Hagan leads three DSR Dodge Funny Cars into top-four on beautiful day to open Dodge Nationals at Maple Grove
MOHNTON, PA – After about eight years of chilly and/or rainy conditions, a near capacity crowd Friday at Maple 
Grove Raceway near Reading, Pa., was treated to sunny skies and temperatures in the mid to high 80s for the 33rd annual NHRA Dodge Nationals.
It didn’t take very long for among the best fans on the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour to forget a year ago when racing was wiped out Friday by rain and temperatures in the 50s.
It also was a pretty good day for Don Schumacher Racing Powered by Pennzoil Funny Car teams.
DSR enters Saturday’s last two qualifying sessions qualified second through fourth in its Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars with Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T second and reigning world champion Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge third.
Hagan with crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen recorded a time of 3.874 seconds at 335.82 mph that was three-thousandths of a second quicker than Capps. Jack Beckman, who was quickest in Friday’s first session with Terry and Doug Chandler’s Infinite Hero Dodge team is fourth. The Chandlers’ Make-A-Wish team with Tommy Johnson Jr., who won the Maple Grove title a year ago, is 10th.
Robert Hight of John Force Racing set track records with a time of 3.844 seconds at 339.02 seconds.
Hagan’s was second best in the second session, and his first run at 3.933 was third best during the first session. He earned four of a possible six bonus points in qualifying.
“We got some bonus points, and it was a good opening day for our Mopar Express Lane Dodge,” said Hagan, who won the title in 2014 and the No. 1 qualifying spot last year at Maple Grove. “It’s a big weekend for us with Dodge and Mopar.
“We have a lot of great information to build off with two good runs like that. It’s just what we needed to do.
“It will be hot again tomorrow for everybody and we run a little earlier (1:30 and 4 p.m. EDT). I hope we can at least stay where we are (second). We just want to keep working at it.
In Top Fuel, Leah Pritchett driving the 80th Anniversary Mopar/Pennzoil dragster was fifth best in the last qualifying session with a time of 3.741 (328.14) and fifth best for the day to lead DSR’s dragster trio. Eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, who was second quickest in the first session, is No. 6 while three-time and reigning world champ Antron Brown, who won the title a year ago, is eighth with the Matco Tools team.
“Fifth is a good spot for us. I guess the most important thing for us today is the progression that we were looking to make after Charlotte,” Pritchett said of her first-round upset on Sunday near Charlotte after qualifying third to start the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff. It feels like this is a completely different race car.
“We feel good about tomorrow, we’re going to push again tomorrow and couldn’t be more excited to run the Mopar 80th Anniversary Top Fuel dragster at the Dodge Nationals”
MOPAR MEGA BLOCK PARTY
The NHRA Dodge Nationals got off to a fast start Thursday evening with the second annual Mopar Mega Block Party at FirstEnergy Stadium in downtown Reading. The event featured an autograph session with Mopar drivers including those from DSR, a Mopar car show, concerts and fireworks.
The highlight was a home-run derby won by Fox/NHRA television broadcaster Dave Reif with DSR’s Tony Schumacher finishing second. Mopar and its fans raised $5,000 that was split between the Make-A-Wish and Infinite Hero foundations.
DSR Mopar drivers Leah Pritchett and Matt Hagan will match-race 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demons during the weekend and will serve as the Dodge grand marshals and honorary starters on Sunday.
