Mopar Dodge//SRT Duo Pritchett, Hagan Score Poles in NHRA New England Nationals Qualifying

  • Mopar Dodge Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett locks down her second consecutive No. 1 spot at NHRA New England Nationals, ninth overall of her career
  • Defending Epping event winner Matt Hagan races his Mopar Dodge Charger R/T NHRA Funny Car to third pole of season, 33rd of his career
  • Mopar Dodge Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Funny Car drivers dominate with three of top four qualifying spots, record four quickest runs in final qualifying session on Saturday
  • Mopar-powered U.S. Army Top Fuel star Tony Schumacher earns No. 2 spot, seeks third career win at New England Dragway
  • More info on Mopar in NHRA available at http://blog.mopar.com
  • Dodge Garage (http://www.dodgegarage.com/), a digital content hub for muscle car and race enthusiasts launches; will include highlights from NHRA season 
July 7, 2018 , Epping, New Hampshire -  Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett and Funny Car racer Matt Hagan finished off an impressive two days of qualifying for Mopar Dodge//SRT competitors at the NHRA New England Nationals by maintaining their hold on the top starting spots in their classes heading into elimination rounds on Sunday, July 8, at New England Dragway.
 
Pritchett sped to her second pole of the season in her Mopar Dodge Top Fuel machine before a sellout crowd in Epping, New Hampshire, earning her second consecutive No. 1 qualifier spot at the venue and ninth overall of her career. The No. 1 qualifier spot in Funny Car was the third of the season for Sandvik Coromant Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Hagan, his first at New England Dragway and the 33rd of his career.
 
Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) star Pritchett carried her factory-backed Mopar Dodge Top Fuel dragster to the No. 1 position in the second qualifying session on Friday, using HEMI®-engine power to uncork a 3.742-second elapsed time (ET) at 324.51 mph that jumped her from sixth up to the top spot.
 
The Friday evening run also earned the six-time Top Fuel event winner three bonus points, and Pritchett added three more on Saturday when she was second quickest in her first qualifying attempt and third quickest in Q4. Gunning for her second win of the season, Pritchett will open eliminations on Sunday against Audrey Worm.
 
Carrying momentum from his victory at the most recent NHRA event in Ohio two weeks ago, Hagan earned two bonus points and was No. 2 after his first qualifying attempt. The defending Epping event winner added three more points and moved his DSR Mopar Dodge Funny Car up to No. 1 with a 3.932/320.20 pass that held up through Saturday’s two final qualifying rounds. Hagan was once again quickest on the charts in Q4, upping to eight his qualifying bonus points total.
 
Hagan now sits alone in second in the Funny Car standings and will match up first with Terry Haddock as he seeks his second consecutive win of 2018 and his second straight at Epping.  
 
The entire DSR Funny Car squad dominated in qualifying, with Hagan leading all four Mopar Dodge drivers in posting the four quickest passes in the final qualifying session on Saturday. Mopar-powered Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver “Fast” Jack Beckman followed close behind his stablemate during qualifying, banking two bonus points en route to locking down the No. 2 spot and a date with Jeff Diehl.
 
Ron Capps, a two-time Epping winner (most of any driver in the Funny Car class), collected four bonus points and parked another Mopar Dodge in a top-five starting spot by claiming the fourth positon. He’ll matchup in a must-see first round battle with current points leader Courtney Force. Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger driver Tommy Johnson Jr. made it four DSR entries in the top half of the Funny Car field and earned two bonus points with the second quickest run in Q4. Johnson will start No. 8 on Sunday and line up in the first round against Cruz Pedregon.
 
Tony Schumacher made it a 1-2 finish on the qualifying charts for Mopar-powered Top Fuel machines. The eight-time Top Fuel World Champion and two-time NHRA New England Nationals winner raced to the No. 2 spot and faces Jim Maroney in round one.
 
Mopar Dodge//SRT Notes & Quotes
(best elapsed time in bold)
 
Leah Pritchett, Mopar Dodge Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified No. 1, will face No. 16 Audrey Worm
Friday: (4.194 seconds at 203.52 mph – Q1); (3.742/324.51 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.044/245.23 – Q3); (3.858/319.75 – Q4)

“I think the key to the momentum for anybody that’s playing for Sunday is to diversify their portfolio. The last time we were successful at that was in Atlanta when we won. Last year we always looked forward to Q2 because we had a solid Q1. We found some problems leading up to this race that let us get a solid run down on Q1 so we could throw everything at it, all the Mopar power on Q2. (That run) was exactly what we wanted and then we used Saturday as practice for race day.  The momentum is there, and I have all the faith and confidence in this team. They never give up, they’re always persevering and our hard work is paying off. I’m really proud.

“We always have a good amount of confidence because of the organization that we’re with. We have a good pool of talent, but we do feel like now we have that extra level of confidence. Finally, our race car is doing what we tell it to do, and I know that’s been disheartening for (crew chief) Todd (Okuhara) who’s been frustrated by that. It’s been like a case of Unsolved Mysteries, and to solve a lot of that this weekend feels really good. The last time we qualified No. 1 was Houston and that’s when we were the Mopar car so it feels good for both Top Fuel and Funny Car to be on top for Mopar because they definitely put all of the power behind us.”
 
Matt Hagan, Sandvik Coromant Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 1, will face No. 16 Terry Haddock
Friday: (4.012 seconds at 304.67 mph – Q1); (3.932/322.04 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.112/311.05 – Q3); (4.027/318.47 – Q4)

“We’ve got a great racecar right now. It’s going down the racetrack every lap, it’s running on eight cylinders. (Crew chief) Dickie (Venables) has a really good handle on the tune-up right now and that builds confidence. That confidence carries over to me as a driver, just being able to focus on the lights up there and not thinking about whether the car is going to go down the track or not or whether I’m going to have to pedal or do what I have to do.

"Everything kind of sets itself up off of Q1. That’s what we’ve been saying all year long, if we go down Q1 you set yourselves up for Q2. Then once you’re there you get something to work off of Q1 and you can see Dickie kind of like ‘Okay we’re here, this is what we gotta do,’ and it just goes from there. You give the guy a run or two and he’s pretty deadly with it. Sometimes you miss it Q1 and then we’re behind the whole weekend. Being able to come out here and lay down a good number and be No. 2 out of the box, just having that to work off of was good.”

Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 2, will face No. 15 Jeff Diehl
Friday: (4.066 seconds at 317.04 mph – Q1); (3.956/320.20 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.542/190.48 – Q3); (4.042/317.87 – Q4)

“Finally getting our tune-up back into that window where we have a predictable race car. Once you have a predictable race car, it’s not a big step to make it a quick race car. Right now I think we are making absolute strides. I think that Monday test in Norwalk helped us a bunch. I cannot wait to get into race day.”

Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified No. 2, will face No. 15 Jim Maroney
Friday: (5.193 seconds at 132.71 mph – Q1); (3.744/330.31 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.838/149.96 – Q3); (4.757/154.72 – Q4)

“You have to push the envelope sometimes to get ahead. That’s what this U.S. Army team does. We continue to push ourselves. Mike Neff and Phil Shuler aren’t going to back down and they are driven to make this team consistent winners. We were oh so close on that last run to making the exact lap we were trying to make. You have the heat today and everyone is factoring in that. We went back to what we did at Bristol, where were sliding down the track in hot conditions, and then you see a couple cars put up some mid 3.80s and you adjust to that. We just missed it slightly. I can feel how close the car is. We’re excited for tomorrow. Our goal for the second half of the season is to be our best on Sunday’s and we’ve got a great opportunity tomorrow.”

Ron Capps, NAPA Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 4, will face No. 13 Courtney Force
Friday: (4.384 seconds at 209.69 mph – Q1); (3.978/320.89– Q2)
Saturday: (4.099/310.41 – Q3); (4.040/319.67 – Q4)

“That’s the way it goes sometimes. The way I see it is we’ve been trying, we have six races to make up ground, and we want to be No. 1 going into the Countdown. It’s a long shot with her (Courtney Force) way out in front of us, but there’s only one way to do it and that’s take care of business ourselves and try to get that team out early. We don’t ask to race them, they’re a great team but there’s our chance now to make some ground up.”

Tommy Johnson Jr., Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 8, will face No. 9 Cruz Pedregon
Friday: (4.026 seconds at 316.82 mph – Q1); (4.023/322.58 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.222/238.68 – Q3); (4.036/317.49 – Q4)

“I think with race day conditions predicted to be similar to what we had here in the last run that’s a good run. We were second-best of the session to end qualifying, that should be pretty good. If we can continue our consistency on race day, two 4.02s and a 4.03, that should win some rounds.”

Dodge Garage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News
Fans now have a one-stop destination for Mopar and Dodge drag racing news. Dodge Garage (http://www.dodgegarage.com) is a digital content hub and premier destination for drag racing and muscle car enthusiasts.

Fans can view daily updates and get access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise. Dodge Garage features include exclusive content, such as a three-part video series “Chasing the Title,” that offers fans a unique, behind-the-scenes glimpse at Pritchett and her DSR team in action.
 
For information on Mopar on and off the track, check out the Mopar brand’s official blog, http://blog.mopar.com.

Tune-In Info                      
FOX Sports 1 will broadcast three hours of live eliminations coverage of the NHRA New England Nationals starting at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 8.

About Dodge//SRT
Dodge//SRT offers a complete lineup of performance vehicles that stand out in their own segments. Dodge is FCA North America’s mainstream performance brand, and SRT is positioned as the ultimate performance halo of the Dodge brand, together creating a complete and balanced performance brand with one vision and one voice.
 
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge, who founded the company in 1914. Their influence continues today. New for 2018, the 840-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, the fastest quarter-mile production car in the world and most powerful muscle car ever, is taking the world by storm, along with the new 2018 Dodge Durango SRT, America’s fastest, most powerful and most capable three-row SUV, and the 707-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody. These new SRT ultimate performance models join a brand lineup that includes the Durango, Grand Caravan, Journey, Charger and Challenger, including the 707-horsepower Challenger SRT Hellcat and the Charger SRT Hellcat, the quickest, fastest and most powerful sedan in the world.
 
Mopar
Mopar is the global name for Stellantis genuine parts and authentic accessories.

A simple combination of the words MOtor and PARts, Mopar offers exceptional service, parts and customer-care. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, Mopar has evolved over more than 85 years to represent both complete vehicle care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.

Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era with performance parts to enhance speed and handling for both on-road and racing use. Later, Mopar  expanded to include technical service and customer support, and today integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.

Complete information on Mopar is available at www.mopar.com and the newly redesigned Mopar blog at www.blog.mopar.com. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

Follow Mopar and company news and video on:
Company blog: blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com
Media website: media.stellantisnorthamerica.com
Mopar brand: www.mopar.com/
Mopar blog: blog.mopar.com/ 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mopar
Instagram: www.instagram.com/officialmopar
Twitter: twitter.com/OfficialMOPAR
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/mopar or www.youtube.com/StellantisNA

Contact Information

Darren Jacobs
Office: (248) 512-3156
Cell: (248) 884-5918
Download Video Embed