Hagan Leads Mopar in Qualifying at NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, Turk Qualifies for Factory Stock Showdown
Concord, NC – Mopar HEMI® power claimed four of the top 10 spots in Funny Car qualifying for the Four-Wide 
Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte, while Mopar-powered Top Fuel machines will start sixth and ninth on the unique four-wide eliminations ladder. Only three rounds are required to crown the event champion in the classes that make up the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
Matt Hagan turned in the best qualifying time among Mopar drivers in the Funny Car ranks with a pass of 3.898 seconds at 331.28 mph during round two in his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T. His No. 4 qualifying effort is best among teams not in the John Force Racing camp. His Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Mopar teammates in Funny Car, Ron Caps, Tommy Johnson Jr. and Jack Beckman, will begin from the sixth, seventh and 10th spots, respectively.
A total of six Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars qualified for Sunday’s elimination rounds out of a 19-car field.
The DSR Mopar Top Fuel cars also turned in respectable qualifying efforts with eight-time champion Tony Schumacher taking the No. 6 qualifying spot in his U.S. Army Dragster, while points leader Leah Pritchett will begin from the ninth spot in her Papa John’s Pizza/Mopar Pennzoil machine. A large Top Fuel contingent of 18 cars attempted to qualify.
The Four-Wide Nationals also are the site of the second of five Factory Stock Showdowns in 2017. Geoffrey Turk of Yorkville, Illinois, qualified sixth in the eight-car field, before bowing out in round one after a pass of 9.266 seconds at 163.99 mph in a difficult far left lane. Eighteen cars made qualifying attempts. In addition, Super Stock driver Jerry Hatch’s SS/EA 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T powered by 440 Six Pack engine won the Best Appearing Car award. Longtime racer Hatch hails from Lubec, Maine, and is in his second full-time campaigning the Challenger. He has won 12 track championships in his career.
The Four-Wide Nationals are a unique spectacle in drag racing, where not only does each driver in the Pro classes need to stage his or her own car properly, but also has the added distraction of vehicles in three other lanes. Instead of pairs as is the norm in drag racing, for Sunday the qualifying field is divided into four quads with the top two from each advancing throughout the day until one car emerges as the winner out of the four in the final round. Friday’s qualifying rounds featured good conditions, but Saturday’s heat and humidity prevented any major movement in the qualifying order.
Leah Pritchett Defeats Papa John’s Pizza Founder John Schnatter in Second Charity Challenge of 2017
The Four-Wide Nationals also featured the second “Charity Challenge” match race of 2017 between Pritchett and Papa John’s Pizza founder and CEO, John Schnatter. Pritchett bested Schnatter during the Gatornationals in March, and this weekend was again piloting a Dodge Challenger configured for drag racing and featuring a supercharged Mopar Gen III HEMI engine. She defeated Schnatter’s 1971 Camaro with a time of 9.896 seconds at 153.35 mph to Schnatter’s pass of 12.331 at 112.42. Each Charity Challenge match race benefits the Infinite Hero Foundation. The next competition will take place during the Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in Elwood, Illinois, slated for July 6 – 9.
