Hagan Sets Norwalk Track Record in Mopar Dodge Funny Car, Claims No. 1 in NHRA Qualifying 
 

  • Matt Hagan qualifies Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car No. 1 at Summit Motorsports Park
  • Hagan sets track elapsed-time record with pass of 3.865 seconds at 333.33 mph
  • Mopar HEMI®-powered cars from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) have set quick time in qualifying on 10 occasions this year (six in Top Fuel, four in Funny Car)
  • Hagan takes third No. 1 qualifier of 2017 and 29th of career
  • Six Mopar Dodge Funny Cars qualify for 16-car field
  • Mopar Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett qualifies fourth, teammate Tony Schumacher is eighth
June 24, 2017 , Norwalk, Ohio -  Mopar Funny Car driver Matt Hagan turned in a record-setting performance during qualifying for the 11th annual NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park, putting HEMI® power in prime position to take home yet another win during its thus-far dominant 2017 campaign on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Hagan and the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T team set a track elapsed-time record in Funny Car on Friday evening at the famed Norwalk speed plant in Northern Ohio, making a pass of 3.865 seconds at 333.33 mph to claim the No. 1 spot in the category.

The No. 1 position is the fourth for Mopar Dodge Funny Cars from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) this season, and the 10th for Mopar across both the Funny Car and Top Fuel categories as the schedule reaches its 12th event of the year.

Hagan, whose team is known for its aggression during qualifying sessions, made his record pass in cool conditions under the lights during Q2 after rain had delayed or postponed many classes throughout the day. However, both sessions in the Nitro categories were contested in prime weather for falling records.

Hagan held onto his time through two more rounds of qualifying on Saturday under sunny skies to take the top spot. It was his third low-qualifier honor of the season and the 29th of his career.

The rest of the DSR Mopar Funny Car contingent had a mixed bag of qualifying results in their Dodge Charger R/T machines. Tommy Johnson Jr. will begin Sunday from the fifth qualified spot, Jack Beckman will start from the ninth position, and most recent event winner and points leader, Ron Capps, will have an uphill battle from 13th.

In Top Fuel, Leah Pritchett drove her dragster from DSR featuring HEMI power to the No. 4 qualifying position, while her Mopar and DSR teammate, eight-time champion Tony Schumacher, will begin the day from the eighth spot on the elimination ladder.

Mopar/Dodge Notes & Quotes
(best elapsed time in bold)

Matt Hagan, Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 1, will face No. 16 Jeff Diehl
Friday: (3.881 seconds at 332.02 mph – Q1); (3.865/333.33 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.034/321.88 – Q3); (3.979/327.35 – Q4)

“I think we’ve got a real opportunity to go out here and turn on four win lights tomorrow. We qualified well. I didn’t really look at the ladder, but there’s not really any use in doing that. Everybody’s tough out there so it just kind of falls where it falls. But we really want to try to catch (Ron) Capps right now. He’s got five wins, we’ve got three. We need to put this Mopar car in the winner’s circle tomorrow.”

Leah Pritchett, Papa John’s Pizza/Mopar Pennzoil Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified No. 4, will face No. 13 Ike Maier
Friday: (3.720 seconds at 322.27 mph – Q1); (7.173/85.95 – Q2)
Saturday: (10.772/72.53 – Q3) (3.808/323.81 – Q4)

“I definitely feel good going into Sunday. I think we’ve got a handle on something we’ve been seeking for quite some time now, which is our warm-track tuneup. It took us Q4 to be able to prove it to ourselves and our parts to prove to us that everything is doing what it’s supposed to.This is definitely going to be a crew chiefs’ and drivers’ race. Not that any race isn’t, but we’ve got much a better handle on the car than we did at the beginning of the weekend."

Tommy Johnson Jr., Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 5, will face No. 12 J.R. Todd
Friday: (8.568 seconds at 82.47 mph – Q1); (3.925/329.34 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.008/320.05 – Q3); (3.990/316.38 – Q4)

Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 9, will face No. 8 Cruz Pedregon
Friday: (12.165 seconds at 81.77 mph – Q1); (6.723/103.40 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.321/224.88 – Q3); (3.971/322.04 – Q4)

Ron Capps, NAPA Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
Qualified No. 13, will face No. 4 Jonnie Lindberg
Friday: (4.420 seconds at 196.64 mph – Q1); (4.144/236.13 – Q2)
Saturday: (4.201/239.53 – Q3); (4.018/321.19 – Q4)

Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified No. 8, will face No. 9 Mike Salinas
Friday: (3.785 seconds at 328.38 mph – Q1); (3.766/325.06 – Q2)
Saturday: (3.874/296.63 – Q3); (3.789/323.74 – Q4)
 
Tune-in Info
FOX Sports 1 will broadcast the elimination rounds from the 11th annual NHRA Nationals from Summit Motorsports Park at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 25.

For more information on Mopar and Dodge in NHRA, check out the Mopar brand’s official blog, http://blog.mopar.com.

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, thanks to Don Schumacher Racing driver Ron Capps, Mopar captured its fourth NHRA Funny Car World Championship in the last six years. As Mopar celebrates 80 years as a brand in 2017, it will focus its NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series efforts on NHRA Funny Car and, with rising star Leah Pritchett, NHRA Top Fuel Dragster. Mopar will also bolster its commitment to NHRA Sportsman racing with new contingency rewards, factory support and at-track technical advice and guidance.

Mopar-First Features
During the brand’s 80 years, Mopar has introduced numerous industry-first features including:
  • Vehicle-information apps: first to introduce smartphone vehicle-information applications, a new channel of communication with consumers
  • wiADVISOR: first to incorporate a tablet-based service lane tool
  • Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS): first to market with a new interactive vehicle tracking device that sends owner a text when vehicle is driven too fast or too far based on pre-set parameters
  • Wi-Fi: first to offer customers the ability to make their vehicle a wireless hot spot
  • Electronic owner manuals: first to introduce traditional owner manuals on a smartphone app 

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.

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