Papa John’s Pizza dragster with Pritchett ready to deliver at Bristol after rare, early exit at Summernationals that cost team points lead

BROWNSBURG, IN – Leah Pritchett raved about carrying the colors of Don Schumacher Racing’s special edition Dodge Demon Powered by Pennzoil Top Fuel dragster the past two races and will return her customary Papa John’s Pizza gold racecar Friday to start the 17th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee.

Pennzoil and DSR provided Dodge with the opportunity to salute the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, which is the fastest production car ever to run on a dragstrip.

This weekend Pritchett returns to “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza” and her gold Papa John’s rail.

“It was so cool to be able to help promote the new Dodge Demon and our team loved wearing the Demon on our hats and shirts,” she said. “But it’s time to get back into our Papa John’s shirts and take this gold rail back into a winner’s circle.”

For all but one week of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, her Don Schumacher Racing team led by crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam were No. 1 in the points standings with three event titles and the national time record.

But her first opening round loss in the past 17 races on Sunday in the NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown, N.J., dropped the DSR team to third in points and 36 behind new leader and DSR teammate Antron Brown.

Also moving around the Papa John’s team was Steve Torrence, who beat Brown in Sunday’s final. The clutch specialist for Torrence is Gary Pritchett, Leah’s husband of five years.

“We’re keeping it interesting,” she said. “Antron climbed to No. 1, and we’re pretty good at underdog status, so to speak. You look around here, there’s nothing at all to be disappointed about.”

Despite a challenging, hot track in qualifying, the Papa John’s team was able to muster a No. 9 qualifying spot but that gave first-opponent and DSR teammate Tony Schumacher his choice of lanes that helped him slip past with a time of 3.839 seconds at 318.69 mph to her 3.928 (300.26).

“We were making a little too much Mopar power for the track and we had a fuel issue,” she said. “This is just a small bump.

“For us, this is a learning curve. It was much different than two of the other somewhat hot tracks we have been on, but by far the hottest. We know what went wrong, we know what the fix is, and all we can do is we look forward to Bristol that is going to be just as hot and more humid.”

Final-round streak propels three-time champion Brown and Matco Tools team back to points lead as NHRA heads to Bristol Dragway

– In the 10 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events contested this season, Antron Brown and the Matco Tools team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald with assistant Brad Mason have reached the finals five times.

After reaching the last three consecutive final rounds, the three-time and reigning Top Fuel world championship team took over the top spot in Top Fuel standings with eight races remaining until the points are reset for the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

“That tells you how strong this team is right now,” said Brown, who has won the past two world titles. “We only have two wins right now and could have had more but some finals didn’t go our way. The key is we’re going rounds and that’s what wins championships. We’re heading in the right direction and we’re improving every weekend.”

Brown keeps his focus on each and every run rather than chasing his fourth championship. NHRA teams were challenged last weekend in Englishtown, N.J., with the hottest conditions of the year.

“It was hilarious because people were making comments that we’re a consistent car, but we’re not the quickest car, so this weekend it was good to come out here and qualify number one and go some rounds and take over the points lead,” Brown said after the final round at the Summernationals. “So we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and let the results speak for itself.”

The Mello Yello series heads to Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn., this weekend for the Thunder Valley Nationals, which is the third stop of the Eastern Swing that includes four events in four week. It is the only track on the NHRA tour where Brown has not won an event title.

“I don’t even think about that,” Brown said. “We treat this race like any other. We want to win them all. We learned a lot about our hot weather tune-up last weekend in Englishtown and that’ll help us this weekend in Bristol. All we’re focused on is one round at time and attacking the racetrack each lap.”

Capps celebrates Father’s Day at Bristol by winning on NHRA trail, looks to improve streak of three finals with fifth title of season

– After 10 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events last year, Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car Powered by Pennzoil arrived at Bristol, Tenn., with the championship points lead.

Capps with crew chief Rahn Tobler, assistant Eric Lane and the NAPA AutoCare Centers crew had won three event titles, led Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman by 27 points and were chasing their first world championship after being runner-up for a record four times.

Much has changed since then.

When the reigning world champions arrive Friday at Bristol Dragway for the 17th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, the NAPA team once again will be No. 1 but have four event titles and hold a 129-point lead over another DSR teammate, Matt Hagan.

Bristol is the third stop on the Eastern Swing that includes four races in four weeks. Last year Capps won three of the four, but Bristol wasn’t one of them. This year, he won the first one at Epping, N.J., and was runner-up last Sunday at Englishtown, N.J.

He also leads DSR with most wins on Father’s Day with titles in 2002, 2006 and 2012.

While he won’t be able to celebrate on Sunday with his father and kids, he enjoys helping to make raceday special for fans attending.

“Every year when I’m signing at the rope in our pits it’s very special when I see fans with their kids or dads that makes race day even more special for me knowing we’re helping them enjoy Father’s Day,” he said. “I’m used to not being at home for Father’s Day, but I look forward to getting home on Monday to celebrate.”

It should be noted a gift he received Sunday would cover the need for any more presents on Father’s Day and his birthday, which is Tuesday.

Capps saw a four-event winning streak end on June 4 at Epping, N.H., but advanced to the championship round Sunday at Englishtown, N.J. It was a little amazing he kept advancing through the day.

For the third straight event, Capps lost traction in the first round but was able to masterfully pedal the throttle to win.

In the next round, Capps again lost traction while Alexis DeJoria moved to what seemed to be an insurmountable lead before she crossed the centerline and was disqualified. In the semifinals, he had another subpar run but it was enough to beat Robert Hight, who smoked his tires.

“We needed some luck,” Capps said. “It seems I haven’t received great luck during my career. I always thought it would be nice to have some lucky breaks once in a while.

“After you’ve put enough credits into the luck bank, it’s nice to take some out.”

Two-time Funny Car champion Hagan hoping for win at Bristol this weekend for family, friends and DSR’s Sandvik Coromant team

– This weekend’s NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway is a race circled on two-time Funny Car champion Matt Hagan’s calendar.

Bristol, Tenn., is only a short drive for Hagan from his expanding cattle ranch in Christiansburg, Va. The Sandvik Coromant/Mopar team Powered by Pennzoil will have Hagan’s friends and family cheering them on at the facility where they won in 2015 and finished runner-up last year.

“Bristol is always a fun but busy race for me,” Hagan said. “My phone blows up all week with people wanting to come out and watch us and that’s really a cool feeling, having that support. We just hope we can pull down a win for them like we did in 2015.”

The team led by crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen have three event titles in 2017 and sit second in Funny Car points standings behind Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps.

“We learned a lot about our hot weather tune-up last weekend in Englishtown,” Hagan said. “It’s hard to back these cars down and then you start dropping cylinders and it’s a challenge for these crew chiefs. All I have to do is hit the gas on time, keep it in the groove and pull the chutes. They’ve got the big challenge.

“Bristol is usually good for some hot and muggy conditions and I know with Dickie calling the shots that we’ll roll in with a good game plan and be good to go no matter what the weather throws at us.”

The Thunder Valley Nationals is the third consecutive weekend of racing on the four race “Eastern Swing” that will conclude next weekend in Norwalk, Ohio.

“This is one of the toughest stretches of races and these boys are really putting in the work. It’s not easy to race on a string like this. It takes a lot of preparation, a lot of work and these guys are just busting their butts. Hopefully we can get them a trophy for their efforts.”

Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Dodge with Johnson return to Bristol to defend their 2016 NHRA Mello Yello win at Thunder Valley

– It’s no secret that Tommy Johnson Jr.’s favorite racetrack is Bristol Dragway and luckily for him and Terry Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Funny Car team, the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series returns to Bristol, Tenn. this weekend for the 17th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals to defend their title win from last year.

“I love going to Bristol,” Johnson said. “You always have confidence going into a track where you’ve won the year before but even without our success there it’s one of those places I always look forward to going to.”

Bristol Dragway in what is called Thunder Valley, sends nitro cars down a track that cuts through a mountain side. Fans and drivers alike look forward to the event every year.

“We always do really well there and it’s just a really cool location and unlike a lot of the tracks we see during the year.”

The NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals falls on Father’s Day weekend. Johnson has had a lot of success racing on the holiday and hopes to continue that success this weekend.

“I love racing on Father’s Day. I’ve been fortunate enough to win several times on Father’s Day and we hope to do that again this year.”

Most of Johnson’s family, including his father, Tommy Johnson Sr., now live in Charlotte, N.C. and make the short trip to Bristol for the event.

“Bristol always falls near my dad’s birthday and I’ve been able to celebrate his birthday and Father’s Day with him a few times in the winner’s circle and I’d love to do it again this year.”

Johnson has won at Bristol twice: in 2014 and last year in 2016. He has won four times on Father’s Day.

In 2016, the Make-A-Wish car defeated Cruz Pedregon, Robert Hight and Alexis DeJoria before meeting their Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Matt Hagan, in the final round of competition.

Johnson made a 4.039-second pass at 312.42 mph to give me a slight holeshot victory of Hagan’s 4.030 (317.57) because of Johnson’s quicker reaction time of .035-seconds.

“Going to Bristol and having as much success there and all that data to build off of it’s easy to go in there with a lot of confidence. So we’ll head that way and see if we can’t repeat some of that success again.”

Englishtown victory moves Chandler’s Infinite Hero team to 3rd as Beckman heads to Bristol looking for first Thunder Valley title

– After Terry Chandler’s Infinite Hero Foundation Funny Car team with driver Jack Beckman won its first title of the season Sunday at Englishtown, N.J., they jumped third in championship points.

And look to earn their first title at the 17th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals title on Sunday at Bristol, Tenn.

“Bristol is just one of those bucket-list racetracks from a fan’s perspective,” said Beckman, the 2012 Funny Car world champion.

“It’s just so unique, the way it’s carved through the valley and enhances the sounds, the views of the hills are breathtaking. It’s also great from a racer’s perspective. Bristol has so much history. It was on the NHRA tour back in the ’60s. It fell off for a few years and we’re very fortunate to have it back on as a permanent race right now.”

The Bristol event marks the 11th of 24 on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and the third of a four-race, four-week stretch called the “Eastern Swing.”

“It’s where you really start recognizing things are going rapidly. We’re approaching the halfway point of the season. Then the next month and a half, it’s just rapid fire. This is the time that the teams that are going to contend for the championship start to get their stride and I think we’ll be right in the thick of that.”

And in the thick of the points standings they are.

After their win last weekend, due to the tuning of crew chiefs Dean Antonelli, John Medlen and Neal Strausbaugh, the Infinite Hero team moved up to No. 3 in the NHRA points.

“We needed to get (the win in Englishtown) so they know that we can do this. The first one is always the toughest one. It’s 25 Funny Car wins for me, plus two more in Super Comp, but it’s one for this iteration of the Infinite Hero team.”

In 2016 at Bristol, Beckman entered race day as the No. 9 qualifier and raced John Force in the opening round. Beckman posted a 3.974-second lap at 322.3 mph to give him the win.

He moved onto the second round to face his Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Ron Capps. Beckman ran a 4.007 (317.19) but Capps made it to the finish line first with a time of 3.990 (315.05).

This weekend Beckman looks for his first career win at Bristol and the Infinite Hero Dodge looks for their second wins as a team.