Capps ended questions last year about winning first championship, turn his attention with NAPA Dodge to winning first U.S. Nationals

All DSR Teams Tested and Ready for the biggest Show in Drag Racing…INDY!

BROWNSBURG, IN – As a California native, reigning NHRA Funny Car world champion Ron Capps says he was born 30 years too late because he longs for the 1960s and the hot rod-surfing era with those wild beach parties.

He spends as much time as he can on California sand but didn’t like the time he spent on the “beach” a year ago during the U.S. Nationals near Indianapolis when his NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Powered by Pennzoil ended up on its roof after one of his parachutes failed and he caught the safety catch net after not being slowed enough by the sand trap.

That ended his Sunday when he was trying to win the fourth NHRA all-star race of his career, he credits that mishap with going on to win his first NHRA Funny Car world championship.

“That moment when we were upside down in the sand helped us win the championship and start this year so strong,” he said. “We had won five trophies before we got to Indy last year and that happened, but (crew chief Rahn) Tobler and our NAPA AutoCare crew went to our spare NAPA Dodge and we won the championship with it and then started this year by winning with it six times in 13 races.”

Now that Capps, who owns 56 NHRA titles, no longer has to answer when he will win a season championship he is asked another one: when he will win his first U.S. Nationals title.

“This year a lot of people ask me if I’ll finally win at Indy, but I’ve won three Shootouts there and last year we won a Mello Yello title when we had to finish the final round from Brainerd (Minn.) that was rained out two weeks before that.

“But I’ve not only never won the U.S. Nationals, I haven’t even gotten to the final round,” he said of his previous 21 times racing at the track outside of Indianapolis.

Like last season, Capps arrives at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind., about 2 miles from Don Schumacher Racing headquarters ranked first in points heading to the finale of the 18-race Mello Yello regular season.

He’ll start qualifying Friday night with a 136-point lead over John Force Racing’s Robert Hight, who won two of the past three events, and 169 ahead of DSR teammate Matt Hagan.

Under the points format used at the previous 17 races, Capps would start the U.S. Nationals having already clinched the regular season title that would give him 20-point lead when the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff for the top-10 drivers begins Sept. 15-17 near Charlotte.

But NHRA utilizes a unique points system for the U.S. Nationals where points are worth one-and-half times the regular amount for Monday eliminations so a driver could earn 191 points in the event instead of the normal 130.

“When we got out to such a big lead early in the summer that afforded us the opportunity to try some things after we won six titles to get ready for Indy and the Countdown,” said Capps, who has been atop the standings since the sixth event of the year.

“That might have cost us a little the past few races but it will pay off for us.

“We knew we would lose a bunch of points when the Countdown starts anyway when the points are reset. It doesn’t matter if we leave Indy leading by eight or 80 as long as we end the regular season ranked first.

“Using those races to work on things will have been well worth it.”

Pritchett could make astounding 20 runs during U.S. Nationals, focus will be on winning regular-season Top Fuel title for Papa John’s

– Leah Pritchett never hides how much she loves drag racing whether it’s in her 330-mph dragster or 140-mph daily driver.

When not competing in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events in her Don Schumacher Racing Papa John’s Pizza Top Fuel dragsters, she’s often at Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis racing at “grudge nights” in her 140-mph stock car.

But she will reach a new level of participation this weekend at the same track during the 63rd annual NHRA U.S. Nationals when she might set a record for most runs down the dragstrip by a pro driver during an NHRA Mello Yello Series event.

And it would be at the biggest drag race of the year.

That would be a total of 20 runs in six days if she makes it to the final rounds of Top Fuel, $100,000 Traxxas Top Fuel Shootout all-star race and, her new category, NHRA Factory Stock Showdown in a 170-mph 2017 Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak.

And there will be two exhibition “Charity Challenge” races against her primary sponsor, “Papa John” Schnatter, to raise $40,000 for Riley Hospital for Children and the Infinite Hero Foundation.

Her Top Fuel brethren “only” could make a maximum of 10 runs through Monday’s championship eliminations.

So much has changed for Pritchett in the past year. When she arrived at the U.S. Nationals a year ago, she was fighting for the 10th and final spot in NHRA Countdown to the Championship a part-time Don Schumacher Racing driver with hope her dragster backed by Papa John’s Pizza would be fully funded in 2017.

“Quite a pendulum swing in 365 days,” she said, adding she ran a full season this year with support from Papa John’s, FireAde, Mopar and Pennzoil. “I keep saying this has been the year of it all.”

The 29-year-old graduate of Cal State San Bernardino was ecstatic when she slipped into the first Countdown playoff of her career, but the bar is much higher when she begins Top Fuel qualifying Friday night.

She’s not only assured of being in this year’s Countdown, that begins two weeks after Indy near Charlotte, but has locked up a top-three spot in the final regular season standings and has her eye set on moving up to the No. 1 spot as she only trails points leader and DSR teammate Antron Brown by 60 points, which is equivalent winning two elimination rounds on Monday.

“Last year we were just fighting at Indy to get into the Countdown, and now we know we’ll start the Countdown no lower than third,” she said.

At the last Mello Yello event two weeks ago in Brainerd, Minn., she her fourth title of the year and sixth No. 1 qualifying position marking the third time this  year her team led by crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam with car chief Scott Okuhara won the event and pole. They also reset their NHRA world time record with a run of 3.640 seconds and had a career-best speed of 331.53 mph.

“If there is something to be said for having momentum that’s what this Papa John’s team brings from Brainerd,” she said. “A picture perfect Brainerd should give us that.

“Where we are is because of how hard this Papa John’s team has worked all year and for everything Don Schumacher has provided us.”

Papa John vs. Leah in Rounds 5 and 6 of Charity Challenge: Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett will also make headlines in a Dodge Challenger during the U.S. Nationals, thanks to her participation in the fourth and fifth “Charity Challenge” match races of 2017. In each event, Pritchett drives a Challenger specially configured for drag racing and featuring a supercharged Mopar Gen III HEMI engine against Papa John’s Pizza founder and CEO John Schnatter. Friday’s race will raise $20,000 for Riley Hospital for Children and another $20,000 will go to the Infinite Hero Foundation thanks to generous donations from DSR owner Don Schumacher and Schnatter. Pritchett holds a 3-0 edge in the series this year that will generate $100,000 for Infinite Hero by the end of the season.

Pritchett to Battle in Factory Stock Showdown: The U.S. Nationals will serve as the site of the season’s fourth Factory Stock Showdown and mark Pritchett’s debut. The program is a five-event showcase in which modern American factory muscle competing in Stock Eliminator. Pritchett will drive Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak. “I think I’m starting to get a feel for this car,” she said. “It certainly isn’t as fast as a Top Fuel dragster but it’s a very different car to drive. It does big wheelstands and with a small (nine-inch wide) tire, you have to be very careful in the way you drive it.”

Johnson intends to make recent hot streak pay off at U.S. Nationals to move Chandlers’ Make-A-Wish Dodge move further up standings

– Tommy Johnson Jr. and Terry and Doug Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car has a head of steam heading to this weekend’s 63rd annual NHRA U.S. Nationals, the most prestigious event of the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

No Funny Car has been more consistent than Johnson over the past five events when his team led by crew chief John Collins and assistant Rip Reynolds have advanced to four championship rounds and moved up one spot to fourth in the standings heading to Friday night’s qualifying session to begin the finale of the 18-race regular season.

The only missing during that hot streak was winning a second Mello Yello title of the year.

“We’ve done a really good job the last several weeks to put ourselves in a much better position heading into the Countdown to the Championship,” the veteran driver who advanced to the final round of the U.S. Nationals in 2002 said of the pending six-race Countdown playoff when the top-10 drivers after Indy will vie for the world championships.

“We’ve have a consistent Dodge that will be tough at Indy.”

The U.S. Nationals offers a unique points system in the regular season where a driver can earn up to 191 points compared to the customary 130; each round win during Monday’s championship eliminations will be worth 30 points instead of the normal 20.

Johnson is ranked fourth in points, trailing Don Schumacher Racing teammates Ron Capps (in first) and Matt Hagan (third) and ahead of another teammate, Jack Beckman (fifth). While he cannot overtake Capps, he can move up to second but also could be passed by Beckman.

Points for the Countdown, which begins two weeks after Indy near Charlotte, are reset with the regular season points leader starting with a 20-point lead over No. 2. and others in the top-10 separated by t apart by 10-point intervals.

Johnson, who estimates he’s competed in nearly 30 U.S. Nationals with his first in 1984, understands the importance of a high regular season finish. Last year he started the Countdown ranked seventh and finished second in the championship standings after advancing to four final rounds in the Countdown and winning twice.

“We learned last year you have to start as high as you can for the best shot at winning the championship,” he said. “We’ve done a really good job the last several weeks to put ourselves in a much better position than last year.”

Beckman, Infinite Hero Dodge look forward to prestigious U.S. Nationals near Indianapolis this weekend

– Jack Beckman would prefer NHRA didn’t enhance points values this weekend for the NHRA U.S., Nationals near  Indianapolis for the biggest event of the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

Points awarded for each round win during Monday’s championship eliminations will be worth 30 points instead of the customary 20.

“I’m not in favor of the making the points one-and-a-half times the value that they usually are, but I understand they want to create more drama for fans,” said Beckman, who won the Funny Car title at Indy in 2015 for Don Schumacher Racing in Terry and Doug Chandler’s Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T.

“Points should be absolute like they are in football and baseball: points and runs don’t change all year. Let’s not change our sport.”

But the veteran driver, who also owns three all-star shootout titles at Indy, acknowledges when it comes to the 63rd annual “Big Go” points do not matter.

“Even without any points, you’d still do everything you could to win Indy,” he said, “The proof is how many teams were at Indy to test for two days last week. These teams could have used a break and we didn’t need to tear up any more parts. But we were there flogging our stuff making seven or eight runs to get ready for Indy.

“They could not offer any points at Indy and it would still be Indy. And we’d all still be there.”

Beckman called his team’s test last week one of the five best of his career. “And I’ve tested a lot.”

One example was a Friday night run when he set unofficial Indy track records with a run in 3.827 seconds at 337.07 mph with crew chiefs Dean Antonelli, John Medlen and Neal Strausbaugh.

“I think if you go to a test session and your car goes to the finish line under power on every run, you’re not pushing the envelope enough,” Beckman said. “The whole point of a test session isn’t to just go and make laps, it’s not practice. It’s trying things you think might work and they don’t all work.”

Beckman and the Infinite Hero Dodge has won two titles this year and will start Friday night qualifying ranked fifth in points behind DSR teammates Ron Capps (first), Matt Hagan (third) and Tommy Johnson Jr. (fourth).

The potential for a big points swing with 191 points up for grabs over Labor Day Weekend could allow Beckman to move up as high as second. Each position he can advance would pay dividends when the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff begins two weeks after Indy near Charlotte and the points for the top-10 drivers will be reset. The regular season points leader will start 20 points ahead of No. 2 with others set apart by 10-point intervals.

“Every spot you can advance could be instrumental when the Mello Yello championship trophy is handed out. It’s important to move up in the standings this weekend but it’s more important to win Indy. And if you win Indy, the points will take care of themselves.”

Testing provides a confidence boost for two-time Funny Car champion Hagan and U.S. Nationals defending event winners

– Two-time Funny Car champion and defending U.S. Nationals event winner Matt Hagan feels a successful test session last week near Indianapolis last week has given the Mopar Express Lane Powered by Pennzoil team a much needed boost ahead of this week’s prestigious event.

The team elected to run a new Don Schumacher Racing chassis during a test session last week at Lucas Oil Raceway and the decision by crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen has already paid dividends by giving the team a confidence boost.

“You don’t expect to run a 3.86 on the second hit with new pipe (chassis), a whole new computer system, timing system and everything else,” Hagan said. “Everything worked the way it was supposed to. We had been set up to run both days of testing but after that run Dickie decided that was enough.

“It was a confidence booster for us. We ran a 3.80 with our old car (at Brainerd, Minn.) and it’s a good feeling to know that will be in the box (trailer) as our back-up when we get to Indy.”

The goal at this weekend’s U.S. Nationals is to reclaim second in NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car points standings after the team fell to third two weeks ago in Brainerd when a mechanical malfunction resulted in a rare first round loss for Don Schumacher Racing’s Mopar team.

Each round win is worth 30 points at this weekend’s U.S. Nationals instead of the standard 20.

“It’s a seven-race Countdown for us and it starts with the U.S. Nationals. We showed on the first day of testing what we can do with a brand new car and the old one’s last run was a 3.80.

“We know we can catch (John Force Racing’s Robert) Hight for the No. 2 spot but we have to watch out for our teammate Tommy (Johnson Jr.) because that Make-A-Wish team has been running great.

“We need to hit our stride again. We’ve had some aggravating problems this summer. Hopefully we have all that out of the way and we can hunker down and get back to where we were early in the season.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be with Don Schumacher Racing and be able make it in all but one of the Countdowns and win a couple championships. We have to make it start working again for us next week, and we started with the good run in testing.”