NHRA event at Norwalk is homecoming celebration for Brown’s crew chiefs and longtime sponsor Matco Tools based in Stow
– The NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown is happy to be back on track as he returns to the home state of longtime sponsor Matco Tools and crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald.
The team advanced to the semifinals of the Route 66 Nationals near Chicago on Sunday and is ready for the Summit Equipment NHRA Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio, which begin Friday.
It hasn’t been often that a semifinal finish would satisfy Brown and the Matco team, which won a series-best six titles last year, but that was a big improvement over the previous four events when the team couldn’t get past the first round of eliminations.
“It’s great to get out of that slump, and if we had to have one it was better to have it happen now rather than later in the season,” said Brown, who won two titles this season in the first seven events of the Mello Yello series and ranks fourth in championship points after 12 of 24 events.
“We had a lot of little things go wrong that no one could have predicted. It just made us stronger and closer as a team. We kept each other positive; when we saw someone down we pulled together tighter.
“That’s what a championship team does; you weather the storm.”
An ideal weather forecast for the weekend at Norwalk should provide the ideal atmosphere for attending executives and guests of Matco Tools, which is headquartered in Stow near Akron.
Brown arrives in Ohio early to spend Wednesday evening in Middleburg Heights, where Corradi and his wife Jackie own Original Master Pizza (15180 Bagley Road just south of the Cleveland metropolitan area) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. A raffle will benefit the Guidestone Children’s Home of Berea.
“That’s a great night to be with the Corradi family and with our team away from the track,” Brown said. “We get to eat great pizza and hang out with our fans and friends from around Cleveland.
“Then we have to go to Norwalk and win for our Ohio boys.”
Oswald is a native of Cincinnati and Corradi is a native of Middleburg Heights near Cleveland where he lives with his family.
Another Buckeye on the roster for Matco Tools is Wayne “Red” Waite of Elyria, who has been an engine specialist with the team for the past four years.
Brown has won 39 NHRA titles since turning pro in 1998 but never has left Norwalk with the trophy but was runner-up in 2010. His only NHRA title in Ohio came as a Pro Stock Motorcycle rider in 1999 when the event was held at National Trail Raceway east of Columbus.
Beckman not hot on chance of a 3-second run at Norwalk, remains confident first title coming soon to Valvoline/MTS team
– Jack Beckman was thrilled after crew chief Todd Smith and assistant Terry Snyder tuned his Valvoline MaxLife/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors Dodge to the sixth quickest Funny Car run ever.
But more exciting to the reigning NHRA Funny Car world champ than Saturday’s qualifying run in 3.993 seconds is that his Don Schumacher Racing Dodge Charger R/T was consistent and strong throughout the event near Chicago.
Now it’s on to the Summit Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio, this weekend as Beckman continues to seek his first national event title of the season.
After winning three titles last year, the Valvoline/MTS team has yet to reach the winner’s circle despite making it to the championship round once and semifinals four times. His quest for gold Sunday was ended in the second round by DSR teammate Matt Hagan, who went on to win the Route 66 Nationals title.
Although Beckman’s time of 4.100 seconds was better than Hagan’s 4.1005, Hagan advanced by leaving the starting line first to post the holeshot win. Hagan’s time to react to the Christmas tree was 0.095 to Beckman’s 0.107.
What stung Beckman the most was that his car was quicker but he lost by reacting later than Hagan.
“Losing on a holeshot is the last thing a driver ever wants to hear,” Beckman said. “He was 12-thousandths of a second quicker off the starting line and that was the difference at the finish line.
“When there are nine guys putting your car together and they give you the quicker car but you don’t turn on the win light, that’s tough.
“We are consistently running quick again,” Beckman said. “We have four more chances over in the next five weeks to get a trophy.”
Beckman, who turned 47 on Friday, knows his chances of leaving Norwalk with a trophy are much better than leaving with another 3-second run.
“It’s been hot there since we started racing at Norwalk in 2007,” said Beckman, whose three sub 4-second runs are the most among the six drivers who have reached the milestone.
“I’ll go out on a limb and guess there won’t be any 3-second runs by a Funny Car at Norwalk unless they have the greatest convergence of fluke, cool, July weather in the history of Ohio.
“There’s a possibility – maybe – it could happen on Friday night when we run at 8,” he said of Norwalk, which has track records for Funny Cars of 4.032 seconds and 313.15 mph, both set in June of 2010.
“It has nothing to do with the racetrack, it’s just the time of year we race there. Just running in the 4.0s will be difficult and that likely would happen on Friday. I’m guessing that on Sunday, 4.20s should win races.
“It’s been a survival of the fittest. It tends to be hot and the track is gooey after baking all day. The successful crew chiefs will be the ones who can get their cars down the track without smoking the tires.”
A title at Norwalk would have added value for Beckman.
Beckman also is the only one of four DSR Funny Car drivers yet to clinch a spot in the $100,000 Traxxas Shootout to be held on Sept. 1 (Sunday) of the U.S. Nationals near Indianapolis.
The first seven spots in the eight-car field go to unique event winners through the first 16 events, but if there are only six positions locked-in by titles after the Aug. 16-19 Mello Yello event at Brainerd, Minn., the seventh berth will go to the driver highest in points without a title this season. The eighth spot will be a fan vote on NHRA.com.
Currently, Beckman is in position to receive the No. 7 seed but five events remain and several other drivers are capable of winning their first title of the season or moving ahead of Beckman in points.
Johnny Gray and Pitch Energy Dodge Depart for Norwalk Refreshed and Determined
– Funny Car driver Johnny Gray and his Pitch Energy team aren’t taking any time to put their feet up and relax before the 13th race of 24 on NHRA’s 2013 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule. Following a brief yet troubling series of early exits, the untiring crew journeyed back to the Don Schumacher Racing shop in Indiana for a full shake-down of their Dodge, a car that has already won three times this season and has Gray situated neatly near the top of the Funny Car standings.
In addition to a careful review of every internal part, the structure of the Pitch Energy Dodge will also be rejuvenated before this weekend’s seventh annual NHRA Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in the DSR in-house chassis shop.
“On Sunday night, after the race in Chicago this past weekend, my guys drove right back to the shop so that they could go through all of the systems on the car while the chassis shop was front-halving the car,” said Gray. “We need to find out what in the world is ailing our Pitch Energy Dodge and get her happy again. They’ll put new cables and hoses and everything on her, and then we’ll take the car over there to Norwalk with the full intention of going back and qualifying No. 1 again. This time, we’re going to keep the ‘chutes in until we get to the finish line.”
Last year in Norwalk, Gray was the No. 1 qualifier and had the car to beat on raceday, but a malfunction with the safety switch caused the parachutes to deploy on the starting line during the burnout, and he could only watch as first-round opponent Robert Hight went on to take the win light unchallenged with a dishearteningly traction-troubled pass.
“That will not happen again,” said Gray. “We ran really good there in Norwalk last year, and we really should have won that race. It wasn’t our day, but we’re doing everything within our power to make sure that this time around, Norwalk is a little more friendly to us on raceday.”
Gray, currently No. 4 in the Mello Yello Series Funny Car standings, has been a regular top-half qualifier this season and has frequently picked up critical bonus points during qualifying as one of the top three cars in the session. His most recent No. 1 start was at the Arizona Nationals earlier this year in Phoenix.
The annual stop in Norwalk is one that always infuses Gray with a fresh surge of optimism.
“I really like Summit Motorsports Park,” said Gray. “I’ve always really liked Norwalk, all the way back to when I was running a Pro Stock car with [Ohio-based competitor Larry Morgan] and we used to go there to test. Back when I drove a Funny Car for Del Worsham, we went up there for their 4th of July show and match raced. The Baders [track owners and operators] are great people, and they really know how to put on a good show. It’s always a good time to go to that facility, and it’s something we look forward to every year. This being my last year of full-time Funny Car racing, I’d like to make a good contribution to that show. We ran really well there last year, and right now, I think we’re getting ourselves in a position to where we can do that again.”
Capps to hit No. 400 at Norwalk after solid weekend near Chicago; ‘NAPA Get Back and Give Back’ rebate program to help veterans
– Racers are known for exceptional memories when it comes to what they’ve done on racetracks, and Capps recall keeps getting challenged by time.
But it didn’t take long for him to recall his first race in NHRA professional competition.
“I beat Joe Amato at Phoenix,” said Capps, who will start his 400th NHRA pro tour event Friday at Summit Motorsports Park at Norwalk, Ohio.
Since then, Capps, 48, has won 487 eliminations rounds and 39 NHRA Mello Yello event titles including 25 in a Funny Car since he joined Don Schumacher racing in 2005.
“Wow, this will be No. 400? I must be getting old.”
The native Californian who lives near San Diego doesn’t look his age or drive like it.
Capps, who has one title this season and is ranked fifth in points, with crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant John Collins unleashed the third quickest Funny Car run ever with a time of 3.988 seconds on Saturday night at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago to earn his first No. 1 qualifying spot of the season.
While the NHRA Mello Yello Series nitro teams enjoyed ideal weather conditions in the cool air, Capps knows that won’t likely be the atmosphere his NAPA Batteries/Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund Dodge Charger R/T team will face beginning Friday at Summit Motorsports Park at Norwalk, Ohio.
While temperatures forecast for Norwalk are unseasonably to be in the low 80s, Joliet weather was cooler.
“The conditions at Joliet were perfect and we had late night qualifying sessions and Friday and Saturday nights, but the Norwalk track is great and we have one night session on Friday at 8 so I guess we could get into the 3s again.”
Capps and his team recorded the quickest ever Funny Car run a year ago at Englishtown, N.J., in May with a time of 3.964 seconds at 320.89 mph.
While milestone runs are nice, Capps is most concerned with winning elimination rounds on Sundays. The Norwalk event marks the first race of the second half of the 24-event season in the Mello Yello series.
Capps took the NAPA Dodge to the semifinals at Joliet for the fourth time this season. His racecar is getting back to the form it showed at the start of the year when it was runner-up in the opener at Pomona, Calif., and followed a week later by winning the event the following week near Phoenix.
“We are very close to where we want to be at this point in the season,” he said. “This is when it really starts to count.”
Capps also is looking forward to this weekend because it will be the second straight event when his Dodge carries NAPA’s month-long “NAPA Get Back and Give Back” effort for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund to support families of U.S. military personnel lost in service to our nation, and for those severely wounded in the performance of their duties in Afghanistan and/or Iraq.
“One of the many aspects of our relationship NAPA is having an opportunity like this to support our military,” he said. “We came close to putting the NAPA Batteries/Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund Dodge in the winner’s circle last week and we really want to get it there Sunday.”
Also carrying the Intrepid Fallen Heroes message this weekend will be his NAPA AUTO PARTS teammate Martin Truex Jr., who will race a similar paint scheme on Saturday in the NASCAR Nextel Cup event at Daytona International Speedway.
The NAPA Get Back and Give Back campaign raised $350,000 last year for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
Beginning Monday, July 1, the NAPA Get Back and Give Back program began offering customers great savings on the purchase of a qualifying NAPA battery, alternator or starter, and the opportunity to contribute a portion of their rebate to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
NAPA will donate $1 to Intrepid for every qualifying rebate redeemed by consumers in July, and NAPA also is encouraging the public to donate $10 – no purchase is needed – to Intrepid by texting the word NAPA to 27722.
Funny Car points leader Matt Hagan takes consistent Rocky Boots Dodge to Norwalk in search of fourth NHRA Mello Yello win of 2013
– At the halfway point in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, Matt Hagan and the Rocky Boots/Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar team are on top of the Funny Car points standings with three wins.
For the team that acquired crew chief Dickie Venables two weeks before the season opener in Pomona, it is a huge sigh of relief and a great feeling.
“It’s been phenomenal,” Hagan said. “To come in here and have a crew chief that puts a race car underneath you and gives you the ability to go out here and do your job and just know that when you’re strapped in the race car that you have the opportunity to win any race you go to, it’s just phenomenal.
“The crew guys have come together and they’re just happy. Dickie has become such a leader for this team. You can compare it to football. Dickie is the coach, I’m the quarterback and these guys are the linemen.
“As a team, we’ve all come together. We’ve gelled really well and you can see and feel the burn in these guys’ bellies. They can taste it, they can see the goal ahead and they’re working really hard to obtain the main goal at the end of the year and that’s win the championship.”
Along with their three wins, the Rocky Boots team has two No. 1 qualifier starts and an impressive 22-9 round record.
“We’re only halfway through the year. I’m really hoping that our consistency that we’ve had all year long continues for the rest of the season. I think Dickie has been hands down the most consistent crew chief out here and the points show it.”
Off track, Hagan has a busy week ahead for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals this weekend in Norwalk, Ohio, the closest event for sponsor Rocky Boots, which is based in southern Ohio. After a trip to the Rocky headquarters in Nelsonville, he will greet NHRA fans at Fin, Feather & Fur Outfitters (652 US Highway 250 East, Ashland, OH) from 6-8 p.m.
“It’s a hometown deal for Rocky this weekend,” he said. “I’m going to go the headquarters (Wednesday) and going to rally the troops and get everybody pumped up about our race and coming out to watch everyone at Don Schumacher Racing.
“I’m super excited and tickled to death to do my job every weekend. Hopefully we can do just as well with the Rocky car as we have with the Magneti Marelli car.”
In 2012 at Norwalk, the team secured the NHRA Top Fuel points lead en route to their fourth win of the season. This year, the Battery Extender team is in search of its third win of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.
“We know how to get to the final round there,” Massey said. “We’ve done it two years in a row. In 2011 we lost in the final to Del Worsham and last year we beat Steve Torrence in the final.
“Phil (Shuler) knows how to get the car to go down the track at Norwalk and we’re ready to go back and try to make it to the finals three years in a row and try to get that Wally (trophy) for the second year in a row and enjoy that famous Norwalk ice cream in the winner’s circle again.”
Norwalk is the fourth consecutive NHRA event before teams will take a weekend off. Of the four consecutive races, Massey’s team was runner-up at Bristol, Tenn., event winner at Epping, N.H., and suffered a rare first-round loss to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Antron Brown last week near Chicago.
“It’s definitely been a grueling time for the guys,” Massey said. “Between long days at the race track and traveling to each event, these guys have been working so hard. In between the last two races they’ve been at the DSR shop in Brownsburg working so they really haven’t had any time off.
“But it’s also been a good stretch for us. We’ve been to two final rounds and last week just got beat in a good drag race. So we’re feeling good and we’re happy with where we are at. But there’s no better way to go into a weekend off after a weekend in the winner’s circle, so we’re hoping that’s our next stop in Norwalk.”
