Team DSR Readies for the Toyota Summernationals

BROWNSBURG, IN – Team reports from DSR

– Antron Brown will be the same popular hometown racer that he’s always been when he arrives at the track where he grew up watching his father and uncle race.

What will be different when Brown, 37, enters the gates of Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., is that he will do so as the reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion.

“I went home after we won it in November and saw all of my family, but this will be the first time I get to see a lot of friends and people who have followed by career,” said Brown, who lives near Indianapolis with his wife, Billie Jo, and their three children.

“I always look forward to going home and this time will be a little more special. Nothing would be better than winning at Englishtown.”

What he hopes for is to win his first Top Fuel title in the 44th annual NHRA Toyota Summernationals, where he won NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle titles in 2001 and 2005.

Brown, who has won 39 NHRA titles including 23 in Top Fuel, has earned two titles this season with Don Schumacher Racing’s Matco Tools team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald with assistant Brad Mason.

At the last event on May 19 at Topeka, Kan., the team was hampered by an electrical problem and lost in the opening round one week after winning the title near Atlanta. The early exit at Topeka dropped Brown one spot to third in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series standings behind DSR teammate and points leader Tony Schumacher.

“It looks like we had an electrical problem right now,” said Brown, the NHRA national record-holder for elapsed time with a run of 3.701-second run that also is the quickest ever. “The motor parts looked fine, but it just wasn’t hitting on all cylinders.”

– Ron Capps’ appreciation for history makes every event at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park special for him.

And a year ago at the track at Englishtown, N.J., the veteran Funny Car driver was able to add to the track’s lore.

Capps and Don Schumacher Racing’s NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T led by crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant John Collins uncorked a qualifying run of 3.964 seconds at 320.89 mph that remains the quickest run ever by a Funny Car.

“It seemed like everyone I signed an autograph for the rest of the weekend wanted me to put ‘3.96’ behind my name. That was cool,” Capps said.

In NHRA, in order to set a national record Capps needed to run within 1 percent of the 3.964 before leaving Englishtown to earn the NHRA elapsed-time national record but weather conditions were not conducive to it.

“We’re not even thinking about a record,” Capps said. “We were focused on getting NAPA AUTO PARTS another trophy.

“That’s our approach for this weekend. If the conditions are right, like they were last year at Englishtown, Rahn might load it up. But our focus is to go rounds and get the Wally (trophy).

Capps came up a little short at Englishtown when he lost to DSR teammate Johnny Gray, but it was the fourth championship round of six straight for the team.

Another DSR driver, Spencer Massey, produced the quickest ever Top Fuel run on the same Friday.

“I’ve never had a night like that,” said team owner Don Schumacher, who won the Funny Car title at Englishtown in 1972. “I’ve had some of my teams perform extraordinarily well but never had them change Top Fuel and Funny Car marks like that on one night.

“And to do it at Englishtown just makes it more special. Englishtown is one of the renowned facilities on the circuit. As times change other facilities come to the forefront, but Englishtown carries so much history and recognition. There have been a lot of special times here.”

Schumacher, 68, was inducted on May 2, 2013, into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway with NASCAR stalwarts Rusty Wallace, Rick Hendrick and Dale Inman.

– Matt Hagan – With two-thirds of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season remaining, Matt Hagan believes it’s never too early to count points toward the Countdown to the Championship.

Hagan sits third in NHRA Funny Car points with one title in three championship round appearances in Don Schumacher Racing’s Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar/Rocky Boots Funny Car.

“The points right now are so tight between me, Johnny (Gray) and Cruz (Pedregon), and Ron (Capps) isn’t that far back in fourth so it’s shaping up to be a great points battle,” Hagan said. “I think we are about a round and a half out of first and we need a really good race to remain there in the top three and I don’t want to let Capps get around us.”

Gray, a DSR teammate who has won three titles this year, is atop the standings with 591 points, followed by Pedregon at 581, Hagan at 568 and DSR’s Capps at 512. Each round win during eliminations is worth 20 points.

Hagan will try to use the NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, N.J., as a rebound from the last NHRA event at Topeka where the team suffered a rare first-round loss.

“Anyone that says they aren’t watching or counting points right now is lying,” he said. “Everyone is worried about points and trying to get that No. 1 spot to have that extra boost once the Countdown starts.

“It’s very important that we do well. There’s no doubt that we have the potential, and I just have to go up there and drive it and not mess up. I think we can do that. Like I’ve said before, things aren’t going to go great all the time and it’s about how we bounce back. I think we’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re lost, we just got outrun in Topeka and we’re going to do our best not to let that happen again.”

The teams had Memorial Day weekend off after five consecutive weekends at racetracks, but Hagan couldn’t be more anxious to get back behind the wheel of his 10,000-horsepower Dodge Charger R/T.

“I’m really looking forward to Englishtown. I’m just pumped to be back in the racecar. We have a lot of potential. We just had an off race there in Topeka. We have to roll into Englishtown with one thought in mind and that’s to get out of the first round and keep winning races.

– Spencer Massey took a detour on his trip to Englishtown, N.J., on Tuesday to spend the day in Washington D.C.

Massey visited several sites including the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial and Lincoln Memorial.

“Since yesterday was Memorial Day, it worked out that I could see the memorials and pay my respects to those who have sacrificed for our country,” he said. “It was a very fun experience, and the city is amazing.”

Massey has also had good experiences at his next stop, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.In 2011, Massey won the NHRA Summernationals title and was the No. 1 qualifier in 2012. Currently fourth in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series standings, Massey is hoping a win in Englishtown will boost his team before a grueling stretch of summer races, including four consecutive events.

“Englishtown is a good racetrack for us,” Massey said. “We got the win there in 2011 and got the pole last year. We ran a 3.72 there last year and that was the record at the time. It’s going to be hot this weekend so we probably won’t see any record runs.

“I love running there. It’s always a great racetrack and the atmosphere is great. The fans are always so excited to be out at the drag races and it’s great just to be in the Northeast because we don’t get to race there very much.”

– Jack Beckman enjoyed a very successful trip the last time he raced on the East Coast, and no time would be better for the reigning world champion to repeat a performance similar to what he did last fall.

Beckman and Don Schumacher Racing’s Valvoline NextGen/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors Dodge Charger R/T led by crew chief Todd Smith and assistant Terry Snyder left Reading, Pa., last October with NHRA national records for elapsed time (3.986 seconds) and speed (320.58) mph that helped propel them to the world championship a month later.
This week Beckman travels to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, N.J., for the 44th annual NHRA Toyota Summernationals. Granted, the summer weather likely won’t be as ideal as it was at Reading, which is 110 miles west of Englishtown.
“We won’t know what the weather conditions will be until our Valvoline/MTS guys get to the track early Friday morning,” Beckman said. “But our teammate Ron Capps ran the quickest pass ever in a Funny Car a year ago and you wouldn’t typically think the weather there would hold a run like that (at 3.964 seconds).
“This always is such a great event. It’s kind of the unofficial East Coast opener, and people in Jersey tend to be fanatical about drag racing and the last time they could drive to an NHRA Mello Yello race as last year at Reading.”

Beckman’s team is ready for a trophy run after only advancing to the semifinals twice in this year’s first eight events. But one semifinal was at the last race on May 19 at Topeka, Kan.

Smith has invested time in working to improve on the team’s championship car, and have been willing to sacrifice a little for what they hope will begin paying off soon.

“Even with doing that we have struggled a little in 2013,” Beckman said. “Englishtown would be a fantastic place to start. It was one of the original NHRA national event tracks, and it’s one of the special places where I really want to win the trophy.”

Although Beckman was higher in the standings a year ago when he arrived at Englishtown – fifth compared to eighth this year – he actually is closer in points to the lead. He trails DSR teammate and points leader Johnny Gray by 147 compared to being 284 points out of first a year ago.

“If you look right at the standings now there is a real logjam from fifth through 11th. We’re really in great shape. The points are so close, and we’ll keep picking away at it. I’d say we’re trending in a positive direction.””