Hagan Kicks off the DSR Pre Vegas Team Reports
Las Vegas, NV – Matt Hagan and the Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots team are going back to what they know for the 15th annual 
SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend.
After starting the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season with a runner-up finish, the Mopar team led by crew chief Dickie Venables has suffered opening-round losses in NHRA eliminations near Phoenix and Gainesville, Fla.
After the Gainesville event Venables noted that it was time to get back to racing with what they know is a proven combination.
“We’re working on it and we’ll continue to test new things but it might be time to go back to what we know and what is proven for race day,” he said. “It’s early in the season and we’ll get our combination figured out.”
The Mopar team earned five event titles (Charlotte 1, Englishtown, Chicago, Seattle, Pomona) last season with the car and combination they will take to Las Vegas.
“We’re coming out with our old car and our old combination from last year,” said Matt. “We won five races with it and I think that we can do well. We have a lot of data to go off of and Dickie and (assistant crew chief) Mike Knudsen feel very positive and strong about it. I’m excited to crawl back in our old race car and get that old feeling back and go have some fun in Vegas.”
Qualifying at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway begins on Friday at 2 p.m. (PT).
“They will pull it together and we will run well,” Matt said. “I’m sure there will be a learning period again but I’m confident in their decision. I’m coming in with a big smile and a positive attitude and I’m hopeful that we can get this turned around and start turning on some more win lights.
“Vegas is a crazy town and a crazy race and I’m excited to get out there and see all the fans.”
Jack Beckman isn’t looking for a flashback Sunday after championship eliminations of the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at Las Vegas.
He just wants to see history repeat itself at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where he won his first professional event title at its fall race in 2006.
“My first win was at Las Vegas in the fall of 2006, and I hope after this weekend I can say my most recent win was in Las Vegas,” said Jack, whose Don Schumacher Racing Valvoline MaxLife Dodge Charger R/T has won 14 more Wally trophies after that one and added the NHRA Funny Car world championship 2012.
But Jack is in the longest non-winning streak of his seven-year professional driving career. His last title was in 2012 at the September race near St. Louis. He advanced to championship rounds three times last year and was the No. 1 qualifier twice en route to finishing third in points.
At the end of the past season, Jack and assistant crew chief Terry Snyder were the only returnees to the team. Veteran crew chief Rob Flynn took over and filled out the roster.
“The expectations for our new team were to look good from the outset and start looking great in a short period of time,” Jack said. “I see us headed in that direction. Rob Flynn strikes me as a chess player; he’s quiet, studious and digs his nose in the (data) books and goes over run after run. Not just our stuff, but he’s been getting some data from our other Schumacher Funny Car teams.
“I see what he’s doing. He’s educating himself about our cars to be able to make educated decisions at the racetrack. I’m telling you, once this car starts responding in a manner that’s predictable to him we’re going to be deadly consistent.
“We’re not far off right now. Were it not for losing to the low elapsed times of the rounds at the last two events we could have gone deep in eliminations. You don’t want to put yourself in a position to rely on luck to win a race, and with the way we’re headed we’re going to be creating our own luck pretty soon and no better place for that than in Vegas.”
No one has won more Funny Car titles at Las Vegas than Ron Capps, but that shouldn’t be a surprise.
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is in the western division of the NHRA so it serves as one of four tracks that he considers home.
Ron, who was born in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and lives in Carlsbad near San Diego, is able to drive to those events with his family in tow. His parents, John and Betty, join him at Las Vegas along with the family of his younger Jon Capps, who lives in Las Vegas and competes part-time in a Funny Car.
“There are places where we have had the luxury to get to the winner’s circle, and there’s nothing cooler than to be able to do it with your immediate family and close friends,” Ron said.
He’s left Las Vegas five times with the coveted Wally trophy. In all, 15 of his 41 event titles – 37 percent – have come on the West Coast: Las Vegas 5; Sonoma, Calif., 4; Phoenix 3; and Pomona 3.
Ron also has had similar success at tracks owned by Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports Inc., which among its holdings include dragstrips in Las Vegas, Sonoma, Bristol, Tenn., and near Charlotte. He has won 13 times (31 percent) at those tracks: (Las Vegas 5, Sonoma 4, Bristol 3, Charlotte 1).
He has won once in the Las Vegas spring race and four times when the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series returns in the fall for the year’s penultimate event.
“For me, Vegas is a track that has turned into a home race. I get a large contingent of my family there and a lot of friends from NAPA. It’s cool to win a race at a track where you really look forward to going to. It’s a great facility, great people run it and there’s no place better to celebrate than Vegas.”
“I don’t know why. It’s one of those things you can’t explain, but I’m not going to argue with it. I love going to all of Bruton’s tracks. There are certain places where a driver does well even with different crew chiefs, and there are tracks where a crew chief will do well even with different drivers.”
There couldn’t be a better time for Ron and his NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T team led by crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant Eric Lane to go to a track where they are confident of being able to go deeply into the weekend’s championship eliminations.
Through three NHRA events, the NAPA team has lost in the first round and quarterfinals before advancing to the semifinals at the last race two weeks ago. The team has steadily been developing a new set-up for its Dodge that will carry him toward a first world championship.
“This is a long season and I know Tobler’s plan is going to pay off for our NAPA team,” Ron said. “We have run quick and are starting to go rounds, and going rounds is what matters most.”
With three races complete in the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, Spencer and the Battery Extender team led by crew chiefs Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara have a semifinal finish at the season opener at Pomona and two quarterfinal finishes near Phoenix and at Gainesville, Fla.
“I love going to Las Vegas, racing at Las Vegas,” Spencer said. “It’s always a great weekend and I’m looking forward to getting back out there and hopefully going rounds while we’re there.”
Two of Spencer’s 14 NHRA Top Fuel career wins have come at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; 2009 in the fall and 2012 in the spring race.
“When you go back to a track that you’ve been successful at it gives you more confidence,” he said. “It seems like we always have a strong car on race day there and I’m ready. We haven’t made it past a semifinal yet this year so I’m hoping that this might be our weekend.”
Although the season hasn’t exactly started off as well as Spencer had hoped, he knows it’s still early in the 24-race Mello Yello NHRA season.
“The way I see it is this is only going to be the fourth chapter in a 24-chapter book, and books always get better toward the end.
“We just need to keep getting those round wins, getting stronger as a team so when the summer stretch of races hits we’re on top of our game heading into the Countdown (playoff). We’ve got a long season left ahead of us but it sure would be nice to get a win early this season.”
Schumacher, U.S. Army team head to site of seven NHRA titles after winning once in two final rounds last year at Las Vegas
Tony Schumacher knows his way down a dragstrip well enough to have won a record 72 NHRA Top Fuel titles, be the first to reach 330 mph at any distance and own nearly ever record in NHRA’s most prestigious category.
Each year he and his U.S. Army team begin with the goal of winning the world championship and seven times they have reached that goal. It doesn’t matter to them if they win one event title or all 24 in a season.
Tony and the U.S. Army team exude confidence.
They will arrive confidently to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and be ready for qualifying on Friday and Saturday.
Their confidence hasn’t waned after the first three events of the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season despite not advancing to at least one championship round after three races for the first time since 2009 and only second time since 2003.
It certainly helps that Tony is headed to Las Vegas where he has earned a track-record seven NHRA Wally trophies in 10 final rounds through 27 events at the track. Last season, he won the spring event and was a finalist at the one in the fall. He has only won more times (nine) at the prestigious U.S. Nationals held over Labor Day Weekend near Indianapolis.
“I wish I had the answer because I’d bottle it up and sell it,” he said of his success at Las Vegas and Indy.
“There’s just no answer. Why haven’t we ever won at Atlanta? Or why have we won the U.S. Nationals nine times, and that’s the hardest race in the world.”
Atlanta Dragway is the only track on the schedule where he has not conquered the winner’s circle.
“Vegas is early in the year when there’s pressure on all of us, and the next-to-last race when we’ve had to do well to either clinch the championship or get into position to do it at the next race at Pomona.”
Tony, 44, is the defending champ of the spring race at Las Vegas and was runner-up last October to teammate Antron Brown in the season’s penultimate event.
But through three races this year, Tony has lost in the first round twice and in the quarterfinals once. The team’s last trip to pick up a trophy was at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago last June, which is 15 races ago.
“The next time we win it will be a helluva party because it’s been a while,” he said. “And there’s no place better to have a party than in Las Vegas.”
The U.S. Army team led by crew chief Mike Green and assistant Neal Strausbaugh has shown that it is closing in on the right tune-up and clutch set-up. Tony qualified second last month near Phoenix and seventh two weeks ago at Gainesville, Fla.
“Getting through adversity when others might get mad is what pulls us together,” Tony said. “We’ve seen numerous teams fall apart when they’re not winning. But we’ve sucked it up and have stayed together. We know the outcome will be good and adversity happens in our sport. We know tough times occur and that’s just part of the game.
“Championships are the most excellent when you had to go through times like this. I’m an extreme pressure driver, and our Army team with Mike and Neal are all about pressure.”
Second-ranked Brown, Matco team take Mello Yello hot steak to Las Vegas where he won fall race, was runner-up last spring
Antron Brown and Matco Tools team have the hottest Top Fuel dragster in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heading this weekend to Las Vegas where he’s been able to turn the wick a little higher.
Antron, the 2012 NHRA Top Fuel world champion and runner-up for the crown last season, has advanced to two of three championship rounds this season and is one of three drivers to have made it to a winner’s circle.
The 38-year-old driver’s streak began in last season’s NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff when he won twice, including at Las Vegas in the fall. He has won three titles in five championship rounds over the past seven events for Don Schumacher Racing and was runner-up at the track last spring.
After Antron qualified third but was upset in the first round of the season-opener at Pomona, Calif., the men of Matco marched through the field two weeks later to win the event near Phoenix then on March 16 in the Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla., qualified second and advanced to his second consecutive championship round.
“We’re in that zone, and once you get in it you want to stay in it,” said Antron, whose Matco team is led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald. “We know where we need to be and hopefully that will carry on throughout the year. We haven’t even hit our full stride yet.”
Antron will arrive at Las Vegas as the second-ranked team in the Mello Yello Top Fuel standings.
After arriving home in Pittsboro, Ind., from Gainesville two weeks ago, he jetted to Charlotte to sit courtside at a Charlotte Bobcats NBA game and promote the April 11-13 NHRA Four-wide Nationals. He then left Indianapolis a day later for Los Angeles for Toyota Motorsports Day at Torrance, Calif.
He was able to sleep in his own bed Friday night but drove to near Chicago to attend the Saturday wedding of Michael O’Guin, the clutch specialist on his Matco team, to Marla Weidenaar, the assistant clutch specialist on a DSR Funny Car.
He headed to El Paso, Texas, Monday to spend the following day with students at Western Technical College.
