DSR heading to Gainesville looking to extend points leads
DSR’s Infinite Hero team, Beckman travel to Gainesville this weekend seeking redemption at NHRA Gatornationals
BROWNSBURG, IN – The Infinite Hero Foundation Funny Car team sponsored by Terry Chandler and piloted by 
Jack Beckman, travels south to Gainesville, Fla., this weekend for the 48th annual Gatornationals.
Gainesville marks the third event of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series. Two weeks ago, in Phoenix, the Infinite Hero Foundation team had a parts issue during the opening round of competition on Sunday.
“I’m a southern California guy and I’ve always thought Gainesville was the closest thing there is to Pomona (Calif.) that’s not Pomona,” Beckman said. “It’s big. It’s packed. It’s the season opener for the folks out on the East Coast and it has a lot of prestige that goes with it.
“We had a parts issue (in Phoenix). The silver lining in that cloud is that it didn’t happen during the run. If this thing had thrown the clutch out at halftrack, it could have gotten really expensive and could have gotten risky. And it didn’t happen during the Countdown (to the Championship).
“There’s no such thing as a good loss, but I think everybody is realistic about this and keeping correct perspective that this was a very minor setback for a very good team.”
Despite their setback at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix, Beckman remains positive in the team led by crew chiefs John Medlen, Dean Antonelli and Neal Strausbaugh.
“I still think we’re probably still ahead of some people’s expectations. We lost to a 3.89 in Pomona. Then we go out there and throw the clutch out of the car in Phoenix. It is not a maintenance issue. It was not a tune-up issue. It was a parts issue and we’ve rectified that so we’ll just move on.”
Last year in Gainesville, Beckman entered race day as the No. 1 qualifier with a time of 3.879 seconds at 329.26 mph. He advanced to the semifinals before being defeated by Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps.
Reigning Top Fuel champion Brown hungry for East Coast success with Matco Tools team at this weekend’s NHRA Gatornationals
– While most of the East Coast is under a heavy blanket of snow this week, the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is headed far enough south where there won’t be any worries about frozen precipitation falling from the Florida skies.
One of the most prestigious events on the NHRA tour is this weekend’s NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, the season opener for East Coast fans and the site of many historic events in NHRA – including the first ever 300-mph Top Fuel run.
“Gainesville has always been a great race as far as the history of NHRA goes and one you definitely want to win,” said two-time reigning and three-time Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown, who earned the Gatornationals trophy in 2013.
“You want to win them all, but when you can win the Gatornationals, you know you’ve done something special because all the cars come out of the woodwork and they’ll be full fields there.
“Everybody’s out there trying to win the Gatornationals and that is a monumental race in drag racing. When you win the Gatornationals, it’s like winning the U.S. Nationals. It’s our first race on the East Coast and I’m an East Coast boy, so I’m looking forward to getting back there.”
The Mello Yello series completed two events before taking a two-week break when the Don Schumacher Racing teams returned to Brownsburg, Ind., from the West Coast for the first time since preseason testing in late January.
The Matco Tools team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald have quarterfinal and semifinal finishes thus far in 2017.
“Our guys were out on the road for a long time and Phoenix was the first time they’d been back to the shop with our racecars so there was a lot of work to do in these couple weeks off the road,” Brown said. “The Matco boys went over everything, got all of our parts serviced and we’re ready to come out swinging this weekend in Gainesville.
“We’re ready. We’re hungry. You get in the groove with testing and the first couple of races and then you have two weekends off. We can’t wait to get back to the track and get focused on bringing home our first win of the season.”
History-making start for Papa John’s Pizza/FireAde team will not cloud Pritchett’s focus this weekend at Gators
– It’s not easy to stop reflecting on something you’ve accomplished, especially when it’s something no other Top Fuel driver and team have done in 43 years of the NHRA pro drag racing tour.
Leah Pritchett and Don Schumacher Racing’s Papa John’s Pizza/FireAde team led by crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam started the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season by winning the first two events and No. 1 qualifying spots including one with a world record time.
And no other Top Fuel driver and team have opened a season by winning the first two trophies from the pole. It’s been 20 years since a driver won the first two, and Pritchett can add another chapter to her history book by being the first to ever win the first three dragster titles this weekend in the 48th annual NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.
But Pritchett, the obvious points leader, is looking forward and not behind.
“My mindset going to Gainesville is the same as when we went to Pomona after we ran the quickest time ever (3.654 seconds) in testing the week before,” said the 28-year-old Southern California native who has marketing and communications degrees from Cal State San Bernardino. “We had a nice test session and felt we had to do something to prove that our 3.65 was real when we got to Pomona.
“What we did in the first two races wasn’t a fluke. We want to prove that to ourselves and everyone else.
“We’ll have the same routine at Gainesville that we had at Pomona and Phoenix, We’ll keep our noses to the grindstone and show we are worthy of what we have accomplished so far this year.”
The Gatornationals will be the first of four Mello Yello events in which Pritchett will carry the colors of FireAde 2000 Personal Fire Suppression Systems. FireAde owner and developer Ron Thames was instrumental in enabling Pritchett to join DSR last May by committing to sponsor her team.
“If we are able to win our third straight the best part will sharing the winner’s circle with Ron and FireAde,” she said. “Without Ron’s constant support I don’t know if we’d be in the position at DSR we are now with Papa John’s, Pennzoil, Mopar and Dodge.”
Her team’s successful run goes back to Reading, Pa., in the second of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoff when won her first Top Fuel pole and qualified in the top-five at four of the last five races while advancing to the semifinals twice.
Her team’s successful run goes back to Reading, Pa., in the second of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoff when won her first Top Fuel pole and qualified in the top-five at four of the last five races while advancing to the semifinals twice.
“Qualifying is still important, it’s the most important. Like (DSR owner Don Schumacher) always says, ‘You have to qualify before you can race on Sunday.’ Being No. 1 at the first two races enabled us to have bye runs in the first round because we only had 15 cars. I’m sure we’ll have 16 this weekend and qualifying always is our top priority.
“Our focus is extending the gap over the field.”
Make-A-Wish team travels to prestigious Gatornationals with momentum as Johnson looks for first win of 2017 this weekend
– Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Make-A-Wish Dodge Charge R/T team sponsored by Terry Chandler are confidant their first NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series win of the year isn’t far off with a very good chance it could be this weekend in the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.
The Make-A-Wish Dodge limped into the opener at Pomona, Calif., with a back-up car after its primary chassis was damaged a week earlier in testing but managed to advance to the second round.
The Don Schumacher Racing fabrication team perfectly repaired it in time to the race two weeks later near Phoenix. The team led by crew chief John Collins and assistant Rip Reynolds set a track record in the desert and earned the No. 1 qualifying position with a track-record time of 3.387 seconds at 329.10 mph. The Make-A-Wish Dodge advanced to the semifinals where Johnson lost to eventual event winner and teammate Matt Hagan.
Arriving at Gainesville as the fourth-ranked team is a testament to the effort put forth by the Make-A-Wish team.
“We have a great opportunity to get a win early in the season,” Johnson said. “We have momentum going to Gainesville the way the car is running.”
Johnson’s first of three wins last year didn’t come until the 13th of 24 events when he finished second in championship points for his career-best position.
“We tend to come alive later in the year, around Epping or so, but this season, I think we’ve started on a high note. It would definitely be nice to get a win at the beginning of the season.”
At the 2016 Gatornationals, Johnson and the Make-A-Wish team qualified 10th and lost in the opening round.
“We were struggling last year going into the race. The car wasn’t running the way we’d like it to and this year, it’s 180 degrees different with the car running really how we want it to. I’m really looking forward to getting back there.
Gainesville is where Johnson competed in his first national event.
“It’s one of my favorite races on the tour. I’ve been going there since 1984 so I have a ton of history at that track. It was the first national event I’d ever raced so it’s always been one of my favorites.”
Weather conditions in Gainesville look sunny. Johnson says the track could produce good performance in the Funny Car category.
“I think it’s going to be great weather, great conditions – maybe the best conditions we’ve seen in Gainesville for years, as far as performance wise. As long as it’s not raining in Florida, we’ll be good.”
