Mopar Ready to Stage at the Prestigious U.S. Nationals
Indianapolis, IN – The final National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) national event of the regular season may have Mopar teams and 
drivers jostling for final positions in the points standings in anticipation of the six-race “Countdown to the Championship” playoffs, but the 59th annual U.S. Nationals is anything but “regular” as competitors in both professional and sportsman classes vie for the most historic and prestigious titles on the circuit this Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis.
For a 13th consecutive season, the weekend starts off with the Mopar® HEMI® Challenge for Sportsman Mopar-powered SS/AH (Super Stock/Automatic-HEMI) class competitors with qualifying and eliminations of Thursday and Friday at Lucas Oil Raceway. It features 1968 HEMI Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas, the classic muscle cars that contributed to the brand’s legendary reputation and success at the drag strip, engaged in a quarter-mile battle. This year’s edition will see competitors vie for a $15,000 first place award, the iconic HEMI Challenge trophy and newly added prize, a custom Mopar winner’s jacket. Also a new feature to the Mopar HEMI Challenge is an added cash prize payout to the full 16-car field competing in the elimination rounds scheduled for Friday, Aug. 30.
Also on the weekend schedule is the second annual NHRA Factory Stock Showdown, featuring Mopar’s Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, in a showdown against Ford and Chevrolet factory-built race cars. Of note for this event is Mopar’s introduction of a Third Generation 426 (Gen3) Race HEMI engine to the race package.
The NHRA Mello Yello Series Pro classes will take to the track Friday evening for the first of five qualifying sessions throughout the weekend in preparation for Monday’s final elimination rounds. Matt Hagan and “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Charger R/T continues to lead the charge and the standings with four wins in the Funny Car Class while his Don Schumacher Racing teammates Ron Capps and Johnny Gray right on his heals rounding out the top three spots.
“It’s been magical, you know,” Hagan said. “It’s been pretty amazing. With all of the hard work that everyone has done, we’re sitting No. 1. It shows that if you put a great group of guys together and have one common goal you can accomplish just about anything you want to. We’ve had a little bit of luck along the way but, you know, we’ve also made our own luck. I know we’re going to reset these points after Indy and it’s going to be a dogfight.”
The same three DSR Mopar-powered drivers have combined to post three straight wins, and five in the last six races; with Capps winning the national title at last event at Brainerd to jump into second place. Defending NHRA Funny Car World Champion Jack Beckman is hoping to improve on his current seventh place position before final spots are locked-in for the playoffs beginning in Charlotte, N.C. in September.
In Pro Stock competition, 2012 World Champion Allen Johnson and his Mopar teammates Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Vincent Nobile are all trying to close the gap on points leader Mike Edwards from their second through fourth place positions respectively. The Mopar –powered drivers, including fellow Dodge Avenger driver V. Gaines have combined to advance to the final round of eliminations in seven consecutive events.
For Johnson, who has four wins this season to date, making it to the final round at Indianapolis is what he has his sights set on.
“I’ve earned No.1 qualifier honors at Indy a few times and that holds its own prestige to brag about, but I have never made it to the finals there.” Johnson said, “That’ll be our goal. Of course a win at Indianapolis is on my bucket list but heading into the playoffs on a winning note in the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Avenger would also be a nice way to set the tone for the Countdown.”
After testing with Johnson at St. Louis earlier this week, Coughlin is looks forward to finishing the regular season off strongly at the U.S. Nationals where he has three career Pro Stock wins (2000, 2002 and 2009) in 13 appearances.
“We’ve turned in several very, very strong performances this year and the guys have this JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger tuned-up and ready to get after it in Indy,” Coughlin said who will head into the playoffs no worse than third no matter what happens this weekend after earning two wins, four runner-up finishes and four semifinals so far this season.
“We went to two finals out there on the Western Swing, and although we had a slight misstep at the last race in Brainerd (Minn.), I feel as though that was an anomaly and not the norm for this team this season,” Coughlin added. “Of course, you’re always looking to improve. We definitely want to be as prepared as possible because this is the granddaddy of them all. Everyone wants to win Indy. That’s why you put in the extra work.”
So far in 2013, Mopar entries in both Pro Stock and Funny Car classes have won a combined total of 20 national titles of a possible 34 during 17 events.
ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will provide five hours of televised qualifying coverage from the 59th annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, commencing at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, Sept. 1, while six hours of elimination rounds coverage will be televised starting at noon (ET) on Monday, Sept. 2.
