The latest news on NHRA Drag Racing s Super Team WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 5, 2012 BROWNSBURG, INDIANA Sun shines on Big O Tires DSR Open House before rain delays U.S. Nationals to Sept. 8-9 BROWNSBURG, Ind. A wonderful late summer day was the perfect setting on Friday, Aug. 31, for the seventh annual Big O Tires Don Schumacher Racing Open House that raised $25,000 for Riley Hospital for Children and pushed DSR s total fund-raising effort to over $200,000 since drag racing s Super Team adopted the great Riley Hospital. Then later on Friday and Saturday, racing was completed in the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg and the track stayed dry enough for DSR s Spencer Massey and his Prestone/FRAM Top Fuel Dragster team to earn a $100,000 bonus for winning the inaugural Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Top Fuel on Saturday night at the track. But predicted rain began to fall Saturday morning and didn t quit until Sunday afternoon when it was too late to save the weekend for the 58th annual U.S. Nationals. NHRA officials decided to postpone completion of the event to this coming weekend. The last two scheduled qualifying sessions for pro categories, including Top Fuel and Funny Car, are set for Saturday along with the Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Funny Car. Championship eliminations are scheduled for Sunday. (Revised schedule is below.) Spencer Massey and the Prestone/FRAM after winning the Traxxas Nitro Shootout and $100,000 on Saturday night during the U.S. Nationals. (AutoImagery.com photos) Massey, Prestone/FRAM team hold Top Fuel provisional pole at the U.S. Nationals. Massey and crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler dominated the Traxxas Shootout and will start Saturday s final qualifying sessions with the provisional pole with its track record time of 3.762 seconds (324.51 mph) in Saturday s second session. DSR teammate Tony Schumacher is close behind in the No. 2 spot after crew chief Mike Green and assistant Neal Strausbaugh tuned the U.S. Army ROTC dragster to a 3.772 at a track record 326.79 mph.
In Funny Car, Jack Beckman in the Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T tuned by crew chief Todd Smith and assistant Terry Snyder were the quickest after two sessions with a time of 4.051 (302.62) before rookie Courtney Force ran twothousandths of a second quicker in the third session to take the provision pole heading to Saturday with a run of 4.049 seconds. After rain on Sunday wiped out racing, NHRA announced that the qualifying fields were set for originally scheduled championship eliminations on Monday, but if Monday were to be rained out which it was Jack Beckman is qualified No. 2 with two sessions rescheduled for Saturday. qualifying would re-open if the event was postponed to the following weekend which it also was. Had racing taken place on Monday, eliminations would have started with points leader Ron Capps and DSR s NAPA Shocks team led by Rahn Tobler and assistant John Collins having clinched the Full Throttle regular season points lead heading to the start of the six-event Countdown to the Championship that opens Sept. 14-16 at zmax Dragway at Charlotte Motor Speedway. What would have clinched the points lead for Capps, which ensures a 30-point points lead to start the Countdown, was that his closer pursuer, John Force Racing s Robert Hight, was not qualified after three sessions. But by re-opening qualifying this Saturday, Hight will get two more chances to get into the field but Capps will start Saturday with a 53-point lead over Hight. Two more qualifying runs on Saturday could benefit DSR s Matt Hagan and the Mopar/Aaron s Dream Machine team which needs to win at least one rounds for a chance to move into the top-10 and earn a spot in the Countdown. Hagan currently is qualified 12th and that would have paired him against Capps in the opening round of eliminations. 7th annual Big O Tires DSR Open House best ever
Rain played havoc on the U.S. Nationals, but nothing kept the traditional Big O Tires DSR Open House from being another success. Everything at the event was a best ever, according to DSR senior vice president Mike Lewis. Lewis estimated the crowd at between 4,000 and 5,000, which is the best ever turnout. The car/bike show was bigger than ever and the quality of muscle cars, classics and custom hot rods surpassed any other DSR show. Four nostalgic nitro racecars were on hand and each fired em up for a classic cacklefest. The biggest star of the event was the Silent DSR drivers enjoy the autograph session and Tony Schumacher and Spencer Massey pose for a photo. (Photo by Bill Ray) Auction that generated more than $25,000 for Riley Hospital for Children, another best ever. And the support of DSR s sponsors and partners are responsible for making the auction such a success. It is always a special day for everyone in the DSR family when we can help the beautiful children at Riley, Lewis said. I ve been in this community for over 17 years, and I ve seen what Riley Hospital does; Riley makes miracles happen, they save the lives of young people. I couldn t think of a better charity for DSR to work with than Riley Hospital. In addition to generous donations by DSR marketing partners, Lewis noted the extra effort contributed by DSR staff throughout the race shop. So many members of the DSR family go above and beyond to make sure our special events are successful for Riley. You really can t count all the hours they put in. Two new features to the Big O DSR Open House were big hits with fans. DSR fabricator Tom Patsis joined illustrator/painter Bruce Tatman to create collectible artwork that was auctioned during the event. Patsis, a metal sculptor, created what he calls The Hemi Spider while Tatman completed a painting of an early Don Schumacher Stardust Funny Car doing a smoky burnout in front of an image of a Stardust Casino sign from Las Vegas. The other feature was a first-ever tour of the hightech DSR machine shop where up to 200 parts are built for DSR Funny Cars and Top Fuel dragsters. DSR machinists were on-hand to answer guests questions about how various parts are created.
DSR machinist Jeff Grey, right, shows a nitro engine block he is repairing while Tim Martin, above, explains how DSR machines its engine connecting rods. (Photos by Bill Ray) U.S. Nationals: tickets, hospitality guests All NHRA event tickets are subject to the NHRA Ticket Policy. All inquiries regarding tickets should be made to the Lucas Oil Raceway/NHRA Ticket Department at (800) 884-NHRA. DSR will serve Monday (Sept. 3) Hospitality guests that have Hospitality Credentials from that day on Sunday (Sept. 9), and unredeemed Sunday (Sept. 2) Hospitality Credentials on Saturday (Sept. 8). An unredeemed Hospitality Credential from Sept. 2 is one that has not been hole-punched. Questions regarding Hospitality Credentials can be directed to Kim Kries at kriesk@shoeracing.com or (317) 858-0356. We ve got stats 2003 The last year the U.S. Nationals was postponed by inclement weather. 75 The number of NHRA Funny Car titles won by Don Schumacher Racing after its next trip to winner s circle, and if it happens this year, it will occur during the 75th anniversary of Mopar 9 The number of U.S. Nationals titles won by Tony Schumacher if his U.S. Army ROTC dragsters wins on Sunday. The would break his current tie with Big Daddy Don Garlits for most in Top Fuel and tie him with Pro Stock legend Bob Glidden for the most in the U.S. Nationals Revised U.S. Nationals Full Throttle Nitro Schedule (schedule subject to change; all times ET) SATURDAY, September 8, 2012 7:30 a.m., gates open, 8 a.m., Sportsman racing begins 12:15 p.m., Traxxas Funny Car Shootout Driver Intro 12:30 p.m., Traxxas FC Shootout, Round 1 12:45 p.m., Nitro Qualifying Session
3:30 p.m., Traxxas FC Shootout, Round 2 3:40 p.m., Nitro Qualifying Session 4:30 p.m., Traxxas FC Shootout final SUNDAY, September 9, 2012 7:30 a.m., Spectator Gates Open 8:30 a.m., Sportsman Eliminations 10 a.m., Pre-Race Ceremonies 11 a.m., Championship eliminations TRAXXAS NITRO SHOOTOUT FUNNY CAR The championship of the inaugural Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Funny Cars was rescheduled to this Saturday (Sept. 8) after rain washed out racing last Sunday and Monday in the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway. Driver introductions are set for 12:15 p.m. (ET) Saturday with the first round schedule to start 15 minutes later. The semifinals are 3:30 p.m. with the championship run for $100,000 set for 4:30 p.m. FIRST-ROUND PAIRINGS 1. RON CAPPS (DSR) vs. No. 8 Courtney Force 2. Robert Hight vs. No. 7 Jeff Arend 3. JACK BECKMAN (DSR) vs. No. 6 John Force 4. JOHNNY GRAY (DSR) vs. No. 5 Mike Neff SEMIFINALS MATCH-UPS Capps/Courtney Force winner vs. Gray/Neff winner Hight/Arend winner vs. Beckman/John Force winner NHRA FULL THROTTLE STANDINGS (Through Aug. 19, Brainerd, Minn.; 16 of 23 events; DSR drivers in CAPS) TOP FUEL 1. ANTRON BROWN, 1,335 2 SPENCER MASSEY, 1,277 3. TONY SCHUMACHER, 1,196 4. Steve Torrence, 1,139 5. Doug Kalitta, 971 6. Morgan Lucas, 945 7. Shawn Langdon, 874 8. David Grubnic, 809
9. Brandon Bernstein, 800 10. Bob Vandergriff, 664 FUNNY CAR 1. RON CAPPS, 1,228 2. Robert Hight, 1,175 3. JACK BECKMAN, 1,068 4. JOHNNY GRAY, 999 5. Mike Neff, 988 6. Courtney Force, 883 7. Cruz Pedregon, 861 8. John Force, 842 9. Jeff Arend, 781 10. Bob Tasca III, 770 11. MATT HAGAN, 751 Don Schumacher Racing statistics (Updated through Aug. 19, Brainerd; 16 of 23 events) TOP FUEL DRAGSTERS 1. ANTRON BROWN, Matco Tools DSR dragster 2011 at Indy: Qualified No. 1; defeated Del Worsham in championship round Career at Indy: Wins 3 (TF-2011; Pro Stock Motorcycle-2004, 2008), Runner-ups 0, Poles 2 (2009, 2011) 1st 16 4 5 2 0 36-12 255 35* 35 31 2 430-218 (*19 Top Fuel) 2. SPENCER MASSEY, Prestone/FRAM DSR dragster 2011 at Indy: Qualified No. 4; lost in second round to Larry Dixon Career at Indy: Wins 0, Runner-ups 0, Poles 0 2nd 16 4 2 3 0 32-12 64 10 9 8 2 109-52 3. TONY SCHUMACHER, U.S. Army ROTC DSR dragster 2011 at Indy: Qualified No. 6; lost in first round to Bob Vandergriff Career at Indy: Wins 8 (2000, 2002-04, 2006-2009), Runner-ups 2 (1996, 2005), Poles 3 (2005-2007) 3rd 16 1 4 3 0 27-15 353 68 47 70 8 615-277 FUNNY CARS 1. RON CAPPS, NAPA Shocks Dodge Charger R/T 2011 at Indy: Qualified No. 3; lost in semifinals to Bob Tasca III
Career at Indy: Wins 0, Runner-ups 0, Poles 0 1st 16 3 3 2 1 32-12 380 36 39 13 17 457-327 3. JACK BECKMAN, Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T 2011 at Indy: Qualified No. 5; lost in second round to Matt Hagan; Career at Indy: Wins 0, Runner-ups 1 (2008), Poles 0 3rd 16 2 0 2 1 24-13 380 36 39 13 17 457-327 4. JOHNNY GRAY, NTB/Big O Tires/Service Central Dodge Charger R/T 2011 at Indy: Qualified No. 11; lost in first round to Daniel Wilkerson Career at Indy: Wins 0, Runner-ups 1 (2003), Poles 0 4th 16 2 1 2 0 21-14 197 3 11 3 40 122-154 11. MATT HAGAN, Mopar/Aaron s Dream Machine Dodge Charger R/T 2011 at Indy: Qualified No. 4; lost in semifinals to Mike Neff Career at Indy: Wins 0, Runner-ups 0, Poles 0 11th 16 0 2 0 1 12-15 88 5 8 10 4 98-80 For more information: (317) 858-0356 Jeff Wolf wolfj@shoeracing.com (702) 524-1368, cell Leah Vaughn vaughnl@shoeracing.com (618) 516-1988, cell Twitter.com/shoeracing Facebook.com/shoeracing ShoeRacing.com About Don Schumacher Racing Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of seven professional NHRA teams: in Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the FRAM/Prestone dragster of Spencer Massey and the Matco Tools dragster of Antron Brown; and in Funny Car, 2011 NHRA Funny Car champion Matt Hagan in the Aaron s Dream Machine/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T, Valvoline NextGen Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Service Central Dodge of Johnny Gray. DSR has won 190 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships. - 190-