DSR Heads to the Summernationals with Points Lead in Top Fuel and Funny Car
Red-hot Infinite Hero team looks to propel Beckman further up NHRA Funny Car standings at Englishtown
BROWNSBURG, IN – Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team presented Don Schumacher Racing with its 250th NHRA event title on May 24 at Topeka, Kan.
That alone would be a good reason for Jack and his team led by crew chief Jimmy Prock along with assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham to be enthusiastic for this weekend’s NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown, N.J.
But other accomplishments during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event two weeks ago also would provide significant reason for a big confidence boost after the Infinite Hero crew formed just prior to the start of the season did not qualify for the season-opener at Pomona, Calif.
When the Infinite Hero team arrives at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park it will be ranked third in the championship points standings and trailing Don Schumacher Racing teammate and points leader Ron Capps by 49.
Over the last seven races, the Infinite Hero team has earned the most Funny Car points in the series with two wins in three championship round appearances.
At Topeka, not only did Jack post career bests for elapsed time (3.972 seconds) and speed (322.04 mph), but the Infinite Hero team became the first to post four consecutive runs in the 3-second range and its total of five in seven runs is the most ever by one team at the same event. Jack is now the career leader in the category with 11 sub-4-second runs.
“I never thought we would see four (3-second passes) in a row and five total,” Jack said. “It was absolutely unbelievable.
“We had an outstanding weekend of racing. That’s a function of a (crew chief) Jimmy Prock tune-up. He’s a mad scientist. He can take a car that is really, really screwed up and break it down into segments going down the track. He figures it out quickly.
“I always feared pulling up to one of his race cars on race day,” he said of the longtime crew chief for John Force Racing. “Now I’m taking a lot of comfort in knowing that we might now be doing that to the car in the other lane.”
The Englishtown event is the first of three consecutive events on the NHRA tour. The series heads to Epping, N.H., next week followed by a stop at Bristol Dragway the following week. It could be a pivotal part of the season for the Infinite Hero team.
Tobler goes for 50 as NAPA team tries to hold onto No. 1 spot
Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team arrive for this weekend’s NHRA Summernationals with the championship points lead and want to leave Englishtown, N.J., with their third trophy of the season.
And one of the most important event wins for the Don Schumacher Racing’s NAPA team will be its next.
NAPA crew chief Rahn Tobler is one winner’s circle visit from making his 50th trip to each race’s prime piece of real estate that also will be the 17th time he’s led a DSR Funny Car team to victory. Tobler has won 12 times with Ron and four times with Jack Beckman before he was paired with the NAPA Dodge.
“We know it’s going to happen soon but it can’t come soon enough,” said Ron, who has been atop the NHRA Mello Yello standings since the end of April.
“I have been blessed to have some really great crew chiefs to work with like Tobler, Ed ‘the Ace’ McCulloch, Roland Leong, Tim Richards and Dale Armstrong – the best of the best,” Ron said. “That’s what is great about getting to drive for the team I get to drive for. We always get the best equipment, and the best people want to drive for Don.
“Rahn Tobler, you talk about NAPA know how, and I always brag about that term, he is that.”
In 75 events with Tobler at the helm of the NAPA team, Capps has won 12 times or 16 percent of the time.
Although the NAPA team lost May 24 in the quarterfinals, Tobler’s focus on improving Capps top-end speed was apparent when the NAPA Dodge posted a career-best speed of 324.12 mph in qualifying and a 320 in eliminations.
“He’s really been working on our speed and it showed in Topeka,” Ron said. “It’s just neat to see Tobler and (assistant) Eric (Lane) work on these little things and then show up at the next race and accomplish goals like our speed. We’re building momentum, and it’s a lot of fun to drive this NAPA car.”
The Englishtown event is the first of three consecutive events on the NHRA tour. The series heads to Epping, N.H. next week followed by a stop at Bristol Dragway the following week.
Top Fuel leader, Matco Tools team take No. 1 spot to Englishtown; Antron goes for 50 where three generations of Browns will race
It’s always a special time when Antron Brown returns to his home track in New Jersey for the NHRA Summernationals in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
It was where he grew up on weekends while his father, Albert Brown, and uncle, Andre Brown, would race at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.
That alone makes the stop on the 24-race series one he circles each year, but this weekend marks even more reasons to enjoy a special trip home.
Brown, 39, will arrive as the Mello Yello Top Fuel points leader as one of only two drivers through eight events to win two national event titles. The next one will mark a milestone as it will be the 50th time he has left a race with an NHRA Wally trophy since turning pro in 1998 in the Pro Stock Motorcycle category.
“I can’t even believe I’ve won 49 races,” he said of 33 Top Fuel wins and another 16 in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
“There wouldn’t be a better place for me to get my 50th Wally than at Englishtown. That’s where it all started for me. I remember riding my dirt bike there and watching my dad and uncle race at Englishtown and playing under the grandstands. There are so many great memories there.
“I’ve been so blessed to be with our Matco Tools/U.S. Army team. All my family will be out at Englishtown and sharing that with them would be more than I could ask.
“But our team has to treat it like any other race. We’ll just put our Matco tools to use, keep our heads down and go from A to B.”
While Brown’s father and uncle will compete in the NHRA Sportsman competition at the Summernationals, his 21-year-old cousin, D’Andre Redfern, is a crew member with Terry McMillen’s Top Fuel team.
Brown and his wife Billie Jo’s three children – Arianna (13), Anson (10) and Adler (7) – compete regularly in the NHRA Jr. Dragster program to comprise the fourth generation of drag racing Browns.
It all started with Brown’s late grandfather, Albert S. “Alby” Brown.
“Grandpop Alby was the first Brown to go down a dragstrip and he was pretty darn good at it,” said the 2012 Top Fuel world champion and first African-American to win a major American automobile championship. “He started the Brown drag-racing gene with support from my grandma (Dolores) who comes to a lot of our races.
“Grandpop never got to see me race or meet my wife Billie Jo and our three. He went to heaven when I was 6. That’s 33 years ago but I think about him a lot and remember all the stories I’ve been told about him. He was a smart man, a good man, a family man and always there to help people.
“I wish I had more memories but my dad and uncle and grandmom have told me so many stories. So many people are responsible for who I am today and being able to live my dream of being a professional drag racer, but my roots in racing go back to one man I wish I could have gotten to know better.
“Everyone in my life has contributed in some way for me to be able to own 49 NHRA Wally trophies and the 2012 Mello Yello Top Fuel championship.
Brown’s grandparents worked at General Motors in New Jersey when they lived on one paycheck and saved the other until they had enough to buy a house and 10 acres in 1953 in Chesterfield, N.J., and three years later he started Albert S. Brown & Sons Septic Services.
The 58-year-old business continues today as one of the longest running African-American businesses in the area.
“A lot of my peers always wonder why I work so hard in drag racing. Well, as much as I love our family septic business I don’t want to be No. 1 in the ‘No. 2’ business,” Brown joked. “I just want to be No. 1 on the racetrack.”
Massey hopes to put Sandvik Coromant dragster in Englishtown winner’s circle during this weekend’s NHRA Summernationals
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series embarks on a three-week journey of consecutive races beginning this weekend at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.
Spencer Massey and the Sandvik Coromant/Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher Top Fuel team are looking to improve on their consistency and join their Don Schumacher Racing teammates Antron Brown and Tony Schumacher at the top of the NHRA Top Fuel points standings.
The Sandvik team enters this weekend’s 46th annual NHRA Summernationals fourth in the standings, less than one round out of the top-three.
“We have some work to do as far as being consistent throughout the weekend,” Spencer said. “You kind of have to forget Topeka because those were really rare conditions all weekend long and we probably won’t see conditions like that again until this fall.”
Spencer holds the New Jersey track’s elapsed time and speed records at 3.728 seconds and 329.91 mph from the June event in 2012. He also has one event title from Raceway Park in 2011.
“We’ve definitely have had some success at Englishtown in the past,” he said. “This weekend it’s all about having a solid weekend, not hurting parts or pieces to start out this three-race swing and just be consistent.”
Spencer is also hopeful to have a successful weekend for the Sandvik Coromant employees that will be in attendance.
“This race is in Sandvik’s backyard and it would be really cool to go out there and do well for all of their employees that come out and support us.”
Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots team with Hagan ready to start off three consecutive NHRA weekends with a win at Englishtown
Matt Hagan is on a unique trend through the eight NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events this season.
The Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots team enjoyed back-to-back wins to start the season at Pomona, Calif., and near Phoenix. Then Matt and the team lost in the opening round at the next two events, the second round at the fifth and sixth Mello Yello events and most recently reached the semifinals in the seventh and eighth events near Atlanta and Topeka.
Matt hopes that trend means he’s headed back to the winner’s circle at this weekend’s NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.
“That’s interesting,” Matt said. “That just shows the steady climb we’ve made since those back-to-back first-round losses.”
The team led by crew chief Dickie Venables has been trying some new things with the car in hopes of learning something that could help the Mopar team in this year’s six-race playoff for the NHRA Countdown to the Championship that begins after Labor Day.
The defending world champions enter this weekend’s event just five points behind Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps, who holds the Funny Car points lead. The Mopar team won the pole and went on to win the Englishtown event in 2013.
“We’re sitting second in the points right now and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Matt said. “Every time we make a lap with this car Dickie is learning something new and that’s huge. We’re just gathering up all the data we can and trying to stay up in the top three in points so when the Countdown comes we’re in a good position.”
The Englishtown event is the first of three consecutive events on the NHRA tour. The series heads to Epping, N.H. next week followed by a stop at Bristol Dragway the following week.
“This is a crucial part of our season right now. It would be nice to get some momentum going during these three races and into the summer.”
