Schumacher, Hagan win Route 66 NHRA titles marking the 37th DSR nitro titles sweep

JOLIET, IL – Tony Schumacher and Matt Hagan won NHRA Mello Yello event titles Sunday at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago to mark the fifth time in 12 events this year and 37th since 2003 that Don Schumacher Racing has swept Top Fuel and Funny Car titles at the same national event.

After ideal qualifying conditions Saturday at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago, Massey’s Battery Extender dragster qualified sixth in the 16-car field for Sunday’s eliminations with a 3.758-second pass.But the downside came when Massey was paired against Don Schumacher Racing teammate and No. 11 qualifier Antron Brown for the opening round.

Brown, who had been eliminated in the first round of competition the last four consecutive races, turned on the win light in a great race between teammates.

Massey had the third best elapsed time of the first round and his best run of the weekend with a 3.816-second pass at 315 mph but Brown’s 3.789 at 320 mph was second best of the session.”We were the third quickest of the round and we’re going home,” Massey said. “Running Antron in the first round is tough. He’s a tough competitor and we wish we wouldn’t have to run our DSR teammates in the first round but it happens from time to time.

“He threw down a great number, a 3.78, and we went 3.81 which was actually third quickest of the round but we’re going home. Sometimes that’s the name of the game especially when you’re running a DSR teammate.”It was just the losing end of a close drag race for the Battery Extender team who remains third in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series points.

“Hats off to Antron and that team. They’ve been struggling lately and that’s their first round win in a few races. We knew it was only a matter of time before they started turning on win lights again but unfortunately it came at the expense of us. It is what it is.

“It’s a shame that we couldn’t do better here in Joliet for Don Schumacher and Schumacher Electric at their hometown race. We’ll pack up and head to Norwalk where we won last year and not look back.”

– Jack Beckman and the Valvoline MaxLife/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors Funny Car team finally got their Dodge Charger R/T back on track over the weekend at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago.

They uncorked a 3.999-second run to qualify third for the Route 66 Nationals on Saturday night and started championship eliminations Sunday with a solid run of 4.074 seconds at 313.51 mph to post the second quickest run of the opening round.

Then, Beckman faced Don Schumacher Racing teammate and points leader Matt Hagan in the quarterfinals. Crew chief Todd Smith, assistant Terry Snyder and the crew gave Beckman a car quicker than Hagan’s.

Although Beckman’s time of 4.100 seconds was better than Hagan’s 4.105, Hagan advanced by leaving the starting first to post the holeshot win. Hagan’s time to react to the starting line Christmas tree was 0.095 to Beckman’s 0.107.

“Frustrating,” Beckman said of how he lost. “That’s tough a tough way to lose.

“Losing on a holeshot is the last thing a driver ever wants to hear. He was 12-thousandths of a second quicker off the starting line and that was the difference at the finish line.

“When there are nine guys putting your car together and they give you the quicker car but you don’t turn on the win light, that’s tough.”

The solid effort by the Valvoline/MTS team enabled Beckman to maintain his hold on sixth in the points standings.

The Mello Yello series moves to Norwalk in northern Ohio next weekend and after the following week off heads toward the Pacific for the annual Western Swing with events in Denver, near San Francisco and Seattle over three successive weekends.

“The silver lining is that we are consistently running quick again,” Beckman said. “We have four more chances over in the next five weeks to get a trophy.

Beckman also is the only one of four DSR Funny Car drivers yet to clinch a spot in the $100,000 Traxxas Shootout to be held on Sept. 1 (Sunday) of the U.S. Nationals near Indianapolis.

The first seven spots in the eight-car field go to unique event winners throughout the season, but if there are only six positions locked-in by titles after the Aug. 16-19 Mello Yello event at Brainerd, Minn., the seventh berth will go to the driver highest in points without a title this season. The eighth spot will be a fan vote on NHRA.com.

Currently, Beckman is in position to receive the No. 7 seed.

“There’s one slot left in the Traxxas shootout and we want that,” Beckman said. “More importantly, we want our first win of the season.”

– Ron Capps would much rather win event titles and go further into championship eliminations with his NAPA Batteries/Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund Funny Car than the semifinals, but the veteran driver knows it’s the big picture that counts.

Capps with crew chief Rahn Tobler and assistant John Collins ran the third quickest time ever in Funny Car – 3.988 seconds at 320.28 mph – Saturday night to win the pole for Sunday’s championship eliminations and set track records at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago.

His Dodge Charger R/T posted impressive runs (4.086 and 4.073) to win his first two rounds before losing in the semifinals to John Force, who advanced to the final round where he lost to Capps’ Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan.

Capps was disappointed but put the day into proper perspective.

“Losing in the semis is better than losing in the quarterfinals and definitely better than losing in the first round,” he said.

“We’re starting to get our swagger back. Qualifying No. 1 was a boost for the NAPA team and to do it with the NAPA Batteries/Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund on our Dodge made it more special.

“It was a great weekend; almost a fantastic weekend. We just couldn’t keep our tires hooked up against Force, but we gained a lot of ground on the cars ahead of us. That’s key. Championships seem to always be won in the summer months. It hardens the team and makes them stronger.”

Capps moved up one spot in the Mello Yello Funny Car standings to fifth and trails Hagan, the points leader, by 169 points heading to next weekend’s event at Norwalk, Ohio.

The gigantic air blast came from Antron Brown and his Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster team competing in the Route 66 Nationals outside of Chicago after the reigning NHRA world champions won in the first round for the first time in five Mello Yello events.

Crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald took a new Don Schumacher Racing chassis to Lucas Oil Raceway to test on Wednesday after the team failed to advance past the first round at last weekend’s event in Epping, N.H., which was the sixth time in seven events its work was done after the opening round.

Not only did the Matco team advance past its Achilles’ heel, but its time of 3.789 seconds at 320.51 mph in Sunday’s opening round was its quickest since the semifinals at Atlanta where he won his second title of the season.

The weekend wasn’t truly disappointing although Brown lost in the semifinals to his Don Schumacher Racing and U.S. Army teammate Tony Schumacher, who won in the championship round to post his third win of the season and regain the points lead.

“We gave our teammate a run for the money,” Brown said. “We were right there with him all the way and he just nipped us at the end. It dropped (an engine cylinder) a little bit before the finish line and he just nipped us by a tiny bit. We really don’t want to let those wins get away so that just charges us up even more to go into the next race.”

Brown, who has won two titles this year and ranks fourth in points, believes his team made a major turn at Joliet, Ill.

“It was a good weekend,” Brown said, “definitely a great weekend for our whole team. We kept pulling together. We took a lot of bumps and bruises and blows but we just stayed with it and it’s just a testament to how great the unity is on this team.

“The rougher it got, the more we pulled together. No one was fighting, there was never any turmoil. We just got closer and closer. Those four races really brought our team together even stronger and closer with the new guys we have on our team.

“We feel happy, we feel amped up and we’re ready for Norwalk.”