Johnson Jr. Drives 2015 Dodge Charger R/T to Runner-Up Finish at Brainerd;
Hagan Takes His Mopar to Historic 3.8-second Pass
· Tommy Johnson Jr. drives his Make-A-Wish 2015 Dodge Charger R/T to a third consecutive final round appearance to finish runner-up at Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd
· Matt Hagan rockets his Mopar Express Lane Dodge to quickest and fastest run in Funny Car history with an unbelievable 3.879 second pass at 329.58 mph
· Jack Beckman re-sets NHRA Funny Car elapsed time national record aboard 2015 Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car at 3.901-seconds
· Hagan backs up his Mopar Funny Car’s qualifying speed performance in the first round of eliminations to set the national speed record at 329.58 mph
· DSR 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars are 1-2-3 in the points standings with one regular season event left before “Countdown to the Championship”
· Allen Johnson takes fourth seeded “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart to quarterfinals
Brainerd, Minnesota (Sunday, Aug 23, 2015) – Overcast and cool conditions at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota set the stage for a record-setting weekend for the Lucas Oil National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Nationals as two of Don Schumacher Racing’s contingent of four 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars set two national event records and a third advanced to a 16th final round appearance in 17 events for the newly designed vehicle this season.
While it wasn’t quite the finish he was hoping for, Tommy Johnson Jr. couldn’t be too disappointed with his third consecutive final round showing and a fourth in the last five events aboard his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T.
Coming off his win at the Northwest Nationals in Seattle at the previous event, Johnson Jr. qualified fifth for Sunday’s eliminations at Brainerd with a personal best elapsed time run of 3.974 seconds at 319.60 mph and only his second career sub four-second pass. It wasn’t long, however, before he added another as he took the opening round win over Cruz Pedregon with a 3.985-second pass at 319.90 mph.
In his next match-up against John Hale, he turned on the win-lights with a solid 4.009 sec/ 317.72 mph effort and secured a spot in the six-event playoff series called the NHRA “Countdown to the Championship” ahead of the final regular-season event of the year affectionately referred to as the “Big Go” or otherwise known as the NHRA U.S. Nationals held in Indianapolis, Ind. in two weeks.
“It’s good to know you’ve secured your spot in the Countdown going into Indy,” said Johnson, who is currently third in the points standings behind his DSR teammates Jack Beckman and Matt Hagan. “It’s one less thing to worry about. We get to race in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, and it’s the biggest race of the year. We don’t have to worry about getting into the Countdown and can just concentrate on winning two trophies on Labor Day weekend.”
Johnson posted his third three-second run of the weekend (3.980/320.97) to get past his semifinal challenger and teammate Beckman who lost traction early in the run, to then meet-up with Robert Hight in the final. The Mopar machine had the starting line advantage but lost ground early to post a 4.130/ 316.52 and concede the Wally trophy to Hight’s 3.956/323.58.
“You know, it was a great weekend,” said Johnson who has two wins and three runner-up finishes this season to date. “I don’t think we’ve peaked yet. Each week I see improvement. Every race lately, some part of our program has gotten better, and we keep going forward and not backwards. We’re still learning, but we ran consistently and that is the key to this whole operation. That’s what has been winning us rounds, and that’s why we’ve been doing so well. We’re not setting records, but we’re doing a great job racing.”
Those setting the records, particularly this weekend, were his DSR teammates Beckman and Matt Hagan.
Hagan, who was the first driver to break the four-second elapsed time barrier in 2011 with his 3.995-second pass at zMAX Raceway near Charlotte, N.C., surpassed another frontier (the very first 3.8 second run) in the first round of eliminations as he powered his new Mopar to a historic 3.879-second pass with a record speed of 329.58 mph, both the quickest and fastest run by a Funny Car, to advance to the next round.
“It was definitely covering some ground,” said Hagan in describing his memorable run. “I had to drive it there at the big end. I just can’t say enough about (crew chiefs) Dickie Venables. Jimmy Prock and those guys on Jack’s team are running strong but you can’t count out this team. We’re digging, we have our nose down. We just have to stay humble. For Rocky Boots, for Mopar and everyone supporting us, that was a pretty cool run.”
Hagan met up with his DSR stablemate Beckman in the quarterfinals for what would be the quickest side-by-side race in Funny Car history as both drivers earned national records for their efforts.
No.1 seed Beckman drove his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T down the lane for a 3.903-second run at a personal best speed of 326 mph to not only earn the win, but also back up his 3.901 qualifying pass and reset the national record while also earning the 20-point bonus that comes with it to extend his lead in the standings. Meanwhile even in the losing effort, Hagan’s Rocky Boots / Mopar Express Lane machine posted 3.947-second E.T. with a stellar 327.19 mph to back up his earlier 329.58 mph qualifying run as a national speed record.
“We left with the record and that’s 20 extra points,” said Beckman who has a 50-point advantage on second place Hagan. “That could be big. A whole slew of Funny Cars just figured out how to run quick this weekend. It’s going to make it a dogfight in Indy. It’s going to make it brutal for the Countdown.”
Seeded 11th, Ron Capps didn’t get much of a chance to add to his previous five wins at Brainerd as his DSR 2015 Dodge Charger R/T lost traction in the first round against eventual Brainerd event winner Robert Hight.
In Pro Stock action, after securing a spot in the playoffs with his qualifying runs on Friday and earning the fourth spot on the eliminations ladder, Allen Johnson drove his “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart past Dave River in the opening round but gave up lane choice to his next opponent, Jason Line. He did however try to make up for that with a lightning quick 0.012-second reaction time against Line’s 0.031-second start, but Johnson saw tire shake ruin his chances to advance. AJ and the Mopar team remain fifth in points with one race left before the points reset for the playoffs, and the leader will be granted a 30 marker advantage over the No. 2 ranked team and the rest will be separated by 10-point increments.
After qualifying 12th, HEMI®-powered Dodge Dart pilot V. Gaines also saw his day shortened by Line in the first round with a 6.594/ 209.43 to his competitor’s 6.581/210.34. Line eventually made his way to a final round showdown won by Erica Enders-Stevens who takes over the Pro Stock points lead with her fifth win of the year.