Success drives the DSR train to Phoenix

Pritchett returns to site of first nitro win, quickest pass ever with Papa John’s Pizza dragster after winning NHRA opener

BROWNSBURG, IN – Leah Pritchett has been eagerly awaiting her return to Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park since she left the Arizona track a year ago with her first Top Fuel title in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Now the driver of the Papa John’s Pizza dragster for Don Schumacher Racing has upped the amperage of her excitement meter after winning the Mello Yello event 10 days ago at Pomona, Calif., a day after earning the No. 1 qualifying position to open the 2017 season.

And if the 28-year-old Southern California native living near Indianapolis needs more confidence racing near Phoenix she can recall when she tested at the track three weeks ago with crew chief Todd Okuhara and assistant Joe Barlam after the Papa John’s team produced the quickest time ever in drag racing with a run of 3.654 seconds at 331.85 mph, which also is her top speed.

“What it means to me is all the hard work that the Papa John’s team put in the off-season came to fruition,” said Pritchett, who finished seventh in the Top Fuel points standings in 2016. “It means a lot, but one thing for sure that I’m focusing on this year is not getting ahead of myself, not getting too hyped up on those things.”

Soon after her monumental win a year ago at Phoenix, Pritchett lost her full-time ride and sponsor when Bob Vandergriff Racing shut its doors. She drove for an independent team before joining DSR midway through the season and was part of DSR for 15 of the 24 Mello Yello races.

“Todd and Joe, they know what they’re doing, they spend a lot of time creating power and it’s been showing,” Pritchett said. “The progression this team has made shows we are a championship-caliber team.”

In addition to the blistering 3.654 run, Pritchett posted three more runs in the 3.60s during pre-season testing.

“The goal was to get the power that we created in the offseason to the track,” she said. “We exceeded our expectations (during testing). For it to blast off at (3.65) on a warmer day, man I’m so stoked for (my team). That’s a lot of hard work and they just put it on the track.”

Pritchett’s consistency continued into the Circle K NHRA Winternationals where she had a slew of 3.7 and 3.6 runs en route to the winner’s circle.

Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature two rounds at 1:30 and 4 p.m. (MT) on Friday and the final two rounds of qualifying at the same times on Saturday. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday.

World champ Capps honored with major-league stars, NAPA team heads to Arizona Nationals for redemption

 – This week started on a memorable note for Ron Capps and the reigning NHRA Funny Car world champion wants it to continue when he goes for his fourth event title in the NHRA Arizona Nationals near Phoenix.

On Tuesday night, Capps was honored at the 71st Salute to the Champions in San Diego not far from his home in Carlsbad, Calif. He was joined by co-Pro Stars of the Year Kris Bryant (Chicago Cubs), Wil Myers (San Diego Padres), Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers) and Olympic long jump gold medalist Jeff Henderson.

Oh yeah, and a guy named Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR Cup champion.

“That was my biggest honor of the off-season,” said Capps, who won his first world title last year with NAPA AUTO PARTS and Don Schumacher Racing’s Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car. “I’ve followed the careers of all those guys and I’ve been good friends with Jimmie since 1998. That night was very cool.”

It was the first time two racers were in the same group honored at the event, and Capps is believed to be the first active drag racer inducted.

Now it’s time to get back to defending his championship and that starts Friday with the first of two qualifying days before Sunday’s eliminations at 11 a.m. (MT).

Capps has gone the distance at the track formerly known as Firebird in 2003, 2009 and 2013 in six final rounds.

“I’ve been lucky enough to win there three times,” said Capps, who owns 50 NHRA titles including 49 in a Funny Car. “It’s a track where we have a little extra mojo going for whatever reason. It’s not a home track but we have a lot of family and friends who come over and there always is a huge contingent of NAPA AUTO PARTS and NAPA AutoCare people there. You see blue NAPA shirts all over the grandstands.”

Capps couldn’t be more eager to get back into the NAPA Dodge to overcome a mistake he says he made 10 days ago at the season-opening Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., when he left the starting line early and was disqualified with a red-light false start. It was only the third redlight of his career that spans 556 events since 1995.

“We had the most consistent car on the grounds last season and that’s why we won the championship. I think we had that at Pomona even though we didn’t have the results we wanted.”

In the semifinals at Pomona, the uncharacteristic redlight kept him from likely advancing to the final round when he lost a chance to beat teammate Matt Hagan, who went on to win the event title. Hagan lost traction halfway down the track and nearly crossed the centerline to finish with very beatable time of 4.29 seconds.

“It’s been a long two weeks for me after fouling out in the semis at Pomona that kept us from getting to the final round. I’m really looking forward to getting back in our NAPA Dodge. When you have an incident like that you get down on yourself because you did something wrong and you can’t get back soon enough so it’s good to see the Arizona Nationals ahead of us.”

Beckman wants past success at Wild Horse Pass near Phoenix to continue in desert when Infinite Hero Dodge races this weekend

 – Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero Foundation Funny Car team didn’t have time to waste on Super Bowl Sunday by watching all the pre-game hoopla.

They extended their preseason testing to that Sunday as Super Bowl parties weren’t in their plans until work was done at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix.

Beckman expects that effort to translate into good results this weekend when the Don Schumacher Racing 2017 Dodge Charger R/T funded by Terry Chandler returns to the track for this weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

“This will be the first time our new tuning trio get to go back to a track where they have worked together on our Infinite Hero Dodge,” said Beckman, the 2012 NHRA Funny Car champion. “They’ll have a lot of data from testing. We have a lot of new things this season and we want to get back to our winning ways.”

Joining returning co-crew chief John Medlen to make up the triumvirate are veteran Dean Antonelli and Neal Strausbaugh, formerly the assistant crew chief on DSR’s U.S. Army championship team. Additionally, the crew is new except for returning car chief Matt Archer.

“Three weeks ago at Phoenix we made 12 test runs and that gives us a comfort zone going back,” Beckman said. “We even stayed over on Super Bowl Sunday to make a couple more laps just because of all the personnel and clutch changes that have been made. They wanted a greater level of confidence after testing.

“Phoenix has been very good to me. I’ve won there three times (2008, 2010, 2011) and that’s as many times that I’ve won at any track. For whatever reason, I’m prolific at some tracks and can’t win at others. But that’s completely random.”

Ten days ago at the opener in Pomona, Calif., Beckman qualified fifth before losing in the second round to teammate and eventual event winner Matt Hagan in what was one of the best races of the weekend. Beckman’s impressive 3.893-second run at 328.30 mph was edged by Hagan’s 3.882 (329.18).

“That level of performance will continue with our new team,” Beckman said. “We had a successful maiden voyage at Pomona and our Infinite Hero team will hit its stride soon.”

Hagan hopes for continued success this weekend near Phoenix with new colors of Sandvik Coromant on Dodge Charger R/T

 – Matt Hagan started off the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season perfectly at the NHRA Winternationals 10 days ago by earning the No. 1 qualifying position and racing to victory with the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T.

The team led by crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen will try to do the same this weekend at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix but with a new color scheme of longtime Don Schumacher Racing partner Sandvik Coromant on board.

Sandvik Coromant is a global leading supplier of cutting tools, tooling solutions and know-how to the metalworking industry. Sandvik Coromant has over 8,000 employees and is represented in 130 countries.

“Sandvik will be primary on a car for a few races this season and we hope to park them in the winner’s circle,” Hagan said. “We got off to such a strong start there in Pomona and we just have to keep up the good work.”

Hagan feels that the team Powered by Pennzoil with Venables set the tone at the season opener in Pomona.

“You know you have all those weeks off, we came out to testing and we definitely had some struggles here and there but worked around it before we went out to Pomona and the car was just great. That’s a big relief, to get a win out of the way right off the bat.

“I say it all the time and it’s true, with Dickie in my corner, we have the potential to win wherever we are. He’s extremely focused, lives and breathes this and it shows. We have a great group of guys this year and I’m really excited to see where we can go.”

This weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals is the second of 24 Mello Yello events this season. Hagan and the Sandvik Coromant team won the pole and event title at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in 2015.

“We’re just going to try and carry some of this momentum into Phoenix and try to make it two in a row to start the year. It’ll be tough to do that but we’re really looking forward to it.”

Brown unveils 2017 dragster during Matco Tools Expo in New Orleans before this weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals near Phoenix

 – Antron Brown is spending the week prior to this weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park with more than 1,700 of his closest friends and supporters – Matco Tools distributors – at the annual Matco Tools Expo in New Orleans.

Brown attends each year and was on hand early this week to unveil the 2017 Matco Tools dragster featuring the names of distributors that will ride with him on each lap this season in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

“It’s great to be able to go to the Expo each year, talk to our distributors and just spend time with them,” Brown said. “So many of them come out to the races to see our team and it’s important for me to see them in this environment.”

The Matco Tools team led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald with assistant Brad Mason have won the last two Top Fuel championships and have won three in the past five years.

The competition level in Top Fuel is at an all-time high and Brown knows what it takes to win.

“In Pomona we saw a lot of 3.6-second runs. That level is here to stay. We’ll just have to keep pushing hard. If you want to win, you have to run in the .60s. With that being said, you go to work, keep your head down, you know what you’ve got to do, and I feel confident and love the guys I have in my corner and I know Brian, Mark and this whole Matco Tools/U.S. Army team know how to get it down the track.”

Brown has three career event titles at Wild Horse Pass in four final round appearances.

“We did our preseason testing in Phoenix before we went to Pomona, but it could be a totally different racetrack from what we saw in testing so Brian and Mark will be ready. I’m looking forward to it. I felt like we had the car to win in Pomona and got to the semifinals so we are looking forward to getting the job done this weekend.”

Johnson, Make-A-Wish Funny Car team strive to deliver win to Make-A-Wish Foundation’s headquarters in Phoenix

 – A win at the NHRA Arizona Nationals near Phoenix this weekend would be an extra special victory for the Make-A-Wish Funny Car team, funded by Terry Chandler, and driver Tommy Johnson Jr.

“We always have a huge turnout from Make-A-Wish in Phoenix,” Johnson said. “Phoenix is the headquarters of Make-A-Wish so we’ll have a lot of corporate people out to the track on Saturday along with the kids and families we usually have come out to the races.

“It would definitely be a great weekend to perform well, and we’re all looking forward to entertaining the Make-A-Wish kids.”

Each Saturday of the NHRA season, Johnson, Chandler and the Make-A-Wish team host Wish Kids. Performing well is definitely on the to-do list for Johnson, crew chief John Collins and assistant Rip Reynolds.

Two weeks ago, at the first race of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series season, Johnson and the Make-A-Wish team were eliminated during the second round of competition during Sunday’s race day. The team was hampered by being forced to use its back-up Dodge Charger R/T after a wheelstand the week before during testing at Phoenix bent its primary chassis, which they hope to have back in time to race this weekend.

Johnson is ready to get to on the racetrack and is also ready to get back into “ole faithful.”

“We’ll be getting our main chassis back after we tested so well there in pre-season testing. Pomona wasn’t the end result we were looking for but it wasn’t bad either. I think that chassis is a little bit better and it’ll get us back on track.”

The team is also ready to get back to Phoenix to improve on their finish there last year. In 2016, Johnson entered race day as the No. 7 qualifier with a best time of 3.965 seconds at 318.77 mph. He was eliminated on Sunday in the second round.

“I’m excited to head out to Phoenix and I think the guys are ready to get back to the normal car and get back to where we left off in testing.”