Schumacher Leads Mopar Drivers After Day One of Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals Qualifying

Schumacher’s Mopar and Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) teammate in the Top Fuel ranks, Leah Pritchett, sits in the sixth position.

The Mopar-powered Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars from DSR, driven by Ron Capps, Jack Beckman, Tommy Johnson Jr., and Matt Hagan, are eighth, ninth, 11th and 16th, respectively, on Thunder Mountain.

Hagan unveiled a new paint scheme this weekend celebrating Mopar’s 80th anniversary, but struggled in both qualifying sessions on Friday. He and his teammates will all look to improve during Saturday’s final two qualifying attempts.

This weekend’s race kicks off the Western Swing and is the 14th event overall on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.

Pritchett Defeats Hagan in First Demon Match Race

Mopar drivers Leah Pritchett and Matt Hagan also took part in the official public drag strip debut of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon on Friday at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals. The two battled for bragging rights in the 840-horsepower machines, with Pritchett just besting Hagan in the quarter-mile contest. The two drivers will go head to head again on Saturday, July 22, between the third and fourth qualifying sessions.

16th Annual Mopar Mile-High Block Party

The 16th edition of the Mopar Mile-High Block Party kicked off this weekend’s festivities in downtown Golden, Colorado, on the evening of Thursday, July 20. The event was hosted by Willie B. of 106.7 KBPI FM and featured a Mopar driver autograph session, live music, a Mopar car show and dozens of giveaways on packed streets in the historic Colorado town.

Mopar/Dodge Notes & Quotes

Matt Hagan, Mopar 80th/Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car

“It was a rough day on the mountain. Obviously at the sponsor’s race we’d like to do a little better than that, but maybe we’ll get all these issues out of the way the first day and then tomorrow will be all right. So we’ll get back after it again tomorrow and see what happens, but obviously we’d like to do better than what we did today.”

Tune-in Info

The 38th annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals continue on Saturday, July 22, with FOX Sports 1 slated to broadcast the final two qualifying sessions that evening at 12:30 a.m. ET.

For more information on Mopar and Dodge in NHRA, check out the Mopar brand’s official blog, http://blog.mopar.com.