DSR Heads to Atlanta with Renewed Confidence
Brown, Matco Tools team ready for hot pursuit of reclaiming No. 1 spot when Mello Yello series heads to Atlanta Dragway this week
BROWNSBURG, IN – Antron Brown and Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher have treated the top 
spot in the NHRA Top Fuel standings like a hot potato the past three events in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
And heading to this weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga., Antron with his Matco Tools/U.S. Army team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald Mason is ready to take it back with a firm grip.
Antron grabbed to No. 1 spot in the standings after winning the Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte on March 29 and held it through the next race at Las Vegas despite losing the opening round, which is the earliest he’s exited this season.
But near Houston on April 26, he was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Schumacher, who advanced to the championship round and took the points lead after six of 24 events in the Mello Yello Series.
Antron, who owns 48 NHRA Wally trophies including 32 in Top Fuel and 16 in Pro Stock Motorcycle, fell to third after Houston but is only 37 points out of first while DSR teammate Spencer Massey jumped to second and is four points ahead of Antron.
DSR dragsters are not just ranked 1-2-3, but have won three of six titles including one by each driver, which also qualifies them for the $100,000 Traxxas Nitro Shootout on Sept. 5 during the U.S. Nationals.
Atlanta, however, has a different mojo for Antron than Schumacher.
While Antron has won there five times (three in Top Fuel and twice on a Suzuki) the venue is the only one of 18 tracks on the Mello Yello schedule where Schumacher has never won a title; considering he’s won a record 78 that says something.
“I’m not sure what that means,” Antron said.
“For me, I love Atlanta because it’s one of the closest races to where I grew up (in Chesterfield, N.J.) and it reminds me of one of the old school racetracks that I grew up around. When you go there it’s the history and environment that brings me back to when I was a little kid. The stands are really close to the track and a lot of old-school drag racers show up. It makes me feel like where it all started for me.
“It’s always been a good race track for me,” said Antron, who began competing in Top Fuel in 2007. “I distinctly remember winning there on the U.S. Army bike when I beat Andrew Hines in the final (2006). I remember getting my second Top Fuel Wally (with David Powers Motorsports) when I beat Tony on a holeshot (in 2008, a season when his future teammate and mentor at DSR won 15 of the 24 event titles). That was a huge deal because that was the era when no one was beating Tony.”
Even without his Atlanta successes – five event titles in six championship rounds – Atlanta would be a special place for Antron on the 24-event Mello Yello pro tour.
Capps, NAPA team arrive in Atlanta ranked No. 1 after recent win
– Timing is everything in the sport of 10,000-horsepower, nitromethane-fueled professional drag racing.
Drivers like Ron Capps, a 21-year NHRA professional, understands the importance of timing in races completed in 4 seconds or less at speeds of 320 mph. Reactions at the starting line can be the outcome’s determining factor.
Ron’s better reaction time twice in four side-by-side races enabled his NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to win his first NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series title of the year on March 15 at Gainesville, Fla.
Six weeks later on April 26, the California native living near San Diego and his NAPA team used perfect timing in another realm and in perhaps a more important way.
Ron won his 44th NHRA Funny Car trophy on Sunday (April 26) in the NHRA SpringNationals near Houston that enabled his Don Schumacher Racing NAPA Dodge team to win for the second time in three championship rounds through six races and moved to No. 1 in the Mello Yello championship standings with 18 events remaining in the season.
It couldn’t have come at a more opportune time before Ron headed to Las Vegas a week later for the weeklong NAPA EXPO where NAPA executives joined with 17,000 store owners, managers and vendors for the largest dealer meeting in the industry.
And this week, he will be in the Atlanta area to race in the NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce which is close to NAPA headquarters in Atlanta.
Nothing is better for a race team or driver than to be able to walk into your marketing partner’s largest corporate gathering and then into its backyard carrying a recently won trophy along with the No. 1 ranking.
“It was great when we won at Atlanta because we could share the winner’s circle with our NAPA AUTO PARTS executives and families,” said Ron, who has won 44 NHRA Funny Car titles including two at Atlanta.
“There isn’t a whole lot more fun a race team can have than to win in their sponsor’s backyard and be able to share the win with them.
“It was very special for me after we won at Atlanta in 2012 to be able to stop at NAPA headquarters on my way to the airport and put the trophy on the desk of Tom Gallagher (chief executive officer of Genuine Auto Parts of which NAPA is a subsidiary).
“The only thing better than winning at Atlanta would be to win one of our last two races of the year in Las Vegas or Pomona (Calif.) to clinch a world championship,” said Ron, who is a five-time season runner-up, most recently in 2012 when he lost the championship by an NHRA-record two points.
Ron arrives at Atlanta in the best points position he’s been in at the track in 10 years when he last arrived there ranked No. 1.
Very few athletes invest as much time supporting a marketing partner than Ron, who joined DSR in 2005 and began racing NAPA colors in 2008.
He flew more than 150,000 miles last year to attend Mello Yello races and devoted about 60 days to 40 non-racing NAPA events. Through the first four months of 2015, Capps has logged 61,000 miles in the air visiting NAPA locations and competing in six NHRA events.
He’ll share his next NAPA appearance 4-6 p.m. Wednesday with NAPA teammate and rising NASCAR star Chase Elliott at the Merchant’s Wa¬lk NAPA Store in Mariet¬ta, Ga.
“I feel like another NAPA employee during appearances at stores and distribution centers, but I’m the lucky one who gets to drive their 320-mph race car. I joke that I might be the world’s fastest parts delivery driver, but my NAPA Dodge just doesn’t one of our big yellow NAPA hats on the roof.”
Defending NHRA Southern Nationals Top Fuel winner Massey anxious to race Red Fuel dragster at Atlanta Dragway this weekend
– Spencer Massey is always anxious to get to the next NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event on the 24-race tour. Adding to the excitement of Spencer’s return to Atlanta Dragway is the fact that the Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher/Sandvik Coromant team is the defending event winner of the NHRA Southern Nationals event.
It has been more than two weeks since Spencer last strapped into his 10,000-horsepower Red Fuel dragster tuned by crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler. At the previous event near Houston in Spencer’s home state, the Red Fuel team earned their first No. 1 qualifier position of the season before being eliminated in the semifinal round.
This season, Spencer has one event title (Gainesville) and three semifinal finishes placing him second in Top Fuel points standings through six events.
“With six races complete I really feel like we have put ourselves in a good position this early in the season,” Spencer said. “We’ve also had some time off to regroup and get refreshed for these next couple of weeks and after that our schedule is all out, racing almost every weekend and I couldn’t be more excited.
“There is nowhere else I’d rather be than at a racetrack with my team, going rounds on race day in this Red Fuel dragster. I’m really excited to see what’s to come this season.”
Atlanta Dragway has been kind to Spencer. In addition to two wins in the Top Alcohol Dragster category in 2007 and 2008, Spencer has one win in two final round appearances in his professional Top Fuel career along with two poles (2009, 2011).
“I enjoy Atlanta Dragway,” he said. “It’s been good to me over the years and with this Red Fuel team I feel like we can win anywhere and we have proved it. We’re going rounds on race day, qualifying better and working on our consistency.
That has helped Spencer and the Red Fuel move up to second in NHRA Top Fuel points standings, less than two rounds of racing behind Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher. DSR teammate Antron Brown is just four points behind Spencer in third.
“It’s important for us to be in that top-three and we couldn’t have any tougher competition up there with us than our teammates, but we’ve had six races this year and there have been six different winners in Top Fuel so that just goes to show how tough it is every weekend.”
Hagan ready to return to seat of Mopar/Rocky Boots Funny Car for this weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway
– A break from NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series action doesn’t necessarily mean time off for Matt Hagan. Matt splits his time behind the wheel of his Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots Funny Car and behind the wheel of a tractor at his cattle farm in rural Virginia.
These past two weeks off of the NHRA circuit meant a lot of time on his farm near Christiansburg and with family for Matt. Aside from his farm chores that include spreading manure and sowing seed for grain he will use to feed the cattle he raises on his nearly 1,000-acre farm, Matt hosted a video crew and representatives from Rocky Outdoor Gear who chose Matt’s farm as the setting for an upcoming commercial for the Rocky brand.
“We had a couple weeks off and I got a lot accomplished around here at home,” Matt said. “With a farm, you never get all the chores done but I will say that I’ve got a lot done and I got to give my wife a little bit of a break and helped run the kids to their activities. My son, Colby, is big into baseball right now so it’s been nice to be home and see him play and take him to practice.
“Then we had the folks from Rocky out here last week and that was just awesome. I can’t tell you how excited it makes me that they picked me to do their commercial. We had a great time out at the farm and I really appreciate them picking this spot to do this. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.”
Matt will adjust from the seat of his John Deere tractor to the seat of his 10,000-horsepower Mopar Express Lane/Rocky 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for this weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, the seventh stop on the 24-race NHRA Mello Yello tour.
Matt has never won the event title at Atlanta Dragway but did have a runner-up finish there in 2013 after earning the pole that same year. Going into the event Matt has 199 career round wins in Funny Car.
“I hope I get that 200th round win,” he said with a laugh. “It’s been such a great season for this team already and we just need to get more consistent and turn on win lights on race day. It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve seen my guys and I couldn’t be more excited to get back to the track with my team and crawl back in that Mopar/Rocky Funny Car.”
The Mopar team led by crew chief Dickie Venables sits second in NHRA Funny Car points standings just six points behind Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps. Hagan’s team has two event titles (Pomona, Phoenix) already this season.
Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T pushing Beckman up points ladder as former world champ takes No. 6 ranking to Atlanta this week
– Jack Beckman reached the heights of professional drag racing in 2012 when his Don Schumacher Racing team won the NHRA Funny Car world championship.
After falling to the depths of not advancing to the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff last year, his Infinite Hero 2015 Dodge Charger R/T team led by crew chief Jimmy Prock with assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham has climbed to sixth in championship points heading to this weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga.
“I’d like to take this trio and group to the Atlanta winner’s circle after we win four rounds on Sunday,” he said of previous Atlanta celebrations in 2009 when Johnny West was his DSR crew chief and two years later with Rahn Tobler leading the team.
“My stance on our team right now is that I am completely confident we’re where we need to be with the car; it’s responding and is capable of winning every race we go to.”
The team snapped its 29-month streak of not winning an event trophy on March 29 when it won the Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte, and advanced to the championship round near Houston at the last race that enabled the team to jump four spots to sixth.
Also at Houston, Jack and his team won the pole by running the first and only sub-4-second run at the track when he recorded a 3.988-second run at 318.17 mph for the 13th quickest in Funny Car history and sixth of his career, which is third most by any driver. In the final round at this year’s Four-Wide Nationals, he completed his run in 3.983 for the seventh best of all time.
At Houston in the sixth event of the 24-race season, Jack advanced to the championship where he was leading teammate Ron Capps before a mechanical problem slowed the Infinite Hero Dodge that enabled Capps to get his second trophy of the year.
“It’s a matter of managing the things that have bitten us so far like at Houston where it was a fuel control valve’s O-ring,” Jack said. “We arguably had the best car there but it doesn’t matter at the end of the day if you’re not holding the trophy because you didn’t fulfill the main objective.
“The goal at Atlanta is to run strong right out of the gate in qualifying to get data early and then keep pressing hard on Sunday. Eventually our preparation will supersede bad fortune that can happen.”
With his feet firmly placed on a higher rung, Jack doesn’t plan to fall from the ladder as he ascends up the rankings.
