Massey Kicks-off the DSR St Louis Team Reports

Massey eyes big points move at NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway with Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher team near St. Louis

BROWNSBURG, IN – The iconic Gateway Arch was completed in 1965 as a monument symbolizing the westward expansion of the United States. But when Spencer Massey passes by on his way to Gateway Motorsports Park in nearby Madison, Ill., the Arch will have a different meaning.

Spencer hopes the St. Louis icon will mean a move north, not west, in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Countdown to the Championship points standings at this weekend’s NHRA Midwest Nationals.

After two of six Countdown events, Spencer and the Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher dragster team are sixth in the Top Fuel rankings coming off semifinals and quarterfinals finishes in the delayed Carolina Nationals and FallNationals, respectively, last weekend at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas.

“We need to move up in points,” Spencer said. “And that’s going to take some round wins on our part and some round losses for those guys ahead of us especially our teammate Tony (Schumacher) who took over the lead.”

Tony “doubled-up” last weekend near Dallas and holds a 106-point lead over Steve Torrence in second.

Spencer and the team led by crew chiefs Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara have a runner-up finish at the Gateway facility in 2012. Through 20 NHRA events this season, they have two wins (Atlanta, Topeka) and two semifinals finishes.

“I love going to St. Louis,” Spencer said. “It’s a great area, a great race track and I can’t wait to be back in our Red Fuel dragster again this weekend. I could race every weekend, all year long if they would let me.

“The clock is ticking. We need to get a win or a final round finish pretty soon so we have a shot at the championship when we get to Pomona for the last race. That’s all we can ask for. We are a championship caliber team, we just have to prove it.”
Antron knows St. Louis is right time to start turnaround in Matco Tools dragster during third round of Countdown

– The 2012 NHRA Top Fuel world championship Matco Tools racing team believe you make your own luck, but it would be understandable if it joined with driver Antron Brown in chanting “if we didn’t have bad luck we wouldn’t have any luck at all.”

After winning five of this year’s first 13 events in the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Antron and the Matco team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald with assistant Brad Mason, are mired in a slump that couldn’t have come at a worse time in the 24-race season

After starting the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship ranked second in points, Don Schumacher Racing’s Matco Tools team has qualified between 12th and 16th in the past three events and lost in first round of championship eliminations each time.

The reasons aren’t major maladies just little aggravating ones that have sprung up after another has been corrected.

“We’ve been fighting problems (with the car) and when we got one problem fixed and then something else comes up and bites us,” said Antron who fell from second to eighth over the past two races.

“Well it wasn’t what we wanted in the first round,” he said of Sunday’s first-loss in the NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas. “We had a good handle on it and we ended up smoking a (clutch) disc out of the car and then it dropped a (cylinder).

“We worked real hard … the thing about it is, it just wasn’t our time. It takes a little bit of wind out of you,” said Antron, who will visit Ranken Technical College in St. Louis from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday to speak to students as part of Matco’s TechEd program.

There isn’t a better feel-good track for Antron and his teammates to visit than Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis for this weekend’s AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals and third round of the Countdown.

He and the Matco team have won the Gateway event the past two years and three times since he began competing in Top Fuel at the track in 2007. They hold track records for elapsed time (3.737 seconds) and speed (326.79 mph) set in 2012 when they went on to win the championship.

“I love this track and its close to home,” said the resident of Pittsboro outside of Indianapolis.

“It’s time for us to get back to doing what we do and that’s racing a lot of rounds on Sundays. It’s getting late in the Countdown but it’s not too late for us, it just needs to start happening at St. Louis.
Beckman looks to start winning this weekend near St. Louis pivotal event during his 2012 world championship season

– Jack Beckman knows he can’t win his second NHRA world championship in the past three years and the third of his career.

While Jack and his Infinite Hero Foundation/Valvoline Funny Car team has swallowed that bitter pill after not being among the 10 teams to qualify for his year’s six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship, they have a goal that could mean nearly as much to them.

When they arrive this weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis it will have been two years since Jack has ended an event hoisting an NHRA Wally trophy as winner of the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals.

That’s a span of 47 Mello Yello events in which Jack has not taken a victory lap down the return road of ending championship eliminations as the last winner.

The drought is unfathomable for the Southern California resident who had won at least one title since becoming a full-time professional drag racer and joining Don Schumacher Racing for the last two races of the 2006 season. The first of his 15 titles came in his first race with DSR.

No track on the 24-race Mello Yello Drag Racing Series circuit would be a more appropriate spot for Jack to get back on the winning track. His track record for elapsed time (4.049 seconds) set on his way to winning there in 2012 will be in place when racing begins Friday.

“Our race there two years ago is how I got back into contending for the championship, and I hope this year we’re able to use St. Louis to get our car back to how it is capable of running,” he said. “We just need to run as strongly on Sunday as we have been in qualifying.”

He came close to winning a year ago when he advanced to the championship round that marked three times in the previous three visits when he raced for the trophy.

Jack has been winning in the pit area where he has generated more than $40,000 for the Infinite Hero Foundation that funds programs that drive innovation and the accessibility of effective treatments for American military heroes and their families dealing with service-related mental and physical injuries (InfiniteHero.org).

He carries 10 Infinite Hero challenge coins provided by Oakley with him in the race car on every run down the track. When he returns to the pit he .autographs each memorable coin and sells them for $100 to fans with all proceeds going to Infinite Hero. DSR also sells five IHF challenge coins that Jack signs and numbers from each race on the Shoe Racing ebay store with proceeds going directly to the Infinite Hero Foundation.
Hagan hopes to keep momentum rolling with Mopar Express Lane Dodge at this weekend’s NHRA Midwest Nationals near St. Louis

– Matt Hagan started off NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship playoffs the best possible way – with a win.

Now the Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots team will look to keep the momentum going at this weekend’s NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis.

With two of the six-race playoff events completed in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, every round is crucial for the team led by crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen.

“You know, we got off to a really strong start with a win and we kind of stumbled in the second round at Dallas but that’s OK,” Matt said. “I’m really proud of how this team is coming around when it counts.”

Matt has a runner-up finish at the Gateway facility in 2012 and the team was the No. 1 qualifier a year ago at the event.

“From here on out, it’s about how deep in eliminations you can go on Sunday. We made a pretty big jump from seventh to third in the points but the competition is so tough and the field is all bunched up that anything can happen.”

The Mopar team is 49 points, less than three rounds of racing, out of first place in the standings and just four points from second.

“We need to qualify well, get some bonus points in qualifying and go rounds on Sunday. It sounds easy, but it’s not. We’ll take it one lap at a time and I have all of the confidence in the world in these guys and Dickie.

“I’ve been saying we are getting close to peaking and we really are. We just need to keep up the hard work and show what we can do on the racetrack.”
Capps heads to St. Louis ready to stay in championship hunt

– Ron Capps’ 20-year career as a professional drag racer is filled with accomplishments.

The popular California resident is known for starring roles in sponsor NAPA AUTO PARTS creative national television commercials. He is as supportive of NAPA as any professional athlete can be of a supporter.

He and his wife, Shelley, have shared their teenage children’s development with the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series community as Taylor, a college freshman, and Caden, 13, have grown up at race tracks across the country.

Ron, 49, has won 44 Mello Yello event titles since his first in 1995 but he still hails his greatest achievement as his family that he shares with the drag racing community.

As a racer, he has driven for some of the greatest crew chiefs in the sports history from Ed “Ace” McCulloch to his current team leader, Rahn Tobler.

One descriptive label attached to Ron that he would like to change soon is being known as “the winningest driver in NHRA history who has not been crowned a world champion.” He has been the runner-up for the gold four times – 1998, 2000, 2005 and 2012 when he finished a record two points behind DSR teammate Jack Beckman.

Earlier this season he said – tongue in cheek – that he’d cut off a finger to win an NHRA world championship trophy.

While that ultimate prize and $500,000 bonus for Don Schumacher Racing would go a long way toward being the high watermark in his stellar career, in serious moments he looks to McCulloch, a legend and close friend, for proper perspective in evaluating what makes a career successful.

“I’ve talked about the championship with Ace many times because he’s one of the greatest drivers and most respected drivers in NHRA history and he never won the championship,” Ron said.

“Our fans love Ace and I’d be happy to have done what he done in his career even if it meant I wouldn’t have a world championship ring.

“You still want to have a championship on your resume, that’s always the goal,” he said. “My mentors always have told me just keep your head down, keep focused on race wins because when race wins come the points come along with them. If you keep doing that you might look up at the end of the season and have a championship.”

He hopes to take a big step toward that when he arrives with Tobler and his NAPA AUTO PARTS team for the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis this weekend for the 21st event of the 24-race season and the midway point of the Countdown to the Championship playoff.

The NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T has been driven into a winner’s circle by Ron twice this season and he will start the Gateway event tied for fifth in the standings with four races left in the Countdown.

He trails points leader John Force by 94 points but with 16 rounds of championship eliminations remaining, which award 20 points for each round win, that can be erased and there aren’t many tracks better for Ron than Gateway.

He has advanced to four championship rounds and left with the NHRA Wally trophy three times in 17 national events held at the track and no nother Funny Car driver has won their more.