Hagan, Magneti Marelli win again, lead weekend DSR Summernationals Results

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – Matt Hagan and the Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar/Rocky Boots Dodge Charger R/T won their second NHRA title of the season and reclaimed the NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car points lead Sunday by defeating Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman in the championship round of the NHRA Summernationals.

Hagan, crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen produced a time of 4.112 seconds at 308.00 mph to edge past Beckman’s Valvoline NextGen/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors Dodge’s time of 4.182 at 303.98.

Venables tuned Hagan to the No. 1 qualifying position with a run of 4.050 seconds on Friday night for the event’s quickest Funny Car run.

It was the first championship round of the year for Beckman, the reigning NHRA Funny Car world champion who moved up three spots in the standings to fifth.

The only previous time the DSR teammates met in the final round was last season at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis when Beckman left with the trophy.

In addition to beating Beckman, Hagan also won in the second round against teammate Johnny Gray, who dropped from first to second in the championship standings after nine of 24 Mello Yello events.

DSR’s three Top Fuel did not have a very successful Summernationals.

Seven-time Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher in the U.S. Army dragster and teammate Spencer Massey, driving for Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher, did the best by advancing to the semifinals.

The combination of Schumacher’s semifinals loss and Shawn Langdon of Al-Anabi Racing winning the event title enabled Langdon to take the Top fuel points lead away from Schumacher.

Defending Top Fuel champion Antron Brown suffered a first round loss on Sunday.

Brown, Matco Tools team exit Summernationals early for second straight year at world champ’s home track

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – It was far from being the world championship homecoming Antron Brown wanted for his Matco Tools dragster.

If there is any solace, the Don Schumacher Racing team produced its best run of the 44th annual NHRA Toyota Summernationals on Sunday in the first round at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, N.J.

But his 3.87-second run at 315.49 mph wasn’t enough to beat Bob Vandergriff’s 3.849 at 316.90.

Brown’s quicker reaction time to start the race wasn’t able to overcome the quicker Vandergriff, whose winning margin was 0.0095 seconds.

“We went out and had our best pass of the weekend and lost,” Brown said. “That’s drag racing. Bob Vandergriff and his team put down a good number and we were just on the other end of a good drag race. We’ll go back and regroup.

“The good part is that our car is responding to what we want it to do. We didn’t run as good as we wanted it to, but the track just stole a little bit from us. It was better than we thought it was. What I see now is that our team is very confident. We got our confidence back where our car is repeating itself. We can get back to what we’re used to doing and that’s being confident in ourselves and running hard each and every lap. And you’ve got to be that way out here if you want to compete.”

An aggravating electrical issue has troubled the team for the past several races. It’s the second straight NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event when the Matco Tools team’s day ended in the opening round, and the second consecutive year it’s happened at Raceway Park, a track where Brown, a New Jersey native, went to races regularly as a youngster.

“The thing about this weekend is that we were just a run behind. We kept getting better and better. Sometimes you can be a run behind and sneak up on it. In eliminations you can get good, but you have to get past that first round.”

This weekend was Brown’s first trip to Raceway Park since winning the NHRA Top Fuel world championship last season.

“It was great to see so many of my old friends,” he said. “I just wish we could have done better for them.

“Brian and Mark have got this sorted out and we’ll be ready in a couple weeks when we get to Bristol.”

Brown was hoping for two Summernationals Wally trophies to leave with his family. His father, Albert, and uncle, Andre, own a Super Comp dragster. Andre drove it to the semifinals of NHRA Lucas Oil Sportsman eliminations on Sunday but fell two rounds short.

The Mello Yello series will take next weekend off before heading to Bristol Dragway for the June 14-16 Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

Capps, Tobler find silver lining with E-Town performance despite losing in the first round of NHRA Summernationals

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – It was a disappointing trip for Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, N.J., for the 44th annual NHRA Toyota Summernationals.

But despite a subpar No. 11 qualifying position and loss in Sunday’s opening round, Capps and crew chief Rahn Tobler at least were pleased with the performance of Don Schumacher Racing’s Dodge Charger R/T.

Capps and Tobler tuned their Funny Car to a 4.123-second run at 306.19 mph that was their best of five tries over the weekend and tied for fourth best in the opening round. It would have been quick enough to win five of the eight first-round match-ups.

But it wasn’t enough to defeat former world champion Cruz Pedregon, whose 4.088-second pass against Capps was the quickest through eliminations on Sunday.

“That makes us feel like we are on the right path to get our NAPA Dodge on track so we can challenge for the championship,” Capps said. “We found the problem that has been holding us back. Now it’s on to Bristol (Tenn.) in two weeks, and we’ll be ready to run when we get there.”

Tobler added, “We had an equipment malfunction throughout qualifying and didn’t get a real shot at the racetrack until that run on Sunday. Today was one of the only runs when we made a full run when everything worked and we just came up a little short.

“But we know what the problem was and were able to correct it before first round. We ran the fourth quickest time of the round but unfortunately it was against the quickest time.”

Beckman, Valvoline/MTS stay on track at Summernationals, advance to first final round of season, move into top-5

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – Crew chief Todd Smith looked like his Valvoline NextGen/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors Funny Car just made its worst run of the season.
As he turned from the scoreboards Sunday afternoon at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, there was no joy in losing in the championship round of the 44th annual NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown, N.J.

His driver, Jack Beckman, just lost to his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan, in a close race.
It wasn’t the time to tell Smith, who led Beckman to the 2012 NHRA Mello Yello Series Funny Car championship, that it still was a great weekend.

It marked the first championship round for the team this season after winning three titles last year in four final-round appearances.

Beckman’s team showed improvement two weeks ago when it advanced to the semifinals, and the No. 3 qualifying effort and final-round appearance showed significant improvement.

“At Topeka, we really liked that we went down the track seven times in a row,” Beckman said. “Topeka was a phenomenal racetrack because of the weather. Here was completely different conditions yet we showed we’re still back to our predictable tune-up.

“It’s a great weekend. It’s very disappointing to lose in the final but getting to the final was that next step for us before getting that first win and I think we’re getting closer than ever this year. I am completely optimistic about the rest of the season.”

The only previous time the DSR teammates met in the final round was last season at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis when Beckman left with the trophy.

Massey, Battery Extender dragster posts fifth semifinal finish in nine NHRA events on Sunday at Englishtown

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – Spencer Massey is stuck in a rut. But it’s not a bad one. Out of nine NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events, the Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher dragster team has reached the semifinals five times.

That fifth time came on Sunday during the NHRA Toyota Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

After qualifying fifth in the 16-car field, Massey defeated Morgan Lucas in the opening round with a 3.852-second pass. But it wasn’t without drama.

Prior to the first round of eliminations, Massey’s crew chief Phil Shuler noticed something amiss with the 10,000-horsepower dragster and called for a change.

“We saw something that wasn’t exactly right with the blower,” Massey said. “The guys had to do a little extra work before we even made a run today. We have a good group of guys so it was no problem and we ran first round and got the win.”

But it was Massey putting in the extra work when it came to the second round of Sunday’s eliminations when he was paired with rookie Brittany Force of John Force Racing. The track surface continued to get hotter and making it tougher on the crew chiefs to tune the 10,000-horsepower machines. Both cars suffered tire smoke, but Massey held on to earn the win light.

“In the second round I had to work for it with a pedal fest over Brittany,” he said. “You have to be ready for that at all times and it turned out to be a great pedal fest between us.”

As the afternoon went on, the track surface got even hotter for the semifinal round and Massey was unable to make a full pull against Al-Anabi Racing’s Khalid alBalooshi.

“Overall, it was just hot out here,” Massey said. “It’s tough for crew chiefs and it’s tough for drivers with so many layers in our firesuits, sitting in the car.

“But we got another semifinal finish. We’re going rounds, getting win lights and staying in the top-five in points. But we want to win races. We’re not happy but we can’t be disappointed either. The car is going rounds and that’s a good thing. It’s going to be crunch time before we know it, getting close to the Countdown (to the Championship). But we have a handle on this racecar it was just tricky and tough out there today.”

Johnny Gray and Pitch Energy Team Shine Despite Second Round Exit

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – Johnny Gray and the Pitch Energy team had hoped to defend the title that the surging team earned last year at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, but they fell a couple of rounds short at this season’s 44th annual Toyota NHRA Summernationals and saw a fear-inspiring streak of round wins come to a halt. Despite a second-round exit, Gray and his Rob Wendland-led team gained even more confidence as their program showed reliability and consistency.

Gray, the victor at the last two consecutive events (Atlanta and Topeka), had a well-behaved hot rod in qualifying and made four smooth passes down a very hot and sticky racetrack. Incoming points leader Gray’s 4.121 at 301.70 mph qualifying best was good for the No. 8 position and a first-round meeting with Courtney Force.

On raceday, the Artesia, N.M.-based driver scored a ninth-straight round win with his victory over Force with a stout 4.095 at 306.60 mph that was the second-quickest pass of eliminations, and Gray continued to show carefully calculated power as he clocked a low of the round 4.135 at 306.05 mph next to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan in the quarterfinals.

Unfortunately for Gray and the Pitch Energy team, Hagan came to the starting line fully aware that he would have his hands full against the driver who got the best of him in the final round in Atlanta just a few weeks earlier. Hagan’s round win over Gray in Englishtown would officially go on record as a holeshot as he left the starting line with a .056-second reaction to Gray’s respectable .088 and cleared the finish line with a slower but winning 4.137.

“You know, we really wanted the three-peat, we wanted to win three in a row, but it’s real hard to feel too bad when you won the last two,” said Gray, the only driver to have made clean passes in each run down the racetrack over the course of the weekend, including throughout qualifying and on raceday.

“We lost the points lead to Matt [Hagan moved to first and Gray was bumped down to second], but we aren’t concerned right at this moment because our Pitch Energy Dodge was a good car this weekend. Nobody else out there can say that they did what we were able to do. We got down the racetrack every run, and I’m real proud of Rob, Rip, and all the guys on this Pitch Energy team. I’m happy my buddy Matt Hagan had a turn, today was his day, but we’ll just have to see what the future holds. You probably don’t want to underestimate this Pitch Energy Dodge and this team.”