Steady Progress for Mopar in Qualifying at NHRA SpringNationals in Houston
· Ron Capps and Allen Johnson lead the Mopars in Funny Car and Pro Stock qualifying respectively at the 29th annual NHRA SpringNationals
· Capps’ DSR Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car earns sixth seeded position with 3.953 second run at 321.27 mph at Royal Purple Raceway
· DSR driver Matt Hagan takes his special paint scheme Pennzoil Mopar to a speed of 327.43 mph in qualifying at Houston
· Johnson drives HEMI-powered Mopar into the top-five in Pro Stock qualifying
· Chance for Mopar to double up on Stock and Super Stock title wins on Sunday in Sportsman Racing
Baytown, Texas (April 30, 2016) – While the racing gets faster and closer, the progress is steady across the board for Mopar entries in both Funny Car and Pro Stock classes at the 29th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) SpringNationals at the sea level Royal Purple Raceway near Houston Texas.
Ron Capps led the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) quartet of Dodge Funny Cars with the sixth quickest run in qualifying, while Allen Johnson took his HEMI-powered Mopar to a top-five position on the Pro Stock eliminations ladder with his qualifying effort.
Capps earned the sixth spot on the Funny Car elimination ladder with his Friday night of 3.953 seconds at 321.27 mile per hour.
Capps, who sits second in the points standings on the strength of a win and a runner-up finish and a No.1 qualifier position, is cautiously optimistic about the progress his DSR Dodge Charger R/T has made after not qualifying for the Las Vegas Nationals.
“We had a bad race in Las Vegas but (Crew Chief Rahn) Tobler and our team sorted out that problem and we made it to the last round last week in the Four-Wide at Charlotte,” said Capps who will face Cruz Pedregon in the opening round. “That was pretty stout of us to be able to bring the car out (of the trailer) and run a 3.95. That was so important because it let Tobler work on some things for race day.”
Right behind in the seventh spot on the ladder is DSR teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. who secured his position with his first qualifying attempt by running a 3.969 sec /315.56 mph lap and will have John Force in the lane next to him in first round action.
The most consistent of four DSR Funny Cars in qualifying was Matt Hagan who posted qualifying elapsed time laps between 3.982 seconds and 4.056 seconds.
And after setting the Royal Purple Raceway track record speed at 320.81 mph at last year’s event, Hagan lowered the mark twice in Friday qualifying. His first elapsed time lap of 4.002 seconds saw his special paint scheme Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T reach a track record speed of 326.16 mph.
He lowered that mark again with a second pass at 327.43 mph with a 3.982 second e.t., but the record was short lived as provisional No.1 qualifier Tim Wilkerson earned the top spot with his own record time and speed of 3.899 seconds at 327.59 mph. The track record speed was then once more reset by defending Funny Car world champion Del Worsham at 328.06 mph.
Just a year after a sub four-second run was rather exceptional, Hagan’s 3.982-second elapsed time run put him ninth on the provisional ladder despite posting the third and second quickest runs in the final two Saturday sessions in much warmer and more humid conditions.
“We had been having some issues so we tested (Monday) in Charlotte after we made it to the final round of the Four-Wide (Nationals) and I believe we have turned a corner,” said Hagan who will have Chad Head as his first round opponent. “Coming here we’re getting a real handle on it. Coming in for race day it’s anybody’s ballgame; we all know that. From what I’ve seen in qualifying from our Pennzoil/Mopar/Rocky Boots Dodge it’s looking real promising for us.”
Jack Beckman, whose Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T earned seven titles last season and has been No. 1 qualifier at three of the first five NHRA events this season, had his best run on Saturday with a 4.123/262.64 to sit 12th overall going into Sunday.
“We had a very unusual Friday and it kind of painted us into a corner,” said Beckman who will see Robert Hight in the first round. “The car was spinning the tires early and we made big changes with the clutch disc package to try to get it to run better. And we were better on the first run on Saturday, and we were a little better than that on the second run on Saturday.
“The problem is, we’re going into Sunday as the underdog against the car that’s made several laps quicker than our best lap. So it really forces you to take an educated guess. We’re going to have to apply older data with new parts that we don’t have a lot of experience with and if our calculations come out okay, we’ll be fine. This isn’t a position this team is used to being in but we’re hopeful for good results.”
The naturally aspirated factory hot rod class was happy to be back to the (10 feet above) sea level air at Royal Purple Raceway where their engines normally deliver their best performance, although the humidity at 85% made things a bit more interesting.
Allen Johnson drove his HEMI-powered J&J Racing Marathon Petroleum Mopar into the top-five in provisional qualifying on Friday with a 6.645 second lap at 207.62 mph with his first attempt down the track. He followed that up in the second session by taking his Dodge Dart to the fifth quickest run again, improving to a 6.635/208.75 pass.
After overnight rain, Saturday was warmer with more water molecules in the air to bring down the horsepower numbers, but Johnson impressed when he took his Dodge Dart for a 6.638/208.94 run in the warm and humid conditions.
“We’ve got a pretty good car for a hot track,” said Johnson who will start fifth and have lane choice over Shane Gray for the opening round. “Conditions like this is usually when our car runs the best. On hot, greasy tracks, that’s where we do good. I feel pretty positive going into tomorrow. Shane can cut a light and that team is fast when they make good runs so I’ve got to go up there and do my job. That’s how I approach everybody I race.”
Not far behind Johnson in sixth spot was Elite Motorsports driver and two-time defending Pro Stock champion and title winner at Houston, Erica Enders aboard her Mopar Performance Dodge Dart with the exact same elapsed time as Johnson in the second session with a 6.635 second run at 208.39 mph to improve on her first lap at 6.648/208.91. Enders, who grew up in Houston and would love to win for a third straight time on her home track, did not improve on her time or position in Saturday qualifying but will have lane choice over Chris McGaha on Sunday.
“Today was OK,” Enders said. “It was very hot, the racetrack was crazy, probably similar to what it’s going to be tomorrow. We got two good practice runs for tomorrow. It’s not going exactly how we had planned, but we don’t know how to quit. We’ll just keep digging deep and figure it out.”
ERICA ENDERS talks about returning to her home track in Houston: https://soundcloud.com/chryslercommunications/erica-enders-on-racing-at-home-in-houston
A four-time national title winner at the SpringNationals, Jeg Coughlin Jr. drove his “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Jegs.com Dodge Dart to a best lap of 6.655/207.91 in qualifying.
“It was a touch cooler yesterday and we made a pair of pretty good runs,” said Coughlin who is seeded 11th and will see Drew Skillman as his first round opponent. “Both were good through the first three gears but we wanted more down the back half of the track, so that’s what we worked on overnight. Then the rain came and the water in the air went way up and there just wasn’t much we could do to improve, at least number-wise.”
JEG COUGLIN JR talks about his history at the NHRA SpringNationals: https://soundcloud.com/chryslercommunications/jeg-coughlin-jr-on-houston-nhra-springnationals
Meanwhile, V. Gaines and his HEMI-powered Western Motorsports Kendall Dodge Dart will start 13th with his run of 6.968/170.77 and will have Jason Line as his opponent in opening round.
Greg Anderson earned his third Pro Stock No.1 qualifier position of the season with his quickest lap of 6.589/210.41 and will have a bye for the first round.
In Sportsman racing, not only will there be a Mopar advancing to the Super Stock final elimination showdown on Sunday to race for a national title, but there is a chance to double up on Wally trophies with a shot at a Stock Eliminator title as well.
Mopar’s Kevin Helms has made his way through two rounds of Super Stock elimination rounds aboard his 2011 Dodge Challenger first defeating Stan Holt and then winning a marquee match-up against David Rampy. He then won a close battle against Harvey Emmons III, winning by a margin of 0.0010 seconds (or approximately two inches) in a double breakout to advance to the semifinals.
Also advancing through two rounds of Super Stock eliminations is the 2003 Dodge Status of Jacob Pitt of Mansfield, Texas, who beat Stephen Bell and Clint Rigby and to earn a bye to a Mopar versus Mopar semifinal on Sunday against Helms.
That means no matter what a Mopar will make it to the final elimination round to battle for the SpringNationals title.
In Stock Eliminator, Helms’ 2010 Dodge Challenger defeated Hagen Gary and then fellow Mopar driver Austin Williams at the wheel of his ’72 Plymouth Duster in a close second round elimination bout. Helms continued his drive through eliminations by turning the win lights on against Jimmy Hidalgo and Allen Sherman in the quarterfinals. That means Helms will face Mike McMahan in the semifinals. A win would give Helms a chance to advance to a final showdown for the Stock Eliminator title and leaves the possibility to double up with title wins in both categories with two different Mopars.
Television coverage of the 29th annual NHRA SpringNationals, the sixth of 24 events on the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season schedule, from Royal Purple Raceway will be available on FS1 with a one hour final qualifying recap on Saturday, April 30, at 10 p.m. (ET) and three hour eliminations broadcast scheduled for Sunday, May 1 starting at 5 p.m. ET.