Mopar/Rocky’s Hagan takes second Funny Car pole of the year; Schumacher leads DSR in Top Fuel at Vegas with No. 2 seed

LAS VEGAS, NV – Don Schumacher Racing and other teams in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series have experienced climate change over the past two weeks and that fact cannot be argued.

Two weeks ago at the last Mello Yello event near Charlotte, cold and rain wiped out the first day of qualifying then the following two days featured highs in the 50s and track temperatures in the mid-80s.

DSR left with both titles in the nitro categories for the third straight event, and heading into Sunday’s eliminations in the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the weather has become summerlike with highs in the 80s and track that warmed to over 110 degrees on Friday and above 120 on Saturday.

But the radical change had little effect on DSR during two days of qualifying at Las Vegas when Matt Hagan and the Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots 2015 Dodge Charger R/T team led by Dickie Venables posted a best time of 4.007 seconds at 318.02 mph on Friday to earn the No. 1 qualifying position for the second time in five events this year and the 19th of his career.

Hagan, who started this year by winning the first two races, was quickest in both Friday sessions and then fourth and second best on Saturday to earn eight qualifying bonus points that enables the two-time and reigning world champion to start Sunday as the Funny Car points leader while teammate Antron Brown (Matco Tools/U.S. Army), who qualified 14th, holds the season points lead in Top Fuel.

Eight-time and reigning Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher nearly gave DSR its second sweep of No. 1 qualifying spots this year but will start racing Sunday from the No. 2 position. Spencer Massey (Red Fuel/Sandvik Coromant) will start 11th.

DSR Funny Cars earned the top three qualifying positions with Jack Beckman (Infinite Hero) and Tommy Johnson Jr. (Make-A-Wish) holding the second and third spots, respectively. Ron Capps (NAPA AUTO PARTS) is No. 7 giving the DSR quartet their choices of lanes for the first round.