Track Record Qualifying Run for Beckman puts Mopar on Provisional Pole at Las Vegas

April 1, 2016 , Las Vegas -  Closing out a Friday night in Las Vegas on top is a good way to kick off a weekend on The Strip, and that is exactly what Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) pilot Jack Beckman did in qualifying by setting the track record with an elapsed time run of 3.916 seconds at 322.88 miles per hour to put his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T on the provisional pole for the 17^th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Nationals.
 
"That record just means I didn't screw up what (crew chiefs) Jimmy (Prock), John (Medlen) and Chris (Cunningham) set the car up to do," said Beckman, who has earned two No.1 qualifier positions in the first three NHRA events this season. “If there’s cloud cover tomorrow that run is definitely in jeopardy. Whether it stands or not, when we struggled on the first run we were really aggressive. That makes it more difficult because we don’t have any data from that run. It’s gratifying as a driver to know the crew can come back after a run like that and still go to the No. 1 position.”
 
Beckman currently holds elapsed time records at seven other NHRA drag strips aboard his Mopar since the new Dodge Charger R/T body debuted at the start of the 2015 season. At the Gatornationals just a few weeks ago, Beckman also matched the national record elapsed time of 3.879 seconds set by DSR teammate Matt Hagan for quickest run ever posted in a Funny Car.
 
Hagan, for his part in Friday qualifying, drove his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T down The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 3.998 seconds at 322.88 mph, the same speed as Beckman, putting him ninth on the timing sheets.
 
Fellow DSR Mopar driver Tommy Johnson Jr. rounded out the top ten with his 4.027/308.85 effort while the 2016 Dodge Charger R/T of John Hale sits provisionally 11th with a 4.072/306.12 pass.
 
Meanwhile, Ron Capps, who currently has his DSR Dodge Charger R/T second in the Funny Car standings with a win and a runner-up finish in three races, didn’t get in a complete lap, but will have two more shots at a spot in the top half of the ladder in Saturday.
 
In Pro Stock action this weekend, Elite Motorsports driver Jeg Coughlin Jr. and his “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar”/Jegs.com Dodge Dart GT come into Las Vegas sharing the sixth place position in the points with Allen Johnson who drove his Marathon Petroleum Dodge Dart GT to the semifinals at the NHRA Gatornationals.
 
Coughlin was the top Mopar in the first Friday qualifying session with a 6.756 second run at 203.16 mph but pushed in the clutch on his second run to end up provisionally 11^th while Johnson’s best run of 6.754/204.14 put him tenth.
 
While Erica Enders and her Elite Motorsports Mopar Performance Dodge Dart haven’t had a very good start to the season, sitting tenth in points after missing out on advancing out of the first round in the first three race events of the season, there has been good progress for the team’s new Mopar program. Enders closed out Friday qualifying as the quickest Mopar with a 6.711 second run at 204.63 mph to put herself fifth on the provisional ladder.
 
Getting back to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway might be exactly what Enders needs to return to her winning ways based on her current streak of four straight national title wins In fact, she hasn’t lost a round in Vegas since October 2013 and is hoping to keep her streak of 22 rounds wins going through Sunday.
 
"It's awesome to have that kind of run, and it's pretty unheard of," Enders said. "We've had an incredible two years there, and we've got a great opportunity ahead of us to do well this weekend. Twenty-two consecutive round-wins in a row is huge, so Vegas has obviously been good to me. I'm hoping Lady Luck will get on our side this weekend. We certainly haven't had the best start to the year."
 
In qualifying on Saturday, the factory stock hot rods are not only looking to continue to develop their new scoop-less fuel injection era racecars, but they’ll be looking to cash in Vegas-style with the K&N Horsepower Challenge race-within-a-race bonus event, as well as the additional $25,000 “Sweep Bonus”.  
 
Three Mopar drivers are among the eight Pro Stock entries racing for a lucrative payout based on points accumulated in qualifying since this same event last season and one entry added in by a fan vote. The winner of the K&N Horsepower Challenge will earn $50,000, and the runner-up will take home $10,000.
 
Enders, who won the previous two all-star events along with the sweep bonus, will have a first round battle against fellow HEMI-powered Johnson, who in 2013 also doubled-up by winning K&N Horsepower Challenge and earning the event title. Also taking part in Saturday’s contest after a year away from Pro Stock competition and getting in thanks to the fan vote is Coughlin, a three-time winner of the K&N Horsepower Challenge.
 
“This is very exciting to be voted the fan seed of the 2016 K&N Horsepower Challenge,” said Coughlin who last won the challenge in 2009. “A big thanks goes out to all of our friends and fans that helped us reach this goal. I was actually seeded to race in the 2015 K&N Horsepower Challenge, but was not racing Pro Stock last season and even though I had a couple of teams offer cars to drive for the event I ended up opening my spot to another Pro Stock racer. So, it feels great to be back in action at this year’s event and would love nothing more than to add a fourth Horsepower Challenge trophy to our mantle.”
 
Coughlin will face No. 1 seed Greg Anderson in the opening round of all-star event.
 
While racing continues through the weekend, it will be with heavy hearts as the NHRA community mourns the loss of official starter Mark Lyle who passed away unexpectedly last Sunday.
 
"On behalf of everyone at Mopar, we would like to extend our sincere condolences to the Lyle family,” said Dale Aldo, Mopar Marketing - Motorsports. “Mark Lyle was the consummate professional, respected by all and ran a superb starting line. His absence will be felt by the entire NHRA community."
 
Qualifying for the 17th Annual DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals, the fourth of 24 events on the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season schedule, will air on FS1 with a one hour qualifying show on Friday, April 1 at 11 p.m. (ET) and a final qualifying broadcast on April 2 at 9 p.m. (ET). A three hour eliminations broadcast, including live finals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, is scheduled for Sunday, April 3 starting at 2 p.m. ET.
 
2016 NHRA Championship Points Standings
(Following the NHRA Gatornationals Race Final)
 
PRO STOCK (season wins in parentheses)
1.         Jason Line – 337 (1)
2.         Greg Anderson – 331 (2)
3.         Bo Butner – 233
4.         Drew Skillman – 205
5.         Chris McGaha – 161
6t.        Jeg Coughlin Jr. – Dodge Dart – 160
6t.        Allen Johnson – Dodge Dart – 160
8.         Vincent Nobile – 138
9.         Alex Laughlin – 121
10.       Erica Enders – Dodge Dart – 97
 
 
FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1.         Robert Hight – 280 (1)
2.         Ron Capps – (Dodge Charger R/T) – 279 (1)
3.         John Force – 221
4.         Jack Beckman – (Dodge Charger R/T) – 205
5.         Courtney Force – 201
6.         Del Worsham – 189
7.         Tim Wilkerson – 183
8.         Chad Head – 162
9.         Alexis DeJoria – 119
10.       Matt Hagan – (Dodge Charger R/T) – 118
11.       Tommy Johnson Jr. – (2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 117
About Mopar Motorsports
The Mopar brand’s commitment to professional motorsports competition was established in the 1950s when a partnership ignited with drag racing pioneer Don Garlits, resulting in the breaking of numerous speed and performance barriers in HEMI®-powered vehicles over the next several decades. In 2016, Mopar will look to once again vie for a NHRA World Championship title in both Pro Stock and Funny Car categories. While Mopar remains involved in a various professional motorsports series, it continues to honor its roots by being a proud supporter of Sportsman racing within the NHRA with its sponsorship of the HEMI Challenge and Mopar’s Tom Hoover Sportsman Challenge.
 
              
About Mopar Brand
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) was trademarked in 1937 with the launch of an antifreeze product, but it 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 over 150 markets around the world. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 27 customer-contact hubs globally, Mopar integrates 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 engineered together with the same teams that create factory-authorized specifications for FCA vehicles. This offers 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.