Capps hits the road with NAPA team en route Summernationals ready to start a new winning streak, extend Mello Yello points lead
All DSR Teams looking for another great weekend in Englishtown
BROWNSBURG, IN – Ron Capps couldn’t think of a better way to wrap up the most successful five races of his 
championship career than by hopping into one of Don Schumacher
Top: Ron Capps, Chris Afflerbach and Joe Chrisman; Above: Tyler Troxel and Terry Prososki.
Racing’s NAPA AUTO PARTS technology rigs to ride from Epping, N.H., to this week’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event near New York City.
Capps capped a four-race winning streak by advancing to the semifinals of Sunday’s New England Nationals, and joined his NAPA AutoCare crew for the 300-mile ride south to Englishtown, N.J., where the NHRA Summernationals begins on Friday.
“It’s a bummer the streak is over, but with the competition now in Funny Car, winning 17 rounds in a row like we did is pretty amazing,” he said.
To celebrate to run and get ready to start a new one, Capps rode shotgun with crewmen and semi drivers Tyler “Otis” Troxel and Terry “Sweet Chuck” Prososki when not riding in the luxury of the team’s Dodge Durango from Epping to Englishtown.
“It’s been a fun & very memorable last 5 races for our NAPA AUTO PARTS team,” Capps posted on his Facebook.com page. “While we lost in the semifinals Sunday, (crew chief Rahn) Tobler & the guys learned some very valuable things that are going to make our racecar even stronger the remainder of the season.”
Capps was able to maintain his points lead, but the margin was cut by 40 to 79 when DSR teammate Matt Hagan won his third title of the year through nine races. Third-place driver Courtney Force trails Capps by 263 points and Hagan by 184 with seven regular-season events left before the field is cut to the top-10 for the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff and 30 points will separate the top-2 seeds.
Englishtown is the second stop on Eastern Swing that includes four events in four weekends. The grueling stretch was nearly perfect a year ago for the NAPA AUTO PARTS team that won three of four titles to catapult Capps to the regular season championship and on to his first world championship.
Last year in the Summernationals, Capps won the pole and defeated DSR teammate Jack Beckman for the event title.
With four wins this year in nine races, Capps is ahead of his championship pace but knows momentum can change with nine regular-season races remaining.
“We really feel like we can get right back and get back on top and keep rolling in these points. They’re important right now. We obviously want to win the regular season, but just to take these rounds early in the year has been a lot of fun.”
Momentum after third win carries two-time Funny Car champ Hagan, Mopar Express Lane team into this week’s NHRA Summernationals
– Matt Hagan and the Mopar Express Lane team led by crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen started off the four-race “Eastern swing” last weekend in the best way possible.
Hagan and the team Powered by Pennzoil picked up their third win of the year in the New England Nationals at New England Dragway at Epping, N.H., and head to this weekend’s NHRA Summernationals in Englishtown, N.J., with momentum.
“You used to think the Western Swing (in the summer) was tough and now it’s like we have four in a row,” Hagan said. “And these guys, we’re talking like shipping parts here and there and everywhere else. I was talking to my Michael the other day and he was just like, ‘oh my gosh,’ just trying to keep up with the parts and pieces that have to come in and go out and all that kind of stuff, so all the behind the scenes that you don’t see that these guys have to do to make four in a row is craziness.
“I used to have my own team so I understand that when on Monday and Tuesday you sit down and that’s all you do is order parts. These race cars eat parts. It costs so much to make each run. It puts it in perspective. Any time you can put four races together and turn on four win lights on Sunday it’s a good day. Hopefully we can do that a couple more times coming up in these next few races.”
The Summernationals will be followed by events at Bristol, Tenn., and Norwalk, Ohio, on successive weekends. Hagan has confidence not only that the Mopar team can win this weekend in the Summernationals, but he’s looking ahead to the Countdown to the Championship.
“We’ve got a racecar that I think can win this whole thing this year,” he said. “Dickie’s racing smart and everybody hopes that we can win. It’s a great feeling, the confidence that you have that when you crawl into the car on Sundays and know you can turn four win lights on. But you’ve got to have a little luck come your way.
“It’s just one of those deals where you’ve got to take every round and just make it count. There’s a lot of times that it comes down to one or two rounds at the end of the year and you have to push in those situations. I’ve seen a couple championships won by one or two points. So every round counts, but obviously the last six races really count.”
Pennzoil and Dodge power DSR’s 330-mph Demon Top Fuel dragster with Leah to salute Challenger SRT Demon in NHRA Summernationals
-When Don Schumacher Racing’s points-leading Dodge Demon/Pennzoil Top Fuel dragster hits the starting line Friday with driver Leah Pritchett under the canopy for the NHRA Summernationals, it will mark the second event when the epitome of DSR marketing partners’ collaborations come to fruition – again.
Pennzoil and DSR created in a unique way to salute the upcoming release of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, the fastest and quickest production car to ever hit a dragstrip.
Pennzoil, which is in every Dodge vehicle when they leave the factory, has been the “Official Oil Technology” for DSR since March 2015 and has helped to produce three NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series world championships and 58 event titles.
“We have been excited since DSR made the switch to Pennzoil a little more than a year ago, and Pennzoil has lived up to their promises and have even gone beyond,” said DSR owner Don Schumacher, whose teams have won 16 NHRA world championships and 307 event titles since 1998.
It is only appropriate the quickest/fastest production car will be showcased again this weekend on the world’s quickest racecar – Pritchett drove to a record world elapsed time of 3.658 seconds in February near Phoenix. Las weekend, she piloted the Demon dragster to the No. 1 qualifying position with a track record time of 3.673 and a semifinals finish at Epping, N.H., to maintain her championship points lead.
“The idea for the two-race kickoff to salute the Demon with DSR and Leah makes perfect sense for us,” said Mark Henry, Shell Lubricants Brand and Communications Manager. “It was a smart way to expand our business-to-business relationships, especially against the backdrop of DSR’s annual Partner Summit with more than 60 of DSR’s marketing partners attending.”
The May 12 event was at DSR headquarters near Indianapolis.
“Pennzoil has been a tremendous asset to DSR since they joined our teams,” Schumacher said. “Beyond what Pennzoil’s great technology has done to improve our performance, they have powered us in marketing with programs like this one with Dodge.”
DSR art director Aaron Holland worked with Pennzoil and Dodge to create the eye-popping design seen on the dragster, Pritchett’s driving suit, helmet and crew shirts.
“Fans love it, we love it. It’s bringing out our inner Demon so to speak,” Pritchett said. “Aaron is a true artist and he gives all of the DSR team’s the best-looking racecars out here on the Mello Yello circuit.
“We wouldn’t be able to be able have the Dodge Demon out here were it not for Pennzoil, so this whole project has been about teamwork.
“I am above and beyond grateful and blessed to be able to be in this car. Don Schumacher had the vision for it and has been able to put the right people in the right places.”
Nothing would be more special to DSR and Pritchett than to have the 330-mph Mopar HEMI®-powered Demon Powered by Pennzoil dragster in the winner’s circle this Sunday at the NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, N.J.
Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Dodge team travels to Englishtown, Johnson hopes to continue momentum with second win at track
– Terry Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team continues on the “Eastern Swing” at this weekend’s 48th annual NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.
Driver Tommy Johnson Jr. believes the team’s progress at last weekend’s race in Epping, N.H., when it advance to the semifinals will continue at Englishtown.
“Coming off a semifinal definitely helps going into Englishtown,” said Johnson, whose team had not win a round of eliminations for four races after winning the event title at Las Vegas in early April.
“We’re trying to get back on track. We were in a bit of a slump and we’re trying to work our way out of it and no better time to do that then when you have four in a row.”
Englishtown is the second of four events in four weekends. “The guys haven’t had to service for a while after first round so just getting a confidence and build that momentum.”
In 2016, Johnson and the team, led by crew chief John Collins and assistant Rip Reynolds, qualified fifth with a time of 3.932 seconds at 322.88 mph and advanced to the second round of competition.
But Johnson has tasted success in the Summernationals.
“I won Englishtown in ’07 and would love to go back and relive a little bit of that magic and keep this momentum going.
“Englishtown has tremendous avid fans. They’re diehard drag racing fans and it’s just a historic race. It’s one of the top-tier races that you want to win and have on your resume.
“We’d like to do it again and have multiple victories in E-Town. It’s just a great event and in such a great part of the country, right there near New York City and all the people there. It’s not a bad place to win.”
Beckman looks for first win at Englishtown, first of Mello Yello season for Chandler’s Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T team
– After an early exit at last weekend’s NHRA New England Nationals, Jack Beckman and Terry Chandler’s Infinite Hero Foundation Funny Car team are ready to get back on the racetrack for some redemption.
They won’t have to wait long as the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series travels this weekend to Englishtown, N.J., for the 48th annual NHRA Summernationals.
“We had a poor showing in Epping and we only have five days to ruminate in it and we’re right back out there, more motivated than ever for Englishtown,” Beckman said.
The restructured Infinite Hero 2017 Dodge Charger R/T team with new crew chiefs Dean Antonelli, John Medlen and Neal Strausbaugh continue to improve but are still looking for their first NHRA event title this year. They are ranked sixth in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series points but only 27 outside of third place.
“I truly want our first win as a team this weekend and first at Englishtown, especially after being close and getting runner-up last year,” said Beckman, the 2012 Funny Car world champion.
Last year, Beckman advanced to the final round but came up short to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps.
“I don’t think there’s any way I can be more motivated, and I know John, Dean and Neal can’t be more motivated.
“We made wholesale changes to our car right up until the warm-up for first round on Sunday. I was proud of the guys and how brave they were. I think we learned some stuff from it and when we warm that car up on Friday of Englishtown, it’s with the mindset that we’re there to win.”
This weekend’s NHRA Summernationals takes three-time Top Fuel champion Brown back to his New Jersey roots to get energized
– Antron Brown is proud of his roots in Chesterfield, N.J., and racing this weekend in the NHRA Summernationals is a homecoming for the three-time and reigning Top Fuel championship driver of the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster.
Fellow competitors in the NHRA Mello Yello Series should beware because Brown says that racing at his home track fuels him for the rest of the season.
“When I get to come home, I start thinking about the big picture about why I do what I do,” said Brown, who won at Englishtown in 2015 in Top Fuel and twice in Pro Stock Motorcycle. “I just don’t go out there and act like I’m happy to be out there. I go out there to compete because of how hard we’ve worked to make this all happen. When I come back here, it’s a pure reminder that I can’t be idle and take it all for granted. I want to put the work in and get better, and this race ignites me for the rest of the year.”
Brown grew up attending Old Bridge Township Raceway Park races with his father, Albert, and uncle, Andre.
“I just look forward to coming back to my roots, being with my dad and my uncle, and reminiscing about where I got the love for the sport and where it’s gotten to me today. It’s a lot of fun to come here and just think back to when this was all a childhood dream, thinking about all the good times and bad times to get there.”
Brown and the Matco Tools team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald with assistant Brad Mason have two wins in four final round appearances this season and sit second in Top Fuel points standings, trailing Don Schumacher Racing teammate Leah Pritchett by 34 through nine races.
“The driving force, not just for me but for my entire team, is that we want to compete,” Brown said. “The harder the challenge, the more it forces us to evolve and get better, and become greater than before. Over the last several years it’s just getting tougher and tougher, but the challenge is to continue to elevate our game.
“Can we be a champion again? Do what have what it takes to do it again when the stakes are even higher? That brings out the best in our team. When it gets to that, it pushes us into a corner and I feel like we do our best when we feel that pressure.”
