Leah Pritchett Leads Dodge//SRT Mopar Teams Qualifying No. 2 in AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals

  • Leah Pritchett rockets HEMI®-fueled Pennzoil Dodge Top Fuel Dragster to the No. 2 position for Sunday’s elimination rounds of the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals near Dallas
  • Ron Capps leads seven Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car drivers in field of 16 at Texas Motorplex
  • Matt Hagan qualifies his Western Technical College Mopar CAP Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Funny Car sixth
  • Three Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers earn top-half starting positions in Funny Car field
  • Pritchett and Mark Pawuk qualify for 16-car Factory Stock Showdown field
  • DodgeGarage.com, a digital content hub for muscle car and race enthusiasts, features highlights from NHRA season
  • New @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel features Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers in NHRA action
October 19, 2019 , Ennis, Texas -  Top Fuel standout Leah Pritchett led the Dodge//SRT Mopar driver contingent in the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals near Dallas. She qualified the HEMI®-powered Pennzoil Dodge Top Fuel Dragster of Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) No. 2 for the third time in the first four NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship events.

Ron Capps led seven Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car drivers into Sunday’s Funny Car field, capturing the fourth position in qualifying and will face fellow Dodge//SRT and DSR teammate Jack Beckman in the first round. Matt Hagan drove the Western Technical College Mopar CAP Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Funny Car to the sixth spot.

Pritchett grabbed her sixth No. 2 qualifying slot of 2019 with Friday evening’s run of 3.681 seconds at 332.10 mph. That was one of four full passes Pritchett made in preparation for her final push to make a claim for the 2019 Top Fuel world championship. History shows she will need to reach Sunday’s final, and likely win, to have a realistic shot with two events remaining. Pritchett has a round win-loss record of 4-3 during the first three 2019 Countdown events and has lost in the second round of the previous three Dallas events.

With Friday night offering the best conditions for qualifying, Saturday proved to be a testing session for Sunday’s eliminations. The Capps-Beckman matchup is one of two first round races Sunday pitting Countdown contenders. There are also two races with Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars squaring off. Paul Lee qualified eighth and will take on DSR’s Tommy Johnson, Jr. in the Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car.

Pritchett is pulling double duty this weekend and also earned the No. 2 position in Factory Stock Showdown (FSS). The defending event winner posted an impressive pass of 8.017 seconds at 170.11 mph behind the wheel of the DSR Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak. Pritchett’s DSR teammate Mark Pawuk qualified the Empaco Equipment Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak ninth.

Dodge Garage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News
Fans can follow AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals coverage at Dodge Garage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise.

@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel will share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers in action in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.

Dodge//SRT Mopar Notes & Quotes 
(qualifying times/speeds below)

Leah Pritchett, Pennzoil Dodge Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified No. 2, will face No. 15 Kebin Kinsley

Friday: (3.767 seconds at 324.28 mph – Q1) (3.767/332.10 – Q2); Saturday: (3.801/327.43 – Q3);  (3.814/316.90 – Q4)

“I’m looking forward to a new short block in our motor tomorrow. We’ve had some major power issues after we ran that 3.68 in Q2. Our strategy of qualifying well when it counts on Friday night has paid great dividends for this Pennzoil team to start off in a good position to go rounds on Sunday. We look forward to putting on a great show for the fans. This is very much a pivotal point in the Countdown; points are tight, and this is when you’re going to see this Pennzoil team shine.”
 
Ron Capps, NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
Qualified No. 5, will face No. 12 Jack Beckman
 
Friday: (4.047 seconds at 273.27 mph – Q1) (3.881/332.43 – Q2); Saturday: (4.633/179.88 – Q3);  (4.022/290.16 – Q4)
 
“Obviously, we qualified well on Friday night, and that’s important to set the field. We’ve been fighting some adversity here and I’m confident we’ll get these issues worked out before race day. We’ve been in these types of situations before, and we don’t want to race a teammate first round, but Jack Beckman is ahead of us in points, and there are only two races left in the Countdown when we leave here tomorrow. I’m excited about tomorrow. This is the excitement of the Countdown, and it’s awesome for NHRA fans.”

Matt Hagan, Western Technical College Mopar CAP Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Funny Car
Qualified No. 6, will face No. 11 Blake Alexander

Friday: (4.068 seconds at 267.96 mph – Q1) (3.890/310.77 – Q2); Saturday: (4.122/245.27 – Q3) (3.950/317.49 – Q4)

“We struggled a little bit in that right lane, so hopefully we can keep lane choice tomorrow stay over in the left lane. All in all, we are really proud to have Western Tech and the Mopar CAP program along for the ride with us this weekend here in Dallas. The Dodge Charger SRT Widebody Hellcat Funny Car has been running really good. We just need to go out and win a race. It’s time to get it done tomorrow.”
Tommy Johnson, Jr., Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car Qualified No. 9, will face No. 8 Paul Lee
Friday: (4.179 seconds at 224.28 mph – Q1) (3.920/324.44 – Q2); Saturday: (3.993/319.22 – Q3) (3.936/316.60) – Q4) “We definitely have a ‘hot weather’ kind of car, so if we can get those conditions tomorrow, I’ll feel very confident. We’re consistent when it’s cool out, but even more so when it’s hot.”

Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
Qualified No. 12, will face No. 5 Jack Beckman
Friday: (3.937 seconds at 327.11 mph – Q1) (4.202/220.22 – Q2); Saturday: (3.990/316.90 – Q3) (4.601/177.09 – Q4)
 
“It’s a bummer we missed it last night in the Q2 hero run; we pushed it too hard. In that last run, it started moving over to the right and I’m turning further left, and left, and left, and I just let it get too far to the right and lost traction. Hopefully, we got far enough down the track that we got data for tomorrow. I think it’s going to be warmer tomorrow. I think we’ve got a decent hot track tune-up. I think we have a good chance at getting four win lights tomorrow.”
 
DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News
Fans can follow all the NHRA’s action this season at DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag-racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads, and merchandise. For more information, visit www.dodgegarage.com

@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers on the track. Fans can see action from the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series and  NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.

Official Driving School of Dodge//SRT
Dodge is the official sponsor of the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Chandler, Arizona, where guests get behind the wheels of the fastest street-legal cars in the world with professional instruction and time on the track. Customers who buy a new SRT model receive one full-day session as part of the Dodge//SRT Package and have the opportunity to learn how to get the optimum performance from their new vehicles in a controlled environment.  For more information, visit dodgegarage.com/track-experience
 
Mopar
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) is the service, parts and customer-care brand for FCA vehicles around the globe. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, the Mopar brand has evolved over more than 80 years to represent both complete care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.
 
Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era, with Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, and expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today, the Mopar brand’s global reach distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in more than 150 markets. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 25 customer-contact centers globally, Mopar integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.
 
Complete information on the Mopar brand is available at www.mopar.com. Mopar is part of the portfolio of brands offered by global automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. For more information regarding FCA (NYSE: FCAU/ MTA: FCA), please visit www.fcagroup.com.
 
Dodge//SRT
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge shifts into high gear with muscle cars and SUVs that deliver unrivaled performance in each of the segments where they compete.
 
2021 marks the year that Dodge is distilled into a pure performance brand, offering Hellcat-powered, 700+ horsepower SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2021 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the new 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the new 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the most powerful SUV ever. Combined, these three muscle cars make Dodge the industry’s most powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.    
 
In June 2020, Dodge was named the "#1 Brand in Initial Quality," making it the first domestic brand ever to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS). Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by global automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. For more information regarding FCA (NYSE: FCAU/ MTA: FCA), please visit www.fcagroup.com.
 
Follow Dodge, SRT and FCA news and video on:  
Company blog: http://blog.fcanorthamerica.com
Media website: http://media.fcanorthamerica.com
Dodge brand: www.dodge.com
Dodge Garage: www.dodgegarage.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dodge or https://www.facebook.com/FiatChrysler.NorthAmerica/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/dodgeofficial or www.instagram.com/FiatChrysler_NA
Twitter: www.twitter.com/dodge or www.twitter.com/FiatChrysler_NA
YouTube: www.youtube.com/dodge or www.youtube.com/fcanorthamerica

Contact Information

Dan Reid
Office: (248) 512-0366
Cell: (248) 202-7697
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