Johnson, Make-A-Wish team put 2015 Dodge Charger R/T on the pole while DSR teammate Schumacher goes to No. 2 in Top Fuel at Pomona
POMONA, CA – Don Schumacher Racing started the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series on Friday at 
Pomona, Calif., where it left off last November when Tony Schumacher and Matt Hagan won world championships.
After opening day of the NHRA Circle K Winternationals, Tommy Johnson Jr. is on the provisional pole in Funny Car while Schumacher is No. 2 in Top Fuel.
The final two qualifying sessions are scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday leading to Sunday’s championship eliminations.
Johnson and the Make-A-Wish team led by crew chief John Collins produced the first provisional pole in the first race for DSR’s all new 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car body designed and developed by Mopar with assistance from DSR. The carbon-fiber bodies took nearly a year to develop and is the only all-new Funny Car body style competing in the Mello Yello series.
Johnson, who finished a career-best third in last year’s standings, uncorked a time of 4.018 seconds at the day’s top Funny Car speed of 314.46 mph in the opening day’s second qualifying session at Auto Club Raceway.
“The new body is a welcome addition,” Johnson said. “The vision is so much better. That actually paid off on that run. This is a hard place to see. When the sun is going down and with all the clutch dust in the car it can be a very difficult track to see. Having the extra vision really, really helped.
“The first run was on a really good one but it came loose out in the middle of the track,” he said of the run in 4.227 (236.71).
“It was an easy adjustment for John and the guys to make. John just made some subtle changes in the middle of the race course to soften it up a little through there. It was just a nice, easy, clean 4.01, not even really getting after it. It leaves a lot of hope for two more runs tomorrow. There’s a legitimate shot at going into the (3-second range).”
In Top Fuel, DSR’s reigning world champion Tony Schumacher and the U.S. Army team is qualified No. 2 with a time of 3.757 (320.20) while teammate Spencer Massey and the Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher/Sandvik Coromant team is third with a time of 3.761 at the day’s top speed of 328.30. Antron Brown and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army team is qualified 10th at 3.803.
When Schumacher competed in the season finale at Pomona he left with his eighth world championship.
“When you’ve got the Countdown (to the Championship) format, you’ve got to go out and you’ve got to win,” he said. “But, really, it starts with the first run of the season. You want to show your strength and you want that No. 1 on the side of the car to portray to the rest of the guys and the fans that you are the champ for a reason. (Crew chief) Mike Green and (and assistant) Neal Strausbaugh and the rest of the guys really have this Army car thumping.”
Johnson almost was upstaged by DSR teammate and reigning world champion Matt Hagan and the Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots Dodge who jumped to No. 8 in qualifying with a second-session run of 4.090 (310.70) but a few feet past the finish line an engine explosion led to a fireball.
“I made it to the finish line and just as soon as I lifted off the pedal it went kaboom,” said Hagan, the reigning Funny Car world champ who will switch Saturday to the 2015 Rocky Boots/Mopar body. “Talk about not seeing anything, with fire and fuel and everything else in your face. It lit up pretty good and I was just trying to hold my breath in there, I took in a little bit of smoke.
“It was a wild ride, a hot one too. This new body is in one piece and that was a big boomer. Honestly, that was one of the bigger ones that I’ve had. To lift the rear end and tires up that big for that long it was obviously a pretty big boomer.
“We’ll be back strong tomorrow to have some more fun.”
DSR’s NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge with driver Ron Capps is qualified 10th win a time of 4.102 and the Infinite Hero team with Jack Beckman is 17th.
