Mopar Kicks-off Second Half of NHRA Season with Qualifying at Route 66 Raceway

Mopar drivers qualify for 18th annual Lucas Oil Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by General Tire held at Route 66 Raceway
Tommy Johnson Jr. leads his DSR Mopar teammates as No. 4 qualifier for Funny Car eliminations
Mopar drivers Matt Hagan, Ron Capps, and Jack Beckman are 1-2-3 in Funny Car points standings
Allen Johnson qualifies “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart seventh in Pro Stock qualifying

Joliet, Illinois (Saturday, July 11, 2015) – Kicking off the second half of the 2015 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Drag Racing series season with qualifying for the 18th annual Lucas Oil Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Don Schumacher Racing’s (DSR) Tommy Johnson Jr. led the charge for Mopar with his No. 4 spot on the Funny Car eliminations ladder.

Drivers jostled for positions on the elimination ladder at Route 66 Raceway which featured two Friday evening sessions and just one Saturday evening session after intermittent rain delayed and eventually contributed to the cancellation of the fourth and final session.

Johnson Jr. drove his DSR Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T to the No. 4 spot on the eliminations ladder after bettering his first run of 4.075-seconds at 307.79 miles per hour (mph) with his best elapsed time pass of 4.003/316.15 posted in the second session to earn a bonus point. He then followed that up with the second quickest time of the third qualifying session by posting a 4.004/316.15 to add another two bonus points.
“We’re a little disappointed that the last session got rained out because we were going to experiment with a few things that showed some good signs in testing,” said Johnson who will have Brian Stewart as opponent in his first round. “We kind of wish we had that last run and had a chance at the three [a sub 4-second run] but the runs we did make so far this weekend were really good runs. Once again, our Make-A-Wish Dodge is there. Three 4.0 runs with two four flats, a thousandth apart shows that the consistency and reliability of the car right now is impressive. It gives you a lot of confidence going into raceday knowing that our team has a good handle on it.”

DSR teammate Ron Capps took his Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund Dodge Charger R/T for a best qualifying run of 4.014 seconds at 315.78 mph on Friday night to put him sixth overall on the eliminations ladder. That means he will see a familiar face in the first round as he lines up next to his DSR teammate Matt Hagan in the adjacent lane.

The defending NHRA Funny Car world champion, Hagan, is looking to defend the Route 66 national titles he earned the previous two years from his 11th place qualifying position earned by the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T with a run of 4.042 /317.42 in the second session, after not making in down the track with his other two attempts.

“We’d have liked to seen things go a lot better in qualifying than it did, but that’s how it goes out here sometimes,” said Hagan “This is one of those off weekends when it didn’t go our way in qualifying. We’ve won from the 14th spot and we’ve also won from the No. 1 spot. You just have to be in it to win it. Dickie Venables is going to have a great game plan on Sunday. I have so much confidence in that guy and we’ll roll up there and do our thing tomorrow.”

Jack Beckman had his best run in the first session, posting a 4.065/314.31 with his Infinite Hero 2015 Dodge Charger R/T to put him 12th on the qualifying sheets. That will pit him against Courtney Force for Sunday’s first round of eliminations, a rematch of last week’s final that gave Beckman his third win of the season.

It was a successful first half of the season for the new 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T, with DSR drivers currently occupying the top–three spots in the Funny Car championship standings with Hagan (four wins), Capps (two wins) and Beckman (three wins), while Johnson Jr. is hanging tough in the sixth spot and still working to bring home his own Wally trophy this season. The new Mopar Funny Car body has tallied nine national titles in the first 12 events and advanced to the final elimination round in all but one since being introduced to competition at the start of season after a year in development.

In Pro Stock competition, Allen Johnson, who sits seventh in the standings, has been encouraged by the progress made with the “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart after a rough start to his season, and feels like the team now has a much better car than what the time sheets may show. Friday evening’s pair of qualifying runs put Johnson in the provisional seventh spot with 6.567/209.75 and 6.552/210.87 but the Mopar driver was encouraged by posting the third quickest pass in Q3 with a 6.573/209.88.

“Down track that lane was really loose and horrible, so to be third quick that session really said something,” said Johnson who remained seventh on the final qualifying sheets and will see Bo Butner as his first round opponent. “I think we have a really fast car for tomorrow’s racing. I’m tickled to death about how much better the car has been the last few races, but we’ve just had some really bad luck. Here (at Chicago) I think we have a top-two or top-three car now when we make a good run. I think we’re going to break out and do something on raceday.”

V. Gaines qualified his HEMI-powered Dodge Dart 13th on the eliminations ladder with a run of 6.582 seconds at 209.49 mph to meet No.4 qualifier Erica Enders-Stevens in the opening round. The Pro Stock no.1 qualifier position went to Drew Skillman with a track record elapsed time run of 6.528 at 210.97 mph.

Three hours of eliminations at the 18th annual Lucas Oil Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by General Tire, the 13th of 24 events in 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, will be broadcast live from Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois, on ESPN this Sunday, July 12, starting at 2 p.m. ET.