Team Press Releases

[coverattach=1]POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2010) - Matt Hagan, driving the DieHard Dodge Charger Funny Car, rocked in qualifying for the 50th annual NHRA Winternationals, clocking the quickest pass of the third qualifying session of 4.091 seconds at 308.64 mph to claim fifth place at the end of four runs. In his first try, he came up with a 4.109/305.01, good for No. 5, then smoked the tires in the second round to record a 9.029/76.25 (No. 6). The DieHard team, led by crew chief Tommy DeLago, then went for broke in the final session, under nearly-perfect and cool conditions, but loss of traction slowed Hagan to a 4.783/167.43. "Qualifying went great," said Hagan, the 27-year-old Angus Cattle farmer from Christiansburg, Va. "We were...

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2010) - Local boy "Fast" Jack Beckman placed the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car in No. 7 during qualifying for the 50th annual NHRA Winternationals. His quickest lap of 4.101 seconds at 310.91 mph came in the opening session on Thursday. He then matched it with a 4.104/307.93 in the final session, which was delayed for several hours because of oil downs and 50th anniversary festivities. In between, he posted a 7.562/84.82 and a 4.453/208.78. "It was nice," said Beckman, of Norco, Calif. "We book-ended our runs with 4.10s. We opened nice, picking up right where we left off from testing in Jupiter, Fla., in January. The Valvoline/MTS group, including new crew chief Rahn Tobler, is...

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2010) - Ron Capps drove the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger Funny Car into the No. 9 position during qualifying for the 50th annual NHRA Winternationals. Capps recorded his quickest pass of 4.144 seconds at 301.54 mph in today's third qualifying round. His other laps were a tire-smoking 8.725/75.85 on Thursday, a 4.167/289.76 on Friday, and a 7.868/83.13 in today's final attempt. "It's been a pretty tumultuous weekend so far for our NAPA team," said defending event champion Capps. "We smoked the tires the first round. In the second round of qualifying we ran a 4.16 and actually had an air line that blew off of it that slowed the car down. Tonight (under ideal conditions), Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) just...

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2010) - Under ideal conditions and driving the FRAM Top Fuel dragster, Cory McClenathan took back the No. 1 position he earned on Thursday and lost on Friday by posting a stellar 3.787-second pass at 320.05 mph in the final round of qualifying for the 50th annual NHRA Winternationals. He beat out Larry Dixon for the top spot, after Friday's No. 1 qualifier came close, recording a 3.788/314.39 in the final pass and slipped to second. McClenathan's Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher rounded out the top three with a 3.801/320.05 in that session. This marked McClenathan's 34th No. 1 of his career, third of the event and his fifth at Auto Club Raceway. His other laps included a 4.467/171.34 and a...

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13) -- Despite sitting idle for a year, Melanie Troxel has shown no rust in her return to the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. On Saturday, Troxel guided her In-N-Out Burger Dodge Charger Funny Car into the 13th spot on the ladder for Sunday’s eliminations at the 50th annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Speedway. It was a great welcome back for Troxel, as well as In-N-Out Burger, which sponsored her in the late 1990s. "When we put this together and we knew it was only going to be 30 days to make this thing happen before this race, we had very high hopes," Troxel said. "But Roger (Burgess, team owner) wrote a letter he put out to the team that talked about our objectives and our...

Pomona, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2010) – The 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Mopar® Dodge Avenger just keeps getting better for Allen Johnson in its competition debut at the 50th Annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals. The J&J Racing team owner and driver jumped to No. 4 in the final qualifying session today at Auto Club Dragway at Pomona, Calif., posting the second quickest pass of the session and earning two bonus points in the NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock standings. Johnson smoked the tires in his first qualifying run today. He rebounded nicely in the fourth and final qualifying session of the event, which was pushed back a bit due to on-track delays. The Greeneville, Tenn., native recorded a 6.595/207.34 pass in his Mopar HEMI®-powered Dodge...

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13) -- FireIce racer Jay Payne began the 2010 NHRA season by earning the No. 3 spot in the elimination field of the 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. Payne followed up his solid qualifying performance with a Round 1 victory Saturday night and enters Sunday's final day of racing needing just three more round wins to secure a big win. Payne, competing in his 305th national event, the most of any driver in the class, kicked off qualifying Thursday with a lot of tire shake, but his excellent effort in Friday's second time trial resulted in a clean 5.599-second pass at 260 mph pass that held as the third best in the class heading into eliminations. Once eliminations...

[coverattach=1]DeMotte, IN (Dec. 19, 2009) – With quiet determination and a cool demeanor, Jason Hamstra has repeatedly shown drag racing fans that he is accustomed to setting records. But when at just 22-years-old he became the youngest recipient to win the National Guard ADRL Rookie of the Year award in December of 2009, his exuberant smile while accepting suggested this time he may have even surprised himself. “Hamstra, hands down!” said National Guard ADRL Director of Marketing Brian Evans regarding the organization’s decision to honor Hamstra. “He blew everyone away this season. He’s got real talent.” Hamstra’s 3.71 ET @ 205 mph at the ADRL event in Rockingham, North Carolina, in September 2009 was the second fastest Pro...

[coverattach=1](2-12-09) DOHA, Qatar – With two wins under their belt in the 2009-10 Arabian Drag Racing League series and five-straight final round appearances, Von Smith and the Barwa Racing Pro Extreme team will roll into the final round of the seven-race series with the points lead after a strong semi-final round finish during Round 6 of the Arabian Drag Racing League series today at the Qatar Race Club. After qualifying third amongst the best race teams the Arabian Gulf Region has to offer with a 3.773-second, 205.13mph effort, Von Smith and the Barwa Racing ’68 Chevy Camaro, tuned by Howard Moon, rolled into competition well-knowing they were in for a gunfight from start to finish. Given a bye-run in the opening round, Smith...