to face Bob Tasca in the next round, while fellow Dodge Charger R/T driver Jack Beckman lost his first round battle against Wilkerson.

The completion of the Carolina Nationals elimination rounds will take place next week when the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series heads west to Ennis, Texas, and will run concurrently to qualifications for the 29th annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex on Sept. 19-21. It is the second of four consecutive weekend events and the second scheduled stop in the six-event playoff series called the “Countdown to the Championship”.