DSR Ready for Brianerd
Points-leading Rocky Boots/Mopar team with Hagan continue hard working ways heading into this weekend’s NHRA event in Brainerd
BRAINERD, MN – Matt Hagan knows hard work. As the owner and operator of an expanding cattle farm in rural 
Virginia, he is hands-on throughout the week on his farm before crawling into the Rocky Boots/Mopar Express Lane Funny Car on the weekends.
While most of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series spent last weekend at home, Matt and the Brownsburg, Ind., based championship team traveled to Norwalk, Ohio, for the annual Night Under Fire event at Summit Motorsports Park.
The team utilized the day in Norwalk to test and gather valuable information for the remainder of the NHRA season including the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Led by crew chief Dickie Venables, the Mopar team has won four event titles this season and hold a five-point lead over surging Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman in the Funny Car points standings.
This weekend’s NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway is the penultimate event of the 16-race Mello Yello regular season with only the prestigious U.S. Nationals over Labor Day Weekend near Indianapolis left before the fields of top-10 are determined to compete for NHRA world championships in the Countdown to the Championship.
“I really appreciate the hard work this Rocky Boots/Mopar team is putting in to be able to defend our championship,” Matt said. “Most NHRA teams were off last weekend but not us. We used the opportunity to go to the Night Under Fire to learn more about this car and to get ready for the Countdown.
“The guys are working extremely hard and we hope that it pays off in the form of a couple more Wally trophies and the big trophy at the end of the year. There’s a lot of racing left to do this year. The hard work starts at the top with Dickie and (Michael) Knudsen. They’re fine-tuning this car and what we’re capable of and the guys are just doing a great job right.”
Matt and the Rocky/Mopar team were runner-up at Brainerd in 2013. They have only lost to DSR teammates in the past four NHRA events.
“It seems we’ve been running into our teammates a little early on race day these past few weeks so we’ll go into Brainerd focused first on qualifying well and then go from there on race day. Brainerd is unique, it’s a pretty cool place and there are a lot of NHRA fans up there. I’m ready to get back in this Dodge Charger for another weekend of fun.”
Remarkable Western Swing pulls Beckman, Infinite Hero team within five points of Funny Car lead heading to Brainerd
– Call them Jimmy, John and Chris.
Or call them Prock, Medlen and Cunningham.
Ah, heck, just call them Pro-Med-Ingham.
And call them the record-setting turnaround kings.
Jack Beckman, driver of their Don Schumacher Racing Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T, is running out of superlatives to describe the Prock Rocket trio after stunning performances exhibited during the recently completed three-week NHRA Western Swing through Denver, Sonoma, Calif., and Seattle.
The Infinite Hero team completed the three races in three weeks with two Funny Car titles, three mindnumbingly quick runs and set the NHRA national elapsed time record in Funny Car.
The team won two of the three Western Swing races and three of the past five. At Sonoma, Jack ran the quickest ever lap at 3.921 seconds and backed that up later in the event with a 3.958 that was within 1 percent of the 3.921 to establish the record.
The following week at Pacific Raceways near Seattle, the team uncorked a time of 3.912 that became the quickest ever en route to finishing in the semifinals but the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T couldn’t come within 1 percent to further lower the mark.
But what’s more shocking is how the team rebounded from not qualifying for the season-opener in Feburary at Pomona, Calif., and rallied for five titles over in the last 13 races that puts them only five points behind DSR teammate Matt Hagan and crew chief Dickie Venables for the points lead heading to this weekend’s race at Brainerd International Raceway in central Minnesota.
This weekend is the penultimate event of the 16-race Mello Yello season with only the prestigious U.S. Nationals over Labor Day Weekend near Indianapolis left before the fields of top-10 are determined to compete for NHRA world championships in the six-race Countdown to the Championship. The points leader after Indy will take a 30-point lead into the playoff with the other eight drivers separated by 10 points.
“We’re chasing Hagan and Dickie and they have been the class of the field for a year and a half and they stretched out a lead that I thought was insurmountable,” Jack said of the reigning Funny Car world champions that led his Infinite Hero team by 145 points eight races ago and had cut the gap to 86 before the Western Swing.
“They won their fourth race before anyone but Capps had won two races. The only way to catch a car like that is if you do perfect and they stumble, but we did better than perfect on the Western Swing because we got the national record and all those bonus points in qualifying.
“If we can take over first, that’s a 30 points cushion and more importantly, it’s a 60-point swing relative to the top two teams.”
To help prepare for this weekend’s Brainerd event, Jack and his family flew to Boise, Idaho, where he made 15 laps over four days driving a 160-mph Top dragster owned by longtime friends Dick and Kathi Vandermeer of Nampa, Idaho.
Brown knows importance of qualifying effort for Matco Tools team, chase continues at Brainerd to catch teammate for Top Fuel lead
– Antron Brown usually lets things roll right off his strong back, but the disappointment he felt along with crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald stung deeper when their Matco Tools/U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster had a premature end to the last Mello Yello Drag Racing Series race.
But the drive that earned the Don Schumacher Racing team the 2012 world championship and a category-best four Mello Yello trophies this season is ready to be shifted into high gear this weekend in the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway in northern Minnesota that is the penultimate event in the NHRA regular season.
After Brainerd, the last event of the 16-race Mello Yello season will be the prestigious U.S. Nationals over Labor Day Weekend near Indianapolis left before the fields of top-10 are determined to compete for NHRA world championships in the six-race Countdown to the Championship.
And while the Matco team has clinched a berth in the Countdown, it isn’t giving up on overtaking teammate Tony Schumacher for the regular season points lead for the No. 1 seed that earns a 30-point lead to start the playoffs.
“We have to go to Brainerd and go to work,” said Antron, who trails Schumacher and the U.S. Army team by 87 points for the Top Fuel lead.
“We’ve clinched a Countdown spot. We have to push and put pressure on our teammate Tony for that No. 1 spot. We still have two races left and Indy is worth extra points. We have to Seattle behind us and qualify better at Brainerd and Indy and do some work on race day.”
The Matco team won its fourth race of the year at Sonoma, Calif., before losing in the first round the following week near Seattle to Shawn Langdon who advanced to the championship round. Antron is emphasizing his team’s need to improve qualifying after being seeded eighth that put them against Langdon.
“The competition is so stiff out here in the NHRA you can’t mess up. It’s hard to win rounds out here,” said Antron, who has won five titles at Brainerd but only one in Top Fuel. “We have to make better luck for ourselves and that starts with qualifying better.”
Antron has qualified No. 1 five times this year and needs a similar effort when racing begins Friday. A year ago, he won the Brainerd pole before losing in the semifinals to Morgan Lucas, who went on to win the trophy.
Massey ready to snap streak with Red Fuel/Sandvik team at this weekend’s NHRA event at Brainerd International Raceway
– No one is more ready to get to this weekend’s NHRA Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., than Top Fuel pilot Spencer Massey.
After three consecutive weeks of NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series competition, the series took last weekend off before returning to action Friday. Spencer is ready to return to Minnesota for many reasons. The biggest – win lights.
In the toughest stretch of his young Top Fuel career, the driver of the Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher/Sandvik Coromant dragster hasn’t seen a win light come on in his lane during Sunday eliminations since the June event in Epping, N.H.
He expects that all to change this weekend in Brainerd, where the team took home the Wally trophy in 2013.
“I can’t wait to get to Brainerd,” Spencer said. “I can’t wait to get back in this Red Fuel dragster and go after some round wins on Sunday. It’s been awhile since we went rounds on Sunday but the car is running pretty well lately, we just haven’t had the luck on Sundays.
“This weekend we’ll focus on four strong qualifying sessions and I know that Todd (Okuhara) and Phil (Shuler) will have a game plan for race day. The team has done a really good job staying positive these past few weeks when things haven’t been going our way.”
This weekend is the penultimate event of the 16-race Mello Yello season with only the prestigious U.S. Nationals over Labor Day Weekend near Indianapolis left before the fields of top-10 are determined to compete for NHRA world championships in the six-race Countdown to the Championship.
“The Countdown is right around the corner and with Indy having extra points, anything can happen. We want to jump up a couple spots in the points standings so that way when the Countdown kicks off at Charlotte we’re not too far behind our teammates who are in first and second.”
The U.S. Nationals will feature points-and-a-half where round wins will be worth 30 points and the winner will be awarded 150 points.
“I have all the confidence in this team and with our support from everyone at Don Schumacher Racing that we can turn our luck around this weekend in Brainerd. We’ve won there before and we can do it again.”
NAPA AUTO PARTS team, Capps look for 4th straight at Brainerd
– Ron Capps couldn’t come up with a better track to make a championship statement than the one in central Minnesota this weekend.
Ron and Don Schumacher Racing’s NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T team led by crew chief Rahn Tobler have paid a small price for continuing to dial-in their Funny Car for a championship run when the NHRA Countdown to the Championship begins Sept. 18-20 near Charlotte.
When racing begins Friday in the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, Ron will start ranked sixth in points but is only 37 outside of fourth and 75 away from making the top-three.
“I believe in what Tobler and our NAPA guys have been working on and we’ve got two races left to make up a lot of the ground we’ve lost the past few races,” said Ron, who has won five times at Brainerd. “And there’s no place better for us to start that climb than at Brainerd.”
The NAPA team will be going for its third NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series title of the year and fourth in a row at Brainerd.
While the stats will verify that Ron has won the last three Brainerd trophies, the last one comes with an asterisk because the rain delayed event was completed two weeks later during the U.S. Nationals outside of Indianapolis.
“I have to tell you the most bizarre experience for me ever holding up (an NHRA) Wally trophy was what happened last Labor Day Weekend during the U.S. Nationals,” he said. “It would have been more special holding that Wally if it was back in Brainerd because that’s where our NAPA AUTO PARTS team started the Mello Yello race with all my friends from NAPA and the famous ‘Zoo’ campground.
“For two weeks, I thought about racing John Force and Tobler and our guys gave me a great car and we ran a 4.02 at 320 mph to beat him. I just wish we could have done it at Brainerd.
“Brainerd has been great to me, especially the fans and our NAPA family there. That’s why I was bummed they only got to share winning in the semis there and didn’t get to be with us when we got the Brainerd trophy in Indy.
“I plan on celebrating two Brainerd wins with my Capps Corner family in the Zoo this weekend to make up for them missing out on all the fun last year.”
