Record-setting weekend at Topeka for Hagan, Venables, Mopar ends in final round
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hagan, Venables advance to final round, lose to teammate Capps but Mopar Dodge leaves Topeka for second year with world records TOPEKA, Kan. (May 21, 2017) - Matt Hagan and the Mopar Express Lane team nearly made their return trip to the Heartland Park motorsports complex in Topeka, Kan., a repeat of their remarkable performance a year ago when the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series visited. Were it not for Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps getting past Hagan in the final round of the Heartland Nationals for his fourth consecutive title, the Mopar 2017 Dodge Charger R/T Powered by Pennzoil would have left with another perfect weekend. A year ago, Hagan and the Mopar team led by crew chief Dickie Venables and assistant Michael Knudsen set world records that seemed at the time to be stout enough to last for a long time. But those marks only came within a day of lasting a year. During Saturday qualifying, Hagan briefly lost hold of the records but his Mopar team responded with a run in 3.802 seconds at 338.85 mph and they were able to leave Topeka once again as the quickest and fastest Funny Car on the planet. His speed mark is faster than any Top Fuel dragster has registered. "We had an amazing hot rod, that's just Mopar power speaking out loud right there," said Hagan, who is second in points to Capps. "I knew Dickie Venables and those guys could do it. The conditions were right. We've had this combination in now for a couple of years and Don Schumacher provides all the parts and pieces to go out and do something like that. But you have to have a racetrack and race surface like this. It was pretty cool when I got in the car and strapped in, and Dickie's like, 'hold on.' "This is as extreme as it gets, man. That's just craziness. It's not just that it is 330 mph but we're doing it in a thousand feet. It's just insane. There you go for your extreme sports." Hagan opened Sunday with a 3.852 (333.99) and followed with a 4.06 that was slowed when the engine detonated. In the semis, the Mopar team rallied with a 3.918 at 330.55 then narrowly lost to Capps in the final. "Obviously boss man (Schumacher) is happy when two of his cars go to the finals," said Hagan, who raced in his third final in which he has won twice and earned his second pole of the year. "Hats off to NAPA and those guys, Ron Capps and Tobler, they're killing it man. Four-in-a-row - how do you not respect that? They laid the hammer down and they're getting it done." The Mello Yello Series will be off next weekend to honor Memorial Day and returns the following week to begin the four-race Eastern Swing in June that begins at Epping with races following at Englishtown, N.J., Bristol, Tenn., and Norwalk. The following are official results and standings after the NHRA Heartland Nationals: FUNNY CAR Event winner: Ron Capps (Don Schumacher Racing) No. 1 qualifier: Matt Hagan (Don Schumacher Racing), 3.802 sec.-world record, 338.85 mph-world record MATT HAGAN, Mopar Express Lane 2017 Dodge Charger R/T Crew chief: Dickie Venables; assistant: Michael Knudsen Qualified: No. 1 SUNDAY ELIMINATIONS First round: HAGAN (3.852 sec., 333.99 mph) def. Jack Wyatt (5.699 Second round: HAGAN (4.016, 273.94) def. J.R. Todd (5.288, 148.27) Semifinals: HAGAN (3.918, 330.55) def. Jack Beckman (4.434, 195.65) Final: Ron Capps (3.924, 321.42) def. HAGAN (3.985, 318.92) QUALIFYING RESULTS FRIDAY: 3.885 sec., 332.51 mph, (Session 1); rained out, (Session 2) SATURDAY: 3.801-world record, 338.85-world record, (Session 3); 3.806, 335.98 (Session 4) Best Time, Speed: 3.801 sec.-world record, (2017 Topeka); 338.85 mph-world record (2017 Topeka) Career at Topeka: Wins 1 (2016); Runner-ups 1 (2017); Poles 2 (2016, 2017) 2017 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES STANDINGS (Official after Topeka; 8th of 24 events; wins in parenthesis; DSR drivers in CAPS) Funny Car 1. RON CAPPS (4) 748 ----- 2. MATT HAGAN (2) 629 -119 3. John Force (1) 524 -224 4. Robert Hight 518 -230 5. JACK BECKMAN 502 -246 6. Courtney Force 464 -284 7. TOMMY JOHNSON JR. (1) 461 -287 8. J.R. Todd 378 -370 9. Tim Wilkerson 360 -388 10. Jonnie Lindberg 318 -430 #WeAreDSR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About the Mopar Brand Mopar (a simple contraction of the words Motor and PARts) was trademarked in 1937 with the launch of an antifreeze product but truly made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era. From Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, the brand soon expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today, Mopar is FCA's service, parts and customer-care brand and distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in more than 130 markets, integrating service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance dealer and customer support worldwide. Mopar is the source for genuine parts and accessories for FCA brands. Mopar parts are unique in that they are engineered with the same teams that create factory-authorized vehicle specifications for FCA vehicles - a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide. A complete list of Mopar accessories and performance parts is available at www.mopar.com. About Don Schumacher Racing Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., fields seven professional NHRA teams. In Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the Matco Tools dragster driven by three-time world champion Antron Brown and the Papa John's Top Fuel dragster driven by Leah Pritchett; and in Funny Car, 2011 and 2014 world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T, 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in Terry Chandler's Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge driven by 2016 Funny Car champion Ron Capps and Chandler's Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr. DSR has won 306 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships. Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FOR MORE INFORMATION: Jeff Wolf (wolfj@shoeracing.com), 702.524.1368 Leah Vaughn (vaughnl@shoeracing.com), 618.516.1988 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forward email http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?llr=5uv7snbab&m=1101041391262&ea=$submit@theautochannel.com$&a=1128004112979 This email was sent to submit@theautochannel.com by vaughnl@shoeracing.com. 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