DSR looking to capitalize on history at ‘4 Wide’
Langdon hopes to add more special memories at zMAX Dragway by winning this weekend’s Four-Wide NHRA event with Red Fuel team
BROWNSBURG, IN – Racing near Charlotte is special for Shawn Langdon because zMAX Dragway is the site of his 
first career Top Fuel win in 2012, and he’s hoping it’ll be the site of his first win of 2016 with the Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher/Sandvik Coromant team.
This weekend’s seventh annual Four-Wide NHRA Nationals features racing in foursomes instead of pairs. The unique event presents its own challenges for drivers and teams but Langdon knows he has to remain focused and not get distracted by his surroundings.
“The Four-Wide is such a unique event,” Langdon said. “There’s nothing else like it. You just have to really focus on your starting line procedures and once you hit the gas it’s all pretty much the same. It can definitely be a challenge but you just have to stay focused and not let it get the best of you.”
Don Schumacher Racing’s Red Fuel team led by crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler is still searching for success this year in the Mello Yello series. The team has not advanced out of the opening round of eliminations through four events.
“The thing about Don Schumacher Racing is that when you’re struggling there are some really good people here that will come over and see what they can do to help,” Langdon said.
“That’s been Antron (Brown’s) Matco team. His crew chiefs Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald) helped us in testing after Vegas and their assistant Brad Mason was helping our guys at the shop. We were trying things and not getting the results we wanted so they really came in and helped us create a game plan and we’re going in a different direction.”
Langdon has 11 career Top Fuel event titles and feels confident heading into this weekend’s Four-Wide Nationals that the Red Fuel team will earn win lights during Sunday’s eliminations.
“I feel like Charlotte will be a good weekend for us,” he said. “We’ve found some things, changed some things and there’s no reason that we can’t go out there and be successful.
“Charlotte is special because it’s where I got my first Top Fuel win. I’d love to get a win in the Four-Wide there because it is such a unique event.”
Hagan hopes history at track near Charlotte serves up success for Mopar/Rocky Dodge this weekend in Four-Wide Nationals
– Matt Hagan wants some home cookin’ to get his Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots Dodge Charger R/T ready for a long Sunday during the seventh annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals this weekend near Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The two-time Funny Car world champion in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series won’t be taking the 165-mile trip to his cattle farm in Christiansburg, Va., each night to load up on vittles prepared by his wife, Rachel.
Hagan does his own cookin’ at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., on the all-concrete dragstrip and he’s feasted on some good eating there.
The 2011 and 2014 world champion is ready for his Don Schumacher Racing Dodge Charger R/T and the Rocky/Mopar team to extend its workday during championship eliminations on the final day of competition in the unique race that pits four Funny Cars side by side in a display of a combined 40,000 horsepower.
Hagan with crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen won the Four-Wide Nationals in 2013 and have won at the track two other times in a total of five final round appearances.
It’s also where he became the first NHRA Funny Car driver to crack the 4-second barrier when he completed a run in 3.995 seconds in 2011 that led to the lane being named in honor of the run.
“Man, that sure seems like a long time ago,” said Hagan, who currently is tied with teammate Jack Beckman for the quickest run ever in Funny Car with a time of 3.879 seconds.
Success this weekend will go a long way toward righting Hagan’s ship as the team is off to the slowest start of his nine-year career. The team is ranked 10th in points and have a 1-4 record in eliminations.
“We have nowhere to go but up,” he said. “I don’t know if we can get it all turned around this weekend, but I’m optimistic. We tested (two weeks ago) after the race at Las Vegas and we learned some things and we plan to stay at zMAX on Monday to test some more. We have 20 races left so it’s a long way to go.”
It has been a topsy-turvy season after four events that have featured four different winners in Funny Car and four unique winners in Top Fuel. A year ago, Hagan started the season by winning the first two Mello Yello events.
“I believe in Dickie and our team. Nothing has changed there,” Hagan said. “We’ve trying some things to get better and we’ve fallen behind. But we’ll be back, if not this weekend than the following weekend at Houston.”
Rainfall on his 1,000-acre cattle farm in Virginia also is not at a pace he expected.
“I can’t remember when it’s been so dry this time of the year. I’ve got a lot of money in fertilizer that’s sitting on the ground until we get some rain. Nothing would be better this weekend than to get our first Wally (trophy) of the year and a good, old gully washer back home.”
The Four-Wide Nationals will be televised on Fox Sports 1 (FS1) with qualifying highlights on Saturday at 10 p.m. (ET) and finals coverage 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Brown looking for third straight Four-Wide Top Fuel title this weekend as Matco Tools team heads to Charlotte after winning at Las Vegas
– Antron Brown knows the key to success at the seventh annual Four-Wide NHRA Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte.
With a track record four wins at the facility including the last two Four-Wide titles, the Matco Tools/U.S. Army team with Brown has been able to adapt to the challenging scenario of four 10,000-horsepower nitro machines racing at once instead of racing two at a time.
“Our success in the Four-Wide is because of the adaptability our Matco/U.S. Army/Toyota team has,” Brown said. “It’s a totally different race and we have been able to adapt to that unique format and everything that goes on around us.
“What we do is accept the challenge and the harder the challenge the more focused we get on the task at hand. You have to be on your toes in the Four-Wide with everything that goes on. You can’t mess up because it’s a battle royal. Things come at you from all directions and you have to hit it quick and get ahead.”
That focus helped the Matco Tools team sweep the spring and fall Charlotte events last year in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series en route to their seven event titles that helped them earn their second world championship in four years.
Brown is looking for a three-peat at the Four-Wide this year.
“The stakes are even higher in the Four-Wide, and we give it all we have and any extra we can find. You have to beat two cars until the final and then you have to beat three. We throw the strategy of racing one car out the window. We can’t leave anything on the table.”
The team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald with assistant Brad Mason scored their first event title of 2016 at Las Vegas (April 3) in dominating fashion, clocking four runs between 3.82 and 3.84 seconds during eliminations.
“That’s what we shoot for every race weekend, and we’re always trying to learn from whatever happens; not just learn from it, but to build upon it for the next race. That’s always our goal,” Brown said.
“We don’t do anything different. We just try to be more efficient every time we go up to the starting line.”
Hot rod project takes two-week hiatus while Beckman strives to transition three poles into winner’s circle trip for Infinite Hero
– Jack Beckman’s next career could involve a reality show on HGTV, the Discovery Channel or another cable outlet that features at-home, do-it-yourself projects.
And now the 2012 Funny Car world championship driver for the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T team funded by Terry Chandler is returning to his mechanical roots with a very special automotive repair project destined for reality TV.
Before becoming a full-time Funny Car pilot in 2006 for Don Schumacher Racing, the Southern California resident was the primary mechanic on the dragster he drove to the 2003 NHRA Super Comp world championship.
After being featured in NHRA videos over the past years that have chronicled construction of a garage at his home in Norco, Calif., that project was sealed as he helped apply a high-tech epoxy coating to his “man cave” garage floor.
And now it’s time for the 49-year-old father of two to put the space to use as the headquarters for restoration of the 1968 Chevrolet El Camino that he used to obtain his driver’s license when he was 16.
“My temporary driver’s permit is still in the glovebox.
“It’s been at least 15 years since I drove it,” said Beckman, who clocked a time of 15.06 seconds at 90 mph on his first pass down a dragstrip in the El Camino when he was 19 and stationed in the U.S. Air Force at Clovis, N.M.
His father, Bob Beckman, bought it in 1979 and sold it to his son two years later when he was 15.
“In addition to all of my kids’ sporting and extracurricular activities I decided to fill up the remainder of my free time with a hot rod project.”
But don’t expect his Infinite Hero crew chief Jimmy Prock or assistants John Medlen and Chris Cunningham to start asking Beckman to do much more than drive the Funny Car.
“After I busted my pinkie trying to work on our racecar during the test at Phoenix (in February) they won’t let me touch anything but the steering wheel and parachute,” he said. “That’s probably a good idea.”
Beckman, whose team now owns nine NHRA track elapsed time records and five speed marks, won’t have much time over the next two weeks to work on his hot rod considering he’ll be racing in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend and a week later near Houston.
The Infinite Hero team will start this weekend ranked fifth and 70 points out of first heading to the unique four-lane zMAX Dragway in the sport’s only event that matches four Funny Cars at a time.
Results have been unpredictable through four events in the 24-race Mello Yello Series with four different teams winning. That does not include Beckman, who won seven times last year, although he has earned three of this year’s four No. 1 qualifying spots and set the national time record with a run of 3.879 seconds last month at Gainesville, Fla.
“I’d trade my three green hats (for winning those poles) for one yellow one you get for winning the race,” he said. “I’m not tired of winning those green hats because that’s worth (qualifying bonus) points, but I’d rather qualify 16th and end up winning the trophy.”
A year ago in the Four-Wide, the Infinite Hero team won the title that broke the longest non-winning streak of Beckman’s career at 54 races that dated to his 2012 championship season.
The race will be televised on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), with qualifying highlights on April 23 at 10 p.m. and finals coverage on April 24 at 4:30 p.m.
Johnson, Make-A-Wish team hopeful for repeat of Charlotte success at this weekend’s unique Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte
– It’s a new year in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series but Tommy Johnson Jr. is looking to repeat last year’s success at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte this weekend at the seventh annual Four-Wide Nationals.
The unique event features racing in foursomes instead of typical pairs at the 23 other Mello Yello races. In Sunday’s eliminations, the top-two cars from each heat advance through the first and second rounds before the final. At last year’s Four-Wide event, Johnson and the Make-A-Wish team funded by Terry Chandler reached the final round of eliminations.
“It’s different but it’s not a lot different,” Johnson said of the format. “It just requires you to pay a little more attention on the starting line. It makes you think a little more because there’s more going on. Once you stage the car, everything is the same. The few times I’ve run the Four-Wide, I was surprised by how little I realized it was four-wide. In the big picture it’s not that different, there’s just a couple little things that are different that requires more focus for the driver.”
The facility, nicknamed the Bellagio of Drag Strips, was good to Don Schumacher Racing’s Make-A-Wish team led by crew chief John Collins and assistant Rip Reynolds last season. Last fall, they claimed their second of three No. 1 qualifying positions and their fourth of six runner-up finishes.
“I like the Charlotte track, it’s kind of a home race for me with my family living there,” he said. “We went to two final rounds there last year so that definitely gives us excitement going there.”
The Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car has had a challenging start in this year’s Mello Yello series with three first-round losses in four events but Johnson feels they are about to turn the corner.
“I know our team is so close to performing well and being in the final and I would say there’s no better opportunity for that then this weekend in Charlotte because we had so much success there last year. We have a lot of good data to look back at. I’d like to win the Four-Wide because it’s such a unique race. Now would be a good time for us to turn the corner and get our team on track.”
An added benefit for Johnson is having his family in attendance at zMAX Dragway.
“It’s not where I grew up but it’s where my family is all located now. It’s neat to go visit with my family. It’s a chance for my family to bring people out that maybe haven’t been around drag racing much and are more into the NASCAR world so it’s a good chance for us to maybe convert some of those race fans into drag racing fans.”
Capps set to double his fun this weekend in Four-Wide Nationals
– Ron Capps is a drag racing traditionalist who revels in talking about the sport’s past six decades.
That’s not to say he is reluctant to try something new, and he’s become a big fan of four-wide racing that was introduced seven years ago at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Nothing would please him more than to add an NHRA Wally trophy to his collection weekend by winning at near Charlotte in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, the only event on the NHRA Mello Yello circuit that pits four cars side by side in a 40,000-horsepower attack on the senses.
“I look forward to the Four-Wide,” he said. “Some say drag racing should be this or that. The Four-Wide has been a work in progress but the last few years a lot of improvements have been made, like with the Christmas trees, and we all are more used to it.
“I grew up at a racetrack every weekend with my dad, and I remember his stories about back at tracks (in California’s San Joaquin Valley) that were old airports where they race eight, 10 or even 12 wide.”
The 21st century of multiple lane drag racing is far safer with a guardwall separating two pairs of two-lane tracks.
In the Four-Wide, four pro racecars compete together in each of four qualifying sessions beginning Friday with the 16 quickest advancing to Sunday’s championship elimination rounds in which the first two to the finish line move on to the next heat. In the third and final group of four, the first to the line gets the coveted Wally.
“It’s an exciting race, and I tell fans they have to see it,” said Capps, who won this year’s season-opener and ranks third in championship points with Don Schumacher Racing’s NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T team led by crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant Eric Lane.
“I guarantee you that after the first qualifying session on Friday every driver will be talking about how they staged and jumping around because it was so much fun. It’s just so different.”
Most Funny Car drivers could use a change of pace after the first four of 24 races in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series when a different driver has won at each stop.
Capps and his NAPA team could use something out of the norm to get back on the winning track after not qualifying two weeks ago for the NHRA event at Las Vegas.
That, however, could be a good omen as the last time the team did not qualify for championship eliminations was in 2013 and the NAPA team rallied to win the Wally at the next event.
The race will be televised on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), with qualifying highlights on April 23 at 10 p.m. and finals coverage on April 24 at 4:30 p.m.
