Gray tops Capps for Summit Racing Equipment Nationals Funny Car Title
– As good as the Summit Racing Nationals was to Don Schumacher Racing’s Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars, the track in Northern Ohio was equally tough on the organization’s Top Fuel dragsters.Leading the way for DSR, was Johnny Gray who won his series-best fourth NHRA Mello Yello Series Funny Car title of the year by beating teammate Ron Capps in the championship round with a photo finish.
Each driver completed their runs in identical 4.103 seconds ,but the 60-year-old Gray left the starting line six-thousandths of a second ahead of Capps and that was Gray’s margin of victory.
The win by Gray enabled him to move up two spots in the standings to second behind DSR teammate Matt Hagan, who lost to Capps in the second round. Capps moved up one spot to fourth and one point out of third.
Another semifinalist for DSR was Jack Beckman, who lost to Gray.
The only cars that beat DSR Funny Cars were DSR Funny Cars.
In Top Fuel, Spencer Massey was the only DSR rail to get to the second round.
The biggest upset of the Mello Yello season – if not longer – was when 84-year-old Chris “The Greek” Karamesines beat DSR’s tire-smoking Tony Schumacher in the first round. That upset combined with Al-Anabi Racing’s Shawn Langdon’s advancement to the semifinals to enable Langdon to reclaim the points lead from Schumacher by one point.
Schumacher’s teammate and reigning world champion Antron Brown also lost in the first round.
The Mello Yello series takes next weekend off – its first in five weeks – before starting the three-week Western Swing at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals near Denver.
Closest race of the day excites NAPA Funny Car driver Capps but loss to DSR teammate puts damper on solid weekend
– No one enjoys a good, side-by-side drag race more than Ron Capps.
And he would have liked an out-of-body experience so he could have watched the championship round of Funny Car Sunday at Summit Motorsports Park at Norwalk, Ohio, even if he didn’t like the outcome.
Capps and the NAPA Batteries/Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund Dodge Charger R/T faced Don Schumacher Racing teammate Johnny Gray for the Summit Racing Nationals title, and it was one of the closest races of the NHRA Mello Yello Series season.
Each driver completed their runs in identical 4.103 seconds, but the 60-year-old Gray left the starting line six-thousandths of a second ahead of Capps and that was Gray’s margin of victory. Gray’s reaction time at the start was 0.061 seconds to Capps’ 0.067.
“It’s amazing that I had a (.067-second) light and we run a 4.10 and we still lose,” said Capps, who qualified No. 3 for eliminations and just missed winning for the first time at Norwalk since the Mello Yello Series began racing there seven years ago.
“Johnny was on his game. He just did a great job. We backed (the tune-up) down just a little bit to be safe and be sure we didn’t beat ourselves. You have to give credit to where credit is due and it goes to Johnny and his guys; they stepped it up.”
It was Gray’s series-best fourth title of the year. While Gray moved up two spots in the standings to second behind Matt Hagan, another DSR teammate Capps moved from fifth to fourth and is one point out of third heading to the July 19-21 Mopar Mile-High Nationals near Denver.
The only cars that beat DSR Funny Cars on Sunday were DSR Funny Cars.
While Capps is disappointed that he came so close to winning the NAPA team’s second title of the year, he is more than encouraged from the performance of the team with crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant John Collins.
“We had a great hot rod,” Capps said of posting elapsed times during eliminations of 4.072, another 4.072, 4.093 and the 4.103 in the final.
“Tobler is on his game and it’s fun for me to watch him get back in the groove as we get ready for the last 11 races of the year. What a race car.”
Capps said the biggest win of the day for his NAPA team was in the second round when it faced Hagan and veteran crew chief Dickie Venables.
“The second round against Hagan and Venables was big for us. They are the car to beat out here. They have the car running the best and were just coming off a win at Chicago. We know how good they can run.
“We had to show that we could run with them, and we did that.”
– Jack Beckman and the Valvoline MaxLife/MTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car didn’t get to the championship round Sunday at Summit Motorsports Park, but the reigning NHRA world champions were big winners in more meaningful categories.
Beckman advanced to his fourth semifinals of the NHRA Mello Yello Series season where he lost to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Johnny Gray in the Summit Racing Nationals in Northern Ohio.
After qualifying ninth in the 16-car field, Beckman didn’t have lane choice in the opening round with crew chief Todd Smith and assistant Terry Snyder but they defeated the higher seeded and two-time world champion Cruz Pedregon. In the next round, Beckman eliminated 15-time champion John Force, who was the event’s No. 1 qualifier.
“We struggled in qualifying when we really only made one representative run, but that was the quickest run of Q3,” Beckman said of the Saturday’s third qualifying session that moved him from 13th to ninth.
“So we went up to today feeling optimistic but not necessarily positive. We had Cruz Pedregon in the first round and we didn’t have lane choice and then we had to race John. We made two monster runs to take down two of the best Funny Car drivers ever.”
Next up was Gray, who won in the championship round against another DSR teammate, Ron Capps.
“There wasn’t any reason to think when we took our car up there for the semis against Johnny that we weren’t going to do the same thing, but it didn’t make it 30 feet. It just ripped the tires loose. It’s a tough pill to swallow. We thought we were right back on track to get our first trophy of the year.”
But Beckman and his team leave Norwalk as bigger winners than when they left with the Funny Car title in 2009. They dedicated the race to Kevin Woyjeck, one of 19 “hotshot” firefighters who died June 30 fighting a wildfire near Prescott, Ariz., and visit Beckman and the Valvoline team at the 2011 NHRA Finals at Pomona, Calif.
And on Sunday, they had a special guest in their pits.
“Jacob (Delling), a 10-year-old with retinal cancer who has been blind since he was 4 rode with our team in our tow vehicle. You can’t feel sorry for yourself when we get to come out and race. We’ll go to Denver and get our trophy there, and we’ll never forget Kevin and Jacob.”
– Matt Hagan had high hopes coming into Sunday’s Summit Racing Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. After qualifying sixth, Hagan had visions of going rounds and picking up a win for the Rocky Boots Dodge Charger R/T.
But those hopes ended when Hagan met Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps in the second round of eliminations.
After running a 4.051-second pass at 315 mph in the first round against opponent Tony Pedregon, the Rocky Boots/Magneti Marelli Offered By Mopar Funny Car went 4.122-seconds at 314 mph in the second round of competition, but it wasn’t enough to beat Capps’ 4.072-second pass, the best elapsed time of the second round.
“It’s just one of those deals,” Hagan said. “We were on the back side of a good drag race. We just got outran out there. You want to beat your teammates more than you do anybody because they have the same stuff you have.
“But it’s tough racing everybody out here. There’s no easy draw. There were just some small differences and small changes we made to the car that made the difference.”
Hagan kept the big picture of racing for the 2013 NHRA world championship in mind and reflected on his team’s win a week ago near Chicago.
Hagan remains the Funny Car points leader.
“I’m still very, very happy with our guys,” he said. “We got out of the first round and that’s what it takes in the long run. We just have to go rounds and keep moving forward.
“A second-round loss is a lot easier to swallow than a first-round loss. But it’s also not easy to lose after coming off a win like we had last week. We just have to keep digging deep and move onto Denver.”
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series will take its first break in four weeks before traveling to Denver, Co., for the first stop on the three-race Western Swing.
– Antron Brown and the Matco Tools team had their best qualifying effort over the past five NHRA Mello Yello Series events, but it wasn’t enough to enable them to get their first win over Al-Anabi Racing’s Khalid alBalooshi in the opening round of Sunday’s Summit Racing Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio.
Brown, who qualified No. 7 for the 16-car field, lost traction early and although alBalooshi moments later smoked his tires, alBalooshi had enough momentum to post the smoky win. AlBalooshi, who is now 4-0 against Brown, won with a time of 4.150 seconds at 194.24 mph to Brown’s 4.610 (194.24).
“His car went a little bit farther than mine,” said Brown, who has won two event titles this season. “I saw him out there and I got back in it and then he let up and we were catching him. We just ran out of racetrack.
“When you see stuff like that it’s really frustrating. The competition is tough out here.
“This is a very humbling business,” said Brown, the reigning world champion. “We work hard and wanted that deal … we saw an opportunity and I’m just bummed that we didn’t get it. We are still just going to keep on pressing, hard at work.”
Brown’s DSR teammate Tony Schumacher lost the points lead when he also lost in the opening round. Schumacher fell to second in points to Shawn Langdon of Al-Anabi Racing while Brown dropped one spot to fifth.
“We can see that we’re in for one of those big fights this year where nothing is going to go easy. We’ve got a week off before the Western Swing and our main focus is to turn our Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster back to where we know how.”
The Western Swing opens July 19-21 with the Mopar Mile-High Nationals near Denver and continues with successive events near San Francisco and Seattle. Brown won two of the three events last year and swept the Swing in 2009.
“Hopefully, we go out there and get back in a groove,” he said. “We just have to keep on fighting. It’s going to be one of those fighting years and we know that and we just have to stay after it.”
Brown, who qualified No. 7 for the 16-car field, lost traction early and although alBalooshi moments later smoked his tires, alBalooshi had enough momentum to post the smoky win. AlBalooshi, who is now 4-0 against Brown, won with a time of 4.150 seconds at 194.24 mph to Brown’s 4.610 (194.24).
“His car went a little bit farther than mine,” said Brown, who has won two event titles this season. “I saw him out there and I got back in it and then he let up and we were catching him. We just ran out of racetrack.
“When you see stuff like that it’s really frustrating. The competition is tough out here.
“This is a very humbling business,” said Brown, the reigning world champion. “We work hard and wanted that deal … we saw an opportunity and I’m just bummed that we didn’t get it. We are still just going to keep on pressing, hard at work.”
Brown’s DSR teammate Tony Schumacher lost the points lead when he also lost in the opening round. Schumacher fell to second in points to Shawn Langdon of Al-Anabi Racing while Brown dropped one spot to fifth.
“We can see that we’re in for one of those big fights this year where nothing is going to go easy. We’ve got a week off before the Western Swing and our main focus is to turn our Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster back to where we know how.”
The Western Swing opens July 19-21 with the Mopar Mile-High Nationals near Denver and continues with successive events near San Francisco and Seattle. Brown won two of the three events last year and swept the Swing in 2009.
“Hopefully, we go out there and get back in a groove,” he said. “We just have to keep on fighting. It’s going to be one of those fighting years and we know that and we just have to stay after it.”
