T.J., Make-A-Wish Funny Car stay hot, No. 1 at zMAX; DSR’s Schumacher rallies for No. 2 spot in Top Fuel

CONCORD, NC – Tommy Johnson Jr. and Don Schumacher Racing’s Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car would be earning headlines if consistency was better rewarded.

The team led by crew John Collins and assistant Rip Reynolds haven’t been getting much of the spotlight in the past seven NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events despite a hot streak that has taken them from sixth to third in championship standings over the past seven events because of the record-breaking runs by DSR teammate Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero team to move them to No. 1.

But that trend took a turn Friday night in the last qualifying session of the Carolina NHRA Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte Motor Speedway after Johnson earned the provisional No. 1 qualifying position with a career best and track record time of 3.971 seconds at 318.02 mph to Saturday’s final two qualifying sessions scheduled for 1:30 and 3:45 p.m. (ET).

“I told my crew chief after the run that I guess we’re not flying below the radar anymore,” said Johnson, who is on the cusp of his second pole of the season, fourth straight event where he qualified in the top-5 and it marks the third straight race in which the Make-A-Wish team posted a sub-4-second run. “We’ve been very consistent and creeping up on what the other cars have been running.”

The Make-A-Wish Dodge has advanced to five of the past seven championship rounds in which Johnson has won twice.

Close behind was DSR Funny Car teammate Ron Capps with a time of 3.994 to hold the No. 3 position in the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge led by crew chief Rahn Tobler. The NAPA team was quickest in the early session with a time of 4.018 that enabled it to earn four qualifying bonus points.

In Top Fuel, DSR was led by eight-time and reigning world champion Tony Schumacher whose U.S. Army dragster produced a time of 3.774 (319.75) in the last session for the second best time of the day.

But a lot of attention was given to Shawn Langdon, the 2013 Top Fuel world champion, who made a successful debut with DSR when he was the third quickest in the opening session of Top Fuel and ranks fifth in the Red Fuel/Sandvik Coromant dragster.

It marked the first time Langdon, 33, drove in an enclosed cockpit dragster but the driver known for exceptional reaction times was undaunted as he posted a time of 3.868 (315.86) on a very hot racetrack for the team led by crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler.

Langdon spent the first 18 NHRA Mello Yello events this year driving for Alan Johnson Racing where he earned the No. 6 seed in the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff that opened on Friday.

But AJR did not have sufficient sponsorship support after the last event at Indianapolis that would have prevented Langdon from challenging for his second world title. On Wednesday, however, team owners Don Schumacher and Alan Johnson reached an agreement that would keep Langdon under contract to AJR and he would spend the Countdown driving Schumacher’s dragster.