Team Mopar Highlights from Saturday at NHRA U.S. Nationals
· Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T driver Matt Hagan provisional No. 1 qualifier at U.S. Nationals
· Hagan’s DSR teammate Jack Beckman records track record for speed in Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T
· Travis Hess earns Indy Mopar ‘Top Eliminator’ Award for High Anxiety 1964 Dodge 440
· Mopar drivers earn slew of class eliminations trophies during Stock Eliminator, Super Stock qualifying
· Rich history for Team Mopar at prestigious U.S. Nationals
Indianapolis, Indiana (September 3, 2016) – While qualifying is under way for the professional categories at the 62nd annual U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, the Sportsman classes have been awarding trophies in thrilling head-to-head runoffs where Team Mopar has been a top contender. The Indy class trophies have been handed out, and the provisional No. 1 qualifiers have been named heading into the final round of Pro qualifying with just two days left of the marathon known in the world of the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series as “The Big Go.”
Matt Hagan, driving the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car out of the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) stable, is the provisional pole sitter on the basis of a killer 3.858-second pass at 330.80 mph. DSR teammate and defending Indy champ Jack Beckman, in the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger, is No. 2 with a 3.859 run with a monster 333.08 mph that reset the Lucas Oil Raceway track record for speed.
“We made a great run last night, and we were able to stand on that, and that’s pretty impressive,” said Hagan. “We have a lot of great race cars out there, but we have a fast race car ourselves. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We have a lot of big rounds ahead of us, and it’s time to get focused and move on. This is such a big weekend, and sometimes it’s hard to keep it all straight because we have so much going on. But that’s when you have to focus, stay rested up, and make sure you’re ready when they pull those belts tight. We have what it takes, these guys are working hard on Mopar Dodge Charger, and we’re ready to get after it tomorrow.”
Travis Hess awarded U.S. Nationals Mopar “Top Eliminator” trophy
The 2016 U.S. Nationals “Top Eliminator” hardware went home with Travis Hess, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, for his freshly finished 1964 Dodge 440 hardtop. Hess’s Mopar is brilliantly hand-painted with a clever “High Anxiety” theme, which he explained by saying, “I’m kind of high strung; it fit me – and it’s a great car name.”
that evokes memories of the head-turning drag cars of yesteryear. Hess, a respected car painter by trade who has perfected the craft over the past 20 years, applied the décor to the Dodge himself over the course of four weeks, from base coat to final finish. He also painted the striking Kandy Kuda driven by his father, longtime HEMI-campaigner Bucky Hess.
“It’s all 60s-style, with multiple layers of coloring and hand-lettered in gold leaf,” said Hess, who is racing his band new, single four-barrel HEMI combination in the A/S category in Stock Eliminator this weekend in Indy. “I love early drag racing, when they were really painting the cars, and before the whole vinyl industry. All the Funny Cars used to have great paint on them, and this one is all hand-painted, hand-striped, hand-lettered – the whole nine yards.”
The second-generation drag racer based the gold and green paint job on the factory interior of his Dodge, which included a gold dash, and he brainstormed his Mopar work of art quickly before diving right in.
“I did a five-second sketch of the roof, and that’s about it,” said Hess. “Then I started pullin’ tape.”
The results were stunning. The glimmering hardtop has metal flake base coats on gold with blue metal flakes and a gold candy cover over the top. Hess explained that the 23-carat gold-leaf lettering on the HEMI logo and High Anxiety moniker were the most difficult part of the project, but all of the effort was well worth it.
“I just turned 40 in March, and that’s kind of why we brought the car out,” he said. “It was a goal to come out for my 40th birthday and race with my dad, and it worked out.”
They’ve Got Class
During NHRA Sportsman qualifying at select events, heads-up races are contested in which race cars within the same class are pitted against one another for trophies. The U.S. Nationals draws some of the largest fields seen all season long at NHRA national events, and the run for top honors in each class is an intense competition. At the 62nd annual running of the U.S. Nationals, Team Mopar came out shining in several of these competitions.
Jonathan Allegrucci, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, was amongst the Super Stock Indy class winners, driving his 510 CID V10 Mopar® Dodge Challenger Drag Pak to the FSS/F class victory over David Collette. Fellow Drag Pak campaigner Carl Weisinger won in the FSS/L category.
In Stock Eliminator, class trophies were awarded to A/SA 1962 Plymouth Fury driver Steve Wann, E/SA 1970 Challenger pilot Darrell Steiger, Jim Bailey and his I/SA 1963 Dodge, FS/B 2010 Challenger campaigner Kevin Helms,
Category victories, in which one trophy is awarded to the last driver standing in both Stock and Super Stock, will be awarded later in the weekend, and eliminations are currently underway.
Team Mopar Indy History
“Big Daddy” Don Garlits, a drag racing pioneer and a lifelong ambassador of the Mopar brand, earned a remarkable eight U.S. Nationals trophies over the course of his storied career. Of the currently competing racers in any professional category, HEMI®-powered U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster driver Tony Schumacher has the most U.S. Nationals victories. The DSR driver has claimed nine Indy titles. His father and team owner, Don Schumacher, also has a U.S. Nationals victory – he used Mopar-power to win the 1970 Funny Car trophy at the venerable event.
Team Mopar Pro Stock drivers Erica Enders, driver of the Mopar Performance Dodge Dart, and Jeg Coughlin Jr., who wheels the Magnetti Marelli offered by Mopar Dart, have four Indy wins between them. Enders scored a dream win last season with a defeat of Drew Skillman in the U.S. Nationals final, and Coughlin has claimed victories in 2000, 2002, and 2009.
Pro Stock was first contested at the U.S. Nationals in 1970, and the race was won by Mopar allegiant Herb McCandless in a 1970 Plymouth. His winning time was a 9.98-second at 138.03 mph. For the sake of comparison, last season’s winning pass by Enders in the Indy Pro Stock final was a 6.61/209.75.
The U.S. Nationals Super Stock trophy has been claimed by a Mopar driver six times, and six times a HEMI has powered its driver to the Stock Eliminator Indy win.
Sunday at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis will bring final qualifying for the Pro categories, with final eliminations taking place Monday.