Massey Runner up in Top Fuel Leads the DSR Bristol Report
Massey, Battery Extender team finishes runner-up in Bristol, moves into third in NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel points standings
Bristol, TN
– Sometimes in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing you just need a little bit of luck. And it went a long way for Spencer Massey and the Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher Top Fuel team on Sunday with crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler.
In the opening round of Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals eliminations at Bristol Dragway, Massey’s opponent Doug Herbert was unable to make a run after his parachutes popped out following the burnout.
On a single run, Massey’s 10,000-horsepower dragster overpowered the track and hazed the tires, slowing to a 6-second run. But he turned on the win light.
“Once Herbert got shut off, Phil (Shuler) and Todd (Okuhara) had a light bulb go off in their head and they said let’s give it a try and step it up and see what it’ll take. They turned a bunch of knobs and obviously the track didn’t take it but that’s data that we had to take into the next round, to see what not to do.”
That paired him against rookie driver Brittany Force of John Force Racing in the second round. In a close race, Shuler was able to rebound and get the win with a 3.864-second lap over Force’s 3.871-second pass.
In the semifinals round, Massey faced Morgan Lucas and Lucas hazed the tires and Massey earned lane choice for the final round against fellow Texan Steve Torrence.
“Obviously what Phil and Todd learned in the first round worked and we got by Brittany (Force) and Morgan (Lucas). Morgan is always a tough race because you never know when that car can step up and run low elapsed time.”
In a close final round race, Massey was unable to turn on his fourth win light of the day. The Battery Extender team moved around teammate Antron Brown to third in NHRA Mello Yello points standings.
“We tried to go up to the final round and be a little bit conservative but still be competitive and we just fell off a little bit,” Massey said. “Torrence picked it up a little bit. It is what it is. We’re happy just to go to the final round and get points. We gained a little bit on the top three guys and we’re excited.”
“We’re definitely not complaining or hanging our heads low. We would’ve loved to have the trophy but we’re still happy with our day here in Bristol.”
Unpredictable bad break for Capps, NAPA Dodgeends Sunday early at NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
– Just as Ron Capps’ NAPA AUTO PARTS Funny Car was finding its way back to championship form, a small part that rarely breaks broke.
When Capps floored the pedal in the opening round of the Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals his car inched off the starting line instead of blasting off like a rocket.
He went nowhere and was unable to defend the title he won at Bristol Dragway a year ago that was the third time he left Bristol with the trophy.
“That hasn’t happened in a long time,” Capps said.
“At the starting line, you’re prepared to be scrunched back in the seat by 5gs but then it doesn’t go anywhere. It didn’t pop or backfire so I knew it had to either be something with the throttle linkage or something broke.”
Capps was right; a piece of the throttle linkage failed.
It was even more disheartening because it stopped Capps’ streak of five solid runs including four in qualifying at Bristol.
Capps had to sit and watch Chad Head in the other lane.
“I just coasted on down,” Capps said. “I watched Chad out of the front window of our Charger and could see he was wiggling and waggling. He’s one of my best friends out here – and I surely didn’t want him to get hurt – but I could tell he got close to the (guard) wall and thought if he just touched the rear fender a little we could back into it.”
Under NHRA rules, a car is disqualified if it hits a guardwall or crosses the centerline.
“It’s unfortunate because I felt it would be a good day for us. We’re not worried about points yet, but we felt we needed to keep up with the guys ahead of us if not gain ground on them.”
Fortunately for Capps, who started the day ranked fifth in points, and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team, two of the teams ahead of him – Don Schumacher Racing teammates Johnny Gray and Jack Beckman – also lost in the first round. Capps will remain fifth in points.
Capps and the NAPA team are eager to get to next weekend’s inaugural New England NHRA Nationals at Epping, N.H.
“We got our hot rod back in qualifying with four good runs that were close to having the lowest elapsed time in each session,” he said. “All we can do now is get ready for Epping.
Beckman’s stellar, record-setting qualifying effort tarnished by first-round loss in NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
– Reigning NHRA Funny Car world champion Jack Beckman has said the only thing predictable about Funny Cars is they are unpredictable.
He would have preferred for his theory not to come to fruition the way it did on Sunday in the opening round of the Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
After Beckman’s Valvoline NextGen/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors Dodge Charger R/T qualified No. 2 with a stellar run of 4.012 seconds and a track-record speed of 317.05 mph on Friday night, an engine malfunction Sunday led to an upset loss to Blake Alexander, who qualified 15th in the 16-car field.
“There’s something wrong with the engine,” Beckman said. “We saw it smoke the tires which is a byproduct of it dropping a cylinder which was a byproduct of the engine being too weak. We have to find out why it suddenly had a problem and do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“To win an event title, you can’t lose any rounds. To win a championship, you can’t lose rounds like that. When you qualify as well as we did, one of the things that it ought to be doing is stacking the deck in your favor and you have to capitalize on it. The upside is up until that run, the last eight times our car has made it to the finish line under power. We’re back pretty close to where we were last year where we can predict run after run. We just have to figure out what went wrong there.
“It’s frustrating. It’s the battle versus the war. We can leave here saying we lost the battle but we’re in a better position for the war. The problem is we basically just forfeited that run. Whatever went wrong with our car is not something that should ever be a problem with the Valvoline Dodge. It just shouldn’t. We don’t know if it’s a parts malfunction. We’ve double checked our tune-up. Everything that we selected was in the car, it just didn’t respond that way. It’s kind of frustrating because we lost and that was a golden opportunity to make a big charge and we want to win a race here pretty quick.”
Brown, Matco Tools team drops to fourth place in points after first-round loss in NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
– Antron Brown and the Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster has won three consecutive NHRA event titles before, but they are in the midst of a streak that is not enjoyable.
Brown lost in the opening round Sunday for the third consecutive NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event and for the fourth time in the past five races.
A disappointing qualifying effort of 12th in the Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals paired him against Don Schumacher Racing and U.S. Army teammate Tony Schumacher. Brown lost traction and slowed to a 4.607-second run at 184.95 mph to Schumacher’s winning 3.848 at 323.12.
“We just have to keep staying on our plan,” said Brown, the reigning NHRA Top Fuel world champion who has won two titles this year. “We know how tough this sport really is.
“We just have to keep our focus and beat this resistance with persistence. We’ll take it one step at a time and our plan is to test tomorrow to get some good laps in.
“You have to keep your same mindset. We learn from the experience we have in this sport. I’ve been in it for 16 years now. When you go through the down times you can’t let it keep pulling you down. You have to keep on picking at it. It will turn around, and I’m confident. We have the team to make it better. We’re just going to stay after it and we’ll get right back where we need to be.”
The Mello Series moves north next weekend for the inaugural New England NHRA Nationals at Epping, N.H.
Hagan comes up short in second round at Thunder Valley, Rocky Boots team remains NHRA Funny Car points leaders
– Matt Hagan was on the losing end of a close drag race on Sunday during NHRA eliminations at the Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
Hagan’s Rocky Boots/Mahoney’s/Mopar Funny Car had a solid qualifying effort with a time of 4.049 at 317 mph, placing them third in the 16-car field.
In the opening round of eliminations at Thunder Valley, crew chief Dickie Venables tuned Hagan to a 4.161-second lap at 310 mph to secure the win over Tony Pedregon.
In the second round against John Force, who had the quickest elapsed time of the first round, Hagan came up short to Force’s 4.167-second lap. Force, who went on to win the title, again had the quickest run of the session.
“I don’t know how close it was,” Hagan said, who clocked a 4.195-second pass. “I just know he got the win light. He just had a little better car than we did this weekend. It was a good drag race, we both went to the finish line.
“I felt good about it (the run), I thought everything was looking good. I never saw him until the end, he just kind of drove around me there at the end. That’s how it goes. We’ll load up and head to Epping.
The Rocky Boots team leaves Bristol Dragway with the points lead and with their heads held high on their 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season that includes wins at Charlotte and Englishtown, N.J
“There’s nothing to be disappointed about,” Hagan said. “We have a great team and a great car. We still have to figure this heat out a little bit and we’ll be good.”
