Hagan focuses forward on this weekend’s NHRA Northwest Nationals with 80th anniversary Mopar Dodge Funny Car at Pacific Raceways

KENT, WA – Looking in the rearview mirror on the Western Swing should provide a beautiful view but for Matt Hagan and the 80th Anniversary Mopar team – the view is one they don’t mind leaving behind so far.

After qualifying in the bottom half of the field at the three-week Swing opener near Denver it got a little better last weekend at Sonoma, Calif., when they qualified sixth but lost in the first round for only the second time this season.

Their eyes are focused forward on this weekend’s final stop on the Swing, the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways near Seattle.

The 2013 Northwest Nationals winner would like to add another Seattle trophy to his shelf that holds 25 Funny Car titles and two world championship trophies.

“This weekend is all about turning it around and getting back to where we were,” Hagan said. “The Swing has not been kind to us but I have all the confidence in the world that Dickie (Venables) and these Mopar boys will give us a good racecar this weekend.”

The team led by crew chief Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen have three titles in 2017 and sit second in NHRA Funny Car points standings. Looming in the not so distant future is the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff. Only three races remain until the points are reset for the top-10 who will contend for the world title.

“The Countdown is right around the corner and it’s only going to get tougher,” Hagan said. “Maybe we’re getting all of our bad luck out of the way before the Countdown starts. But really, I know Dickie and these guys have a game plan together and I have all the confidence in the world that we’ll be in the fight.”

Conditions this weekend in Seattle will be uncharacteristically warm for the Pacific Northwest with the forecast predicting temperatures in the high 90s.

“Hot, sticky conditions probably and that’s a challenge. But that’s what Dickie likes. He’ll know what to do.”

Brown hopes fourth straight final awaits Matco Tools team this weekend during the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways

– Consistency is the key for three-time and reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown and the Matco Tools team.

On Sunday in the 30th annual Toyota Sonoma Nationals near San Francisco, the team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald went to their third straight and eighth final round of the 2017 Mello Yello season. But they came up short in the final to Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence after winning the first title in the three-week Western Swing.

“We really wanted to keep our chances alive of sweeping the Swing but Torrence got us there in the final. We know what happened, we had an ignition problem and we know how to address it so that’s good. It’s hard to hang your head after going to another final round but we really wanted to win that one.”

The final stop of the Western Swing is this weekend at Pacific Raceways near Seattle. The Matco Tools team won the 2016 Northwest Nationals but it was held at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway after rain forced NHRA officials to call the event.

NHRA teams will see unusual temperatures in the high 90s this weekend in Seattle.

“Seattle’s always been good to us. I can’t wait to get up there again and try to end the Western Swing on a good note. There are only two races left in the regular season after this weekend so, hopefully, we can start to build some momentum in to try to get that No. 1 seed heading into the Countdown.”

The six-race Countdown to the Championship begins in Charlotte after the U.S. Nationals near Indianapolis over Labor Day Weekend. After this weekend Northwest Nationals, only Brainerd and the U.S. Nationals remain before the playoff.

“One thing about this Matco Tools/U.S. Army team is we challenge for it every weekend. Like our U.S. Army Soldiers, you can’t ever count us out. We persevere and out here with the competition the way it is, that’s what you have to do. I think it shows every weekend how tough it is to win out here. It’s a battle each and every weekend and it’s not going to get any easier with the Countdown coming up.”

Beckman, Chandler’s Infinite Hero Dodge continue to climb upward in NHRA Mello Yello standings, ranked No. 3 heading to Pacific Raceways

– There isn’t much Jack Beckman doesn’t remember about the history of professional drag racing or his career. But there is one moment he’d like to forget and there will be reminders when he returns to Pacific Raceways near Seattle this weekend.

A year ago in the Northwest Nationals, he recorded one of the very few redlight disqualifications in eliminations since he began racing.

“It’s bitterly disappointing,” the 2012 NHRA Funny Car world champion said after that second-round loss. “There’s no excuse, there’s no way to spin it. I absolutely made a mistake up there. But it doesn’t matter. Our job is to react when the tree comes on.”
On Sunday at Sonoma, Calif., in the second event of the three-week Western Swing, he did his job at the starting line in the semifinals and left with a substantial lead over eventual Sonoma winner J.R. Todd, who instantly smoked the tires off the line.
Beckman and Terry Chandler’s Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Dodge Charger R/T built a seemingly unbeatable lead a few hundred feet from the finish line, but an engine problem led to a safety system shutting off the engine. Meanwhile, Todd had quickly recovered and edged the coasting Beckman to advance.
“Our car just quit running at 200 feet,” Beckman said. “I was dead in the water and we were coasting. It’s a helpless feeling to know that that car’s coming up on you and going 150 miles an hour faster than you’re going. You’re hoping you’re going to get to the finish line first, and we weren’t able to do it.”

Despite the disappointment at Sonoma, Beckman and his Don Schumacher Racing team were able to move up one spot to third in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series standings and only 44 points out of second. Three events remain in the 18-race regular season after which only the top-10 in points will be able to compete for the world title in the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff that begins after Labor Day.

Beckman has been impressed how his virtually new team has been able to climb that high in the standings and win two event titles this year despite starting the season with only one crewmember remaining with the team, veteran crew chief John Medlen. The Infinite Hero team has done well with three crew chiefs consisting of veteran and DSR newcomer Dean Antonelli and rookie crew chief Neal Strausbaugh, formerly assistant with the U.S. Army team, joining Medlen.

Beckman expects continued improvement this weekend at Seattle where he has advanced to three final rounds and won titles in 2007 and 2015.

Career-record speed for Johnson, Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Dodge provides momentum for No.5-ranked team heading to Seattle

– The silver lining for Tommy Johnson Jr. and Terry Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team at last year’s Northwest Nationals near Seattle was having an impact on whether someone won all three titles on the three-week Western Swing.

While the veteran driver would have preferred contending for the coveted “sweep,” he had to settle for stopping another driver from winning all three Swing trophies.

He accomplished that by eliminating 16-time world champion John Force in the first round before his day was ended on the next run by Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps, who went on to claim the rain-delayed Northwest Nationals title two weeks later at Brainerd, Minn.

“Yeah, anytime you race (Force), you really want to beat him,” Johnson said. “We loved being the team that stopped them from sweeping the Swing. Not because it was John, just because if we couldn’t win it we didn’t want anyone else to.”

That is just one good memory Johnson has of Pacific Raceways. That’s where he won his first event titles in Top Fuel (1993) and Funny Car (2015).

“Seattle is one of the tracks where I’ve won in Top Fuel and Funny Car,” he said. “There are just certain tracks on the tour you always seem to do well at. I feel comfortable there, and love going back to that area to kind of re-live the memories of my first Top Fuel win and just two years ago winning Funny Car.

“I don’t know what it is about Seattle, but I always seem to do well there. I come in relaxed because of the confidence from our past success. You just seem to do better when you’re relaxed and with no distractions and not trying too hard.”

Johnson and his team Powered by Pennzoil and led by crew chief John Collins and assistant Rip Reynolds will arrive at Pacific Raceways with some momentum despite a second-round loss Sunday to Courtney Force at Sonoma, Calif.

The Make-A-Wish team qualified No. 5, but in its loss recorded Johnson’s career-best speed of 332.02 mph.

Three NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events remain in the 18-race regular season before only top-10 qualify to contend for the world title in the six-race Countdown to the Championship that begins after Labor Day after which points are reset.

“We’re getting close to  the Countdown and we’re focused on making sure we’re in the top-five for that. Right now we’re solid in the top-five and would like to make a move and maybe gain a couple more spots.”

Capps, NAPA  team intent on giving Seattle fans opportunity to celebrate in winner’s circle after rain postponed last year’s party

– Ron Capps has an NHRA Wally Trophy at his home near San Diego that signifies he won the 2016 Northwest Nationals near Seattle, but it reminds him that he didn’t get to celebrate the victory with the fans at Pacific Raceways.

Sporadic rain showers during eliminations last year forced completion of the event two weeks later at Brainerd, Minn., Capps won the delayed Northwest Nationals titles but missed sharing it with fans near Seattle. It would have been his third winner’s circle party there going back to 1995 when he won in Top Fuel for his first NHRA event title and three years later in a Funny Car.

Since his first win, he has won a total of 56 Wally trophies including 55 in Funny Car.

“I felt bad that I couldn’t share that Wally with all of the great Seattle fans and our NAPA family around there, so I sent the Wally back there for a tour of NAPA stores and NAPA AutoCare Centers,” he said.

This weekend, however, he will get to share his NHRA Funny Car world championship trophy with friends and fans at Pacific Raceways.

Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T team led by crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant Eric Lane won the coveted championship in 2016 after begin a runner-up a record four times. He arrives at Seattle this week with a career-best six event titles and a 183-point lead in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series standings regular-season standings with only three events remaining before points are reset for the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff that begins after Labor Day.

“Winning rounds at Seattle is big,” Capps said. “We’re going back as the defending champions of that race. I can’t stress how important that race has always been because it’s the first time you kind of get a glimpse of the what the Countdown will look like.

“The Countdown doesn’t seem so far away, not too many races (three) left before the it starts. When you get to Seattle you start to see it on the horizon. I never worry about our team getting focused for the Countdown.”

Capps and the NAPA team, which at one point this year won four consecutive event titles, is in an uncommon position after losing in opening rounds at Denver and Sonoma, Calif., the first two stops of the three-week Western Swing that concludes at Seattle.

The NAPA team had the quickest car in the first round at Denver and one of the quickest at Sonoma where Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. used a career-best speed to overcome Capps.

“At Denver, we had the quickest car in the first round, and I lost on a holeshot. So we had a great race car there, and we made a great run. We’ve got a great race car. But even if you’ve got a great race car, anything can happen. Again, we need to just put ourselves in better positions qualifying.”

At Sonoma, Capps qualified 12th for his worst start of the year.

“The first thing Tobler will tell you is we’ve got to qualify better. The good thing is we’ve earned a big points lead and we can afford to give up a round or two trying to get better. We are still striving to win the regular season. We’ve got to stay focused. Even if we lost first round at Sonoma that run was a great run, and it gives us a lot of encouragement going to Seattle.”

Much has changed for Pritchett, Papa John’s/FireAde Top Fuel team since last year’s visit to Seattle, but goals have only gotten higher

– Much has changed in a year for Leah Pritchett and her Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuel dragster team.

When she arrived at Pacific Raceways near Seattle last year for the NHRA Northwest Nationals, crew chief Todd Okuhara was still solidifying his crew and she was racing for the first time with what would become her new primary sponsor, Papa John’s Pizza.

Last year arriving at Seattle she had only three races left to battle her way into her first Countdown to the Championship playoff. She had missed one event and drove for three different part-time teams before joining DSR full time.

When racing begins Friday in the Northwest Nationals, Pritchett and Papa John’s/FireAde team won’t be thinking about making it into the Countdown but instead will continue focus on winning the Top Fuel championship in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Pritchett with Okuhara, assistant Joe Barlam and car chief Scott Okuhara have won three event titles this year and her No. 1 qualifying performance last weekend at Sonoma, Calif., was their remarkable fifth pole of the season in 15 events and they earned it with their fifth NHRA track elapsed time record that is more than any other driver in the category.

She will be ranked third in the world when racing at Pacific Raceways begins.

“I get to go to a track to where I’ve at least raced before,” she said of Pacific Raceways, where she has won an NHRA Nostalgia Funny Car title before debuting in Top Fuel last year.

At last year’s Northwest Nationals, she won in the first round with what was then her career-best elapsed time of 3.707 seconds at 325.30 mph.

Since then, she set and holds the NHRA world time record with a 3.658 accomplished at Phoenix in this year’s second race. Six events later, she recorded a personal-best speed of 330.23.

Success has not just happened on the track. She joined with “Papa John” Schnatter in a month-long national advertising campaign this summer to promote a Papa John’s Pizza Special. And this week, she is featured in “Advertising Age,” a world-renowned marketing publication.

“So many great things have happened because of Papa John, Don (Schumacher), all of other partners like FireAde, Dodge, Mopar, Pennzoil and Shell,” said the 29-year-old graduate of Cal State San Bernardino.

“Todd, Joe, Scott  and our fantastic team work so hard on our car that I don’t have to worry about that. But I would like to be able to help them work on it more,” said Pritchett, one of a few professional nitro drivers to manage her load of nitro before runs and pack her parachutes.

She is third in points trailing DSR teammate and three-time, reigning world champion Antron Brown by 44 and points leader Steve Torrence by 119.

Three events remain in the 18-race regular season when the top-10 qualify to contend for the world title in the six-race Countdown to the Championship in which points are reset for the start after Labor Day.

“We want to win more races before the Countdown starts, but we can start getting ready for the playoff,” she said. “It’s different from last year when every run was critical to us just getting into the Countdown and we were able finish seventh.”