Mopar Dodge//SRT Drivers Pritchett, Beckman and Schumacher
Advance to Semifinals at Houston
Three Mopar Dodge//SRT Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) drivers advance to semifinals at NHRA SpringNationals
Mopar Dodge Top Fuel Dragster driver Leah Pritchett reaches semis, as does teammate and co-points leader Tony Schumacher
Defending Top Fuel event champion Pritchett started race day as No.1 Qualifier
Mopar-powered Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Jack Beckman races to semifinals at SpringNationals
Mopar Express Lane/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T driver Matt Hagan advances to quarterfinals at Houston, moves to second in Funny Car standings
Jacob Pitt of Mansfield, Texas earns Dodge Top Finisher award in both Stock Eliminator and Super Stock
More info on Mopar in NHRA available at http://blog.mopar.com
New Dodge Garage (http://www.dodgegarage.com/), a digital content hub for muscle car and race enthusiasts launches; will include highlights from NHRA season
April 22, 2018, Auburn Hills, Mich. – A trio of Mopar Dodge//SRT drivers went rounds in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Race Series during the NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas, near Houston. Leah Pritchett, Jack Beckman and Tony Schumacher took their Nitro machines to the semifinals in the ultra-competitive weekend, with Beckman leaving the event atop the NHRA Funny Car standings and Schumacher now tied for first in Top Fuel points.
Defending SpringNationals event winner Pritchett turned heads on Saturday afternoon when the Mopar Dodge dragster rocketed to the top with an impressive 3.680-second pass. The team earned their first No. 1 qualifier of the season and was set up for success on race day. Led by crew chief duo Todd Okuhara and Joe Barlam, the team dismissed of Top Fuel newbie Terry Brian in the opening round on Sunday with another sub 3.7-second pass, the lowest elapsed time of the opening round.
In the second round, Pritchett defeated rival Steve Torrence in one of the best side-by-side races of the day. Pritchett got the edge on the starting line and posted a 3.740, 320-mph lap over Torrence’s 3.778-second effort.
For the first time all weekend at the track near Houston, teams faced sunny skies for the semifinal round and Prichett’s dragster hazed the tires in the semifinal race against Terry McMillen. McMillen also struggled down the tricky 1,000-ft course but was able to take the win light.
The No. 1 qualifier effort, which was a track elapsed time record, and two round wins provide momentum for Pritchett and the Mopar team heading into next weekend’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte.
Funny Car points leader Jack Beckman’s race day started with a pedalfest against opponent Richard Townsend. Beckman was able to get Terry and Doug Chandler’s Infinite Hero Foundation Funny Car to recover quickly and earned the round win. In the quarterfinals, Beckman once again masterfully pedaled his way to victory, and set off the win lights before Del Worsham.
The semifinal matchup found the 2012 Funny Car world champion facing Robert Hight, the reigning world champ. Beckman was first off of the starting line, but his 4.113-second pass was no match for Hight’s 3.959.
Tony Schumacher and the U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster team advanced to the semifinals on Sunday in Baytown, Texas as the NHRA began its three-race swing. In the opening session Schumacher defeated Bill Litton with his 3.703-second pass on a tricky race track. In round two, he had the starting line advantage over Clay Millican and powered the Army dragster to a 3.737-second winning pass.
In the semifinals, Schumacher went into tire smoke for the first time during the weekend and coasted to a 5.074 as Brittany Force got the round win with her 3.766-second run. The Army team will leave Baytown tied for the Top Fuel points lead with Steve Torrence.
Matt Hagan’s first trip to the winner’s circle came during the 2010 Houston race. His attempt to add a 2018 NHRA SpringNationals Wally to his trophy collection started with a tough draw, his DSR teammate, Mopar-powered driver Ron Capps. Hagan and Capps charged hard out of the gate, with Capps pulling away first in the battle of DSR Dodge race cars. Both vehicles were neck-and-neck until about the 650-foot mark, when Hagan was able to motor down the track and score the win when Capps’ car went silent near halftrack.
In the quarterfinals, Hagan squared off against Tim Wilkerson. Both drivers had nearly identical reaction times and the Mopar Express Lane/Pennzoil Dodge was even with Wilkerson’s machine until about 330-feet when dropped cylinders caused Hagan to slow and his opponent was able to pull away for the win. Hagan moved up to second in NHRA Funny Car points heading to Charlotte’s 4-Wide race next weekend.
Tommy Johnson Jr.’s first round loss against opponent J.R. Todd was the ultimate example of ‘wrong place at the wrong time.’ Johnson, who was previously 3-0 against Todd, charged out of the gate with all candles lit. Both Johnson and Todd were straight down the groove in an exciting side-by-side race. Unfortunately for Johnson, Todd edged past and was able to take the win with his 3.955-second pass vs. Johnson’s 3.989.
Mopar Dodge//SRT NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series: Notes & Quotes
Leah Pritchett, Mopar Dodge Top Fuel Dragster
(No. 1 Qualifier – 3.680 ET)
Rd. 1: (.078-second reaction time, 3.697 seconds at 327.43 mph) beat No. 16 Terry Brian (.203/4.233/258.37)
Rd. 2: (.055/3.740/320.36) beat No. 9 Steve Torrence (.050/3.778/312.64)
Rd. 3: (.096/10.490/73.72) lost to No. 12 Terry McMillen (.082/5.124/213.64)
“It was definitely a Six Flags rollercoaster adventure of a weekend. I can say going to the semis has done a lot for our team. We qualified No. 1, which was definitely no fluke, and we found two ways to win in the first two rounds, and that’s one small leap for the Mopar/U.S. Army team. We’ll take this and we’ll not really lick our wounds too much because we found a lot of progress. Yes, we wanted to defend our race win here from last year and it stings that we didn’t but, within minutes of coming back and debriefing after the semifinals, we found the cohesiveness of this team is very strong and will carry us a long way the rest of this season.”
Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
(No. 4 Qualifier – 3.918 ET)
Rd. 1: (.072-second reaction time, 4.125 seconds at 317.12 mph) beat No. 13 Richard Townsend (.096/4.186/298.93)
Rd. 2: (.073/5.286/233.72) beat No. 12 Del Worsham (.091/5.563/215.62)
Rd. 3: (.042/4.113/293.35) lost to No. 1 Robert Hight (.064/3.959/312.50)
“Interestingly enough, it’s the first time since deep into last year where we probably didn’t have one of the best cars on the property, yet we still left with the third most points of anyone this weekend. These are the kinds of outings that will win the championship; when you can overachieve relative to your performance, because trust me, these guys will have this thing figured out and we’ll be thundering again in Charlotte where we’re right back to a four-wide format. It’s a good time of year to be a Funny Car driver and we leave with the points lead.”
Matt Hagan, Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
(No. 3 Qualifier – 3.913 ET)
Rd. 1: (.101-second reaction time, 3.951 seconds at 311.49 mph) beat No. 14 Ron Capps (.048/4.152/245.81)
Rd. 2: (.054/4.190/240.08) lost to No. 6 Tim Wilkerson (.053/3.972/308.71)
“It was a little tricky track with new asphalt out there, just a lot of variables to deal with. We had six great runs up to that point and it just wore too much clutch and pulled the tires lose out there. A lot of times it just loops the tires and I can drive through it, but it just blew them off pretty hard and there was no real recovery. When you’ve got a guy like Wilkerson running 97 beside you and you have identical lights basically, it’s kind of tough to make it up. That’s Houston for us. I got my first win here so it’s kind of a special place for me but we’re moving on. We have 4-Wide (Charlotte) coming up and trying to get focused on that because it’s a whole different ballgame again like Vegas was. I don’t have the greatest record at 4-Wides so I need to focus and do well. Hopefully we’ll get back out here. We need to start winning soon.”
Tommy Johnson Jr., Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
(No. 7 Qualifier – 3.926 ET)
Rd. 1: (.088 -second reaction time, 3.989 seconds at 309.49 mph) lost to No. 10 J.R. Todd (.051/3.955/321.73)
“The conditions out here are so tricky and today was a perfect example of ‘wrong place at the wrong time.’ We made a nice run, fifth quickest of the round, but came up short. That’s part of the luck in racing sometimes. We have a really good race car, we went down the track when a lot of them didn’t so we’re not going to change anything. We’ll just go on to the next one, keep doing what we’re doing and it’ll come to us.”
Ron Capps, NAPA Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
(No. 14 Qualifier – 4.077 ET)
Rd. 1: (.048 – seconds reaction time, 4.152 seconds at 245.81 mph) lost to No. 3 Matt Hagan (.101/3.951/311.49)
“We really put ourselves in a hole during qualifying, but you’ve heard me brag about (crew chief Rahn) Tobler and our team time and time again. No matter where we qualify, I think we have a fighting chance, and I wouldn’t want to be the guy or gal in the other lane racing our NAPA car on Sunday morning. Having Hagan first round was not the plan, especially as good as they’ve been running this weekend, but we went up there and were out in front of them initially. Then the car quit at about 650-feet, and we’re working to figure out why.”
Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster
(No. 3 Qualifier – 3.703 ET)
Rd. 1: (.091-second reaction time, 3.703 seconds at 325.85 mph) beat No. 14 Bill Litton (.080/4.228/216.31)
Rd. 2: (.048/3.737/317.64) beat No. 6 Clay Millican (.070/6.473/89.64)
Rd. 3: (.070/5.074/148.97) lost to No. 2 Brittany Force (.089/3.766/299.80)
“Big picture, we’re tied for the points lead and that’s a good thing. Most importantly, we have a really good U.S. Army car. This morning, when the conditions were cool, I thought nobody was going to beat us here. It got quite a bit hotter than we thought and, still, we were ultra close. The good thing is we go right from here to another one. It wasn’t like we got beat in the first round. We held our own, we got good points this weekend, separated from a lot of people in the standings. It’s all good.”
Mopar Dodge//SRT NHRA Sportsman Spotlight
Jacob Pitt from Mansfield, Texas, doubled-up this weekend at the NHRA Spring Nationals as he was the Dodge Top Finisher winner in both Stock Eliminator and Super Stock. Competing in two classes, Pitt drove his 1969 Plymouth ‘Cuda 440 C/SA entry to the Stock Eliminator semifinals before a red light foul after leaving the starting line too early ended his march to the final round. In Super Stock, Pitt piloted his FGT/H 2003 Dodge Stratus powered by a Mopar 360 small block to a round-three finish.
The Dodge Top Finisher award, now in its second year, awards $500 to Stock Eliminator and Super Stock drivers who advance the furthest behind the wheel of a Mopar-powered Dodge, Chrysler, or Plymouth race car at all 24 NHRA national events.
Dodge Garage: New Digital Hub for Drag Racing News
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Fans can view daily updates and get access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise. Dodge Garage features include exclusive content, such as a three-part video series “Chasing the Title,” that offers fans a unique, behind-the-scenes glimpse at Pritchett and her DSR team in action.