Pritchett Takes No. 1 Qualifying Spot, Track Record for Mopar in Top Fuel at NHRA Sonoma

Pritchett Takes No. 1 Qualifying Spot, Track Record for Mopar in Top Fuel
at NHRA Sonoma

Mopar-powered Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett sets track record with pass of 3.669 seconds at 304.80 mph during qualifying for NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway
Top Fuel dragsters featuring HEMIĀ® power from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) have qualified No. 1 on eight occasions in 2017
Mopar Nitro teams from DSR have set low E.T. 12 times overall this year
Pritchett’s No. 1 qualifying effort is second in a row, fifth of season and sixth of career
Jack Beckman leads Mopar Funny Car drivers by qualifying in No. 3 position
Five Mopar Dodge Funny Cars qualify for 16-car field
July 29, 2017, Sonoma, Calif. – For the second week in a row, Leah Pritchett and her Mopar HEMIĀ®-powered Top Fuel dragster will begin Sunday’s elimination rounds from the No. 1 position.

Pritchett set a Sonoma Raceway elapsed-time track record with a pass of 3.669 seconds at 304.80 mph during Friday’s second qualifying session for the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. The time, recorded in prime conditions under the lights, held throughout the two ensuing qualifying rounds on Saturday, giving the Papa John’s Pizza/Mopar Pennzoil team from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) their fifth No. 1 qualifying position of the year and second in as many weeks. They also set quick time with a track record last weekend during the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Colorado’s Bandimere Speedway.

The No. 1 position was the sixth of Pritchett’s career overall.

Mopar has now claimed quick time in the Top Fuel category during more than half of the events on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series calendar this season. Pritchett’s Mopar teammate Tony Schumacher has set low e.t. on three occasions in 2017, bringing the total No. 1 qualifying efforts to eight between the two drivers as the schedule reaches Sonoma for the year’s 15th event. Schumacher qualified fifth in the U.S. Army car.

In Funny Car, Jack Beckman led the way for Mopar and Dodge. He qualified his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T from DSR in the No. 3 spot, while two of his teammates will join him in the top six when Sunday’s elimination rounds get underway.

Tommy Johnson Jr. recovered from a wild ride in Q1 in which he lost a tire and hit the wall to put his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T in the fifth position, while Matt Hagan and the Mopar 80th/Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T team qualified No. 6. The fourth driver from the DSR camp, Ron Capps, will begin Sunday from the twelfth spot in his Mopar Dodge.

Mopar/Dodge Notes & Quotes
(best elapsed time in bold)

Leah Pritchett, Papa John’s Pizza/Mopar Pennzoil Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified No. 1, will face No. 16 Terry Haddock
Friday: (3.729 seconds at 328.38 mph – Q1); (3.669/304.80 – Q2)
Saturday: (3.782/324.51 – Q3); (3.906/247.61 – Q4)

“We’re definitely on a roll. It’s probably the highest confidence that we can have going into Sunday, also keeping in mind that anything can happen no matter who you’re racing. So today we took this track extremely seriously, trying to get down it in like conditions for tomorrow.

“We’re ramping up our details, we’re ramping up our strategy, we are looking constantly to improve. That didn’t show for a little while, but it’s showing now. The true colors of this team are showing, and that’s the dedication, that’s the no-sleep hours and that’s the smarts that I see and I just couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this team.”

Matt Hagan, Mopar 80th/Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 6, will face No. 11 Del Worsham
Friday: (3.904 seconds at 330.39 mph – Q1); (10.105/82.71 – Q2)
Saturday: (9.862/76.78 – Q3); (6.373/104.79 – Q4)

Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 3, will face No. 14 Jonnie Lindberg
Friday: (8.640 seconds at 80.39 mph – Q1); (3.854/328.70 – Q2)
Saturday: (3.983/320.28 – Q3); (3.910/324.83 – Q4)

Tommy Johnson Jr., Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 5, will face No. 12 Ron Capps
Friday: (DQ, contacted wall – Q1); (3.908/327.43 – Q2)
Saturday: (25.607/40.78 – Q3); (3.896/325.85 – Q4)

Ron Capps, NAPA Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 12, will face No. 5 Tommy Johnson Jr.
Friday: (4.032 seconds at 306.12 mph – Q1); (7.001/96.47 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.000/321.96 – Q3); (5.571/126.10 – Q4)

Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified No. 5, will face No. 12 Scott Palmer
Friday: (3.769 seconds at 326.79 mph – Q1); (3.709/328.30 – Q2)
Saturday: (10.360/70.68 – Q3); (9.893/70.84 – Q4)

Tune-in Info
The FOX Network will broadcast the elimination rounds from the 30th annual NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway LIVE at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 30.

For more information on Mopar and Dodge in NHRA, check out the Mopar brand’s official blog, http://blog.mopar.com.