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DSR Charlotte I Qualifying Report
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
Event 6 of 24 (Charlotte I)
zMAX Dragway
Concord, N.C.
April 27-29, 2018
DSR Charlotte I Qualifying Highlights:
Top Fuel:
ANTRON BROWN
Driver of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 3
The Competition:
No. 6 Doug Kalitta
No. 11 Mike Salinas
No. 14 Richie Crampton
The Results:
Q1: 6.027 E.T. at 114.18 MPH
Q2: 3.719 E.T. at 331.77 MPH (One bonus point for third quickest of the session)
Q3: 6.322 E.T. at 109.63 MPH
Q4: 3.880 E.T. at 291.01 MPH (One bonus point for third quickest run of the session)
Bonus Points: Two
Quotable:
"We are getting better every day and that has been our focus. The conditions were tricky today. It got hot and it was nasty out there and our Matco Tools/U.S. Army boys led by (crew chiefs) Mark (Oswald) and Brad (Mason) made big moves. We had to make big moves to get down that race track. When the track is hot and slimy, we know we are comfortable and confident to get down the track. We were running on a really good pass in that last session and it just spun right before halftrack. I just shut it down and we still ran a 88 (3.880 seconds). You could have put a marginal back end to it and we would have been quickest in that round. I like where we are going right now. We know things will be different tomorrow. The sun will be out, but they are predicting the ambient temperature to be about 10 degrees cooler. It’s going to get interesting tomorrow.”
LEAH PRITCHETT
Driver of the Pennzoil Top Fuel Dragster
also competing in Factory Stock Showdown
Top Fuel:
Qualified: No. 15
The Competition:
No. 2 Tony Schumacher
No. 7 Clay Millican
No. 10 Dom Lagana
The Results:
Q1: 4.249 E.T. at 217.56 MPH
Q2: 7.823 E.T. at 86.57 MPH
Q3: 4.004 E.T. at 294.31 MPH
Q4: No Time
Quotable:
“The positive is that we are in the field. It’s awesome to qualify for our 100th professional event. There is some obvious frustration with how the last qualifying session went, but the best part is you can win from any qualifying position. There are four lanes to race in and they are all unique. I’m confident we can get down each one of them. Coming into Q4, we were in a similar situation as last weekend in Houston. We had to put it to it. Really go hard at it and that was our plan. And after further review of the video, there was an issue with the (staging) beams. The car moved a significant amount and never turned the bottom bulb on, which of course resulted in us timing out and getting a red light. It’s something we definitely need to take up with NHRA. Those are the complications you are going to have running four-wide at different times of the day. I’m proud of our team that we were able to qualify for this race and we do have a hot rod that has come around every run and made progress each time. If anything, this is just fuel for the fire for us to give everybody an absolute run for their money tomorrow.”
Factory Stock Showdown:
Qualified: No. 1 (8.047 E.T. at 170.64 MPH)
The Competition: No. 9 Arthur Kohn
The Results:
E1: 8.174 E.T. at 169.08 MPH defeated by 8.113 E.T. at 170.51 MPH
TONY SCHUMACHER
Driver of the U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 2
No. 7 Clay Millican
No. 10 Dom Lagana
No. 15 Leah Pritchett
The Competition:
The Results:
Q1: 3.746 E.T. at 327.35 MPH (Two bonus points for second quickest run of the session)
Q2:3.692 E.T. at 331.61 MPH (Two bonus points for second quickest run of the session)
Q3: 8.692 E.T. at 78.82 MPH
Q4: 3.896 E.T. at 313.44 MPH
Bonus Points: Four
Quotable:
“We weren’t as good today as we wanted to be, but we also know we aren’t going to race in those conditions tomorrow. We were off in both runs today. Putting a cylinder out at the hit didn’t help our chances of getting better. The U.S. Army car was so fast earlier today and I’m guessing here, but maybe we backed it down a little too much. The result was it putting a hole out at the step and just sliding down the track. We are learning with every pass and that’s a big deal. We’re probably looking at the best conditions of the weekend tomorrow and that’s where the U.S. Army guys are at their best. "
Funny Car:
JACK BECKMAN
Driver of the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 13
The Competition:
No. 4 J.R. Todd
No. 5 Bob Tasca III
No. 12 Shawn Langdon
The Results:
Q1: 3.983 E.T. at 316.08 MPH
Q2: 8.920 E.T. at 79.97 MPH
Q3: 5.173 E.T. at 145.30 MPH
Q4: 4.042 E.T. at 310.98 MPH
Quotable:
"So here we are, back in thirteenth, same as Vegas Four-Wide where we struggled in qualifying and that deal ended up fine. We were able to rally together on Sunday. I mean, (thirteenth) it's not where we're used to qualifying. We will not have any lane choice out of four choices out there and I feel like we may have backed ourselves into a little bit of a corner, but I also know that we have a crew that is so capable of crunching data, making the great choices and getting this thing in the winner's circle tomorrow. Come on national anthem!"
RON CAPPS
Driver of the NAPA Brakes Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 2
The Competition:
No. 7 Robert Hight
No. 10 Jonnie Lindberg
No. 15 Dale Creasy
The Results:
Q1: 3.934 E.T. at 326.87 MPH
Q2: 3.886 E.T. at 329.83 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest run of the session)
Q3: 3.967 E.T. at 314.02 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest run of the session)
Q4: 4.021 E.T. at 314.09 MPH
Bonus Points: Six
Quotable:
"I'm so lucky to be able to drive this race car. There's a lot to be said about adapting to conditions, adapting to race tracks, and adapting run to run. These are the most volatile cars, but they're also the most meticulous. They've got to be babied at times, but today (Rahn) Tobler really showed the championship form we've had for the past couple of years when we ran a 96 (3.967) in the heat of the day and no one else went down. I was smiling the whole time the 'chutes were out and I got on the radio and said 'that's my boy, Tobler!'
"Tomorrow is going to bring conditions that we really went to the six-disc (clutch) for. It's going to be fast, it's going to be cool out and we never felt like we could run as good as the six-disc cars did in those conditions. I'm really excited to be able to go up there tomorrow and see what Tobler has in store for us. We won this race last year, and we'll see if we can do that again tomorrow."
MATT HAGAN
Driver of the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 11
The Competition:
No. 3 Tommy Johnson Jr.
No. 6 Cruz Pedregon
No. 14 John Smith
The Results:
Q1: 3.966 E.T. at 320.89 MPH
Q2: 9.580 E.T. at 72.52 MPH
Q3: 6.180 E.T. at 110.13 MPH
Q4: 4.062 E.T. at 310.20 MPH
Quotable:
"You get one shot at every lane. It's drag racing and it's Four-Wide. There's a lot that can go wrong and a lot can go right, we've just got to win. You don't have to win the race, you just have to beat two other people."
TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 3
The Competition:
No. 6 Cruz Pedregon
No. 11 Matt Hagan
No. 14 John Smith
The Results:
Q1: 5.352 E.T. at 135.35 MPH
Q2: 3.887 E.T. at 328.70 MPH (Two bonus points for second quickest run of the session)
Q3: 5.387 E.T. at 133.43 MPH
Q4: 4.414 E.T. at 197.39 MPH
Bonus Points: Two
Quotable:
"I think the track will come back to everyone on Sunday. Should be better track conditions than what we saw on Saturday. Good qualifying effort by the Make-A-Wish team. The car ran great when the conditions were good, but the sunny track with a little bit different prep on it is throwing everybody a curve. Hopefully tomorrow's cool conditions will bring it back to us a little bit and we'll make some good runs."
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
Event 6 of 24 (Charlotte I)
zMAX Dragway
Concord, N.C.
April 27-29, 2018
DSR Charlotte I Qualifying Highlights:
- Antron Brown ran top speed of the meet (331.77-mph)
- Tony Schumacher and Brown start race day seeded in the 'top three' (Top Fuel)
- Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr. also start race day from the 'top three' (Funny Car)
Top Fuel:
ANTRON BROWN
Driver of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 3
The Competition:
No. 6 Doug Kalitta
No. 11 Mike Salinas
No. 14 Richie Crampton
The Results:
Q1: 6.027 E.T. at 114.18 MPH
Q2: 3.719 E.T. at 331.77 MPH (One bonus point for third quickest of the session)
Q3: 6.322 E.T. at 109.63 MPH
Q4: 3.880 E.T. at 291.01 MPH (One bonus point for third quickest run of the session)
Bonus Points: Two
Quotable:
"We are getting better every day and that has been our focus. The conditions were tricky today. It got hot and it was nasty out there and our Matco Tools/U.S. Army boys led by (crew chiefs) Mark (Oswald) and Brad (Mason) made big moves. We had to make big moves to get down that race track. When the track is hot and slimy, we know we are comfortable and confident to get down the track. We were running on a really good pass in that last session and it just spun right before halftrack. I just shut it down and we still ran a 88 (3.880 seconds). You could have put a marginal back end to it and we would have been quickest in that round. I like where we are going right now. We know things will be different tomorrow. The sun will be out, but they are predicting the ambient temperature to be about 10 degrees cooler. It’s going to get interesting tomorrow.”
LEAH PRITCHETT
Driver of the Pennzoil Top Fuel Dragster
also competing in Factory Stock Showdown
Top Fuel:
Qualified: No. 15
The Competition:
No. 2 Tony Schumacher
No. 7 Clay Millican
No. 10 Dom Lagana
The Results:
Q1: 4.249 E.T. at 217.56 MPH
Q2: 7.823 E.T. at 86.57 MPH
Q3: 4.004 E.T. at 294.31 MPH
Q4: No Time
Quotable:
“The positive is that we are in the field. It’s awesome to qualify for our 100th professional event. There is some obvious frustration with how the last qualifying session went, but the best part is you can win from any qualifying position. There are four lanes to race in and they are all unique. I’m confident we can get down each one of them. Coming into Q4, we were in a similar situation as last weekend in Houston. We had to put it to it. Really go hard at it and that was our plan. And after further review of the video, there was an issue with the (staging) beams. The car moved a significant amount and never turned the bottom bulb on, which of course resulted in us timing out and getting a red light. It’s something we definitely need to take up with NHRA. Those are the complications you are going to have running four-wide at different times of the day. I’m proud of our team that we were able to qualify for this race and we do have a hot rod that has come around every run and made progress each time. If anything, this is just fuel for the fire for us to give everybody an absolute run for their money tomorrow.”
Factory Stock Showdown:
Qualified: No. 1 (8.047 E.T. at 170.64 MPH)
The Competition: No. 9 Arthur Kohn
The Results:
E1: 8.174 E.T. at 169.08 MPH defeated by 8.113 E.T. at 170.51 MPH
TONY SCHUMACHER
Driver of the U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster
Qualified: No. 2
No. 7 Clay Millican
No. 10 Dom Lagana
No. 15 Leah Pritchett
The Competition:
The Results:
Q1: 3.746 E.T. at 327.35 MPH (Two bonus points for second quickest run of the session)
Q2:3.692 E.T. at 331.61 MPH (Two bonus points for second quickest run of the session)
Q3: 8.692 E.T. at 78.82 MPH
Q4: 3.896 E.T. at 313.44 MPH
Bonus Points: Four
Quotable:
“We weren’t as good today as we wanted to be, but we also know we aren’t going to race in those conditions tomorrow. We were off in both runs today. Putting a cylinder out at the hit didn’t help our chances of getting better. The U.S. Army car was so fast earlier today and I’m guessing here, but maybe we backed it down a little too much. The result was it putting a hole out at the step and just sliding down the track. We are learning with every pass and that’s a big deal. We’re probably looking at the best conditions of the weekend tomorrow and that’s where the U.S. Army guys are at their best. "
Funny Car:
JACK BECKMAN
Driver of the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 13
The Competition:
No. 4 J.R. Todd
No. 5 Bob Tasca III
No. 12 Shawn Langdon
The Results:
Q1: 3.983 E.T. at 316.08 MPH
Q2: 8.920 E.T. at 79.97 MPH
Q3: 5.173 E.T. at 145.30 MPH
Q4: 4.042 E.T. at 310.98 MPH
Quotable:
"So here we are, back in thirteenth, same as Vegas Four-Wide where we struggled in qualifying and that deal ended up fine. We were able to rally together on Sunday. I mean, (thirteenth) it's not where we're used to qualifying. We will not have any lane choice out of four choices out there and I feel like we may have backed ourselves into a little bit of a corner, but I also know that we have a crew that is so capable of crunching data, making the great choices and getting this thing in the winner's circle tomorrow. Come on national anthem!"
RON CAPPS
Driver of the NAPA Brakes Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 2
The Competition:
No. 7 Robert Hight
No. 10 Jonnie Lindberg
No. 15 Dale Creasy
The Results:
Q1: 3.934 E.T. at 326.87 MPH
Q2: 3.886 E.T. at 329.83 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest run of the session)
Q3: 3.967 E.T. at 314.02 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest run of the session)
Q4: 4.021 E.T. at 314.09 MPH
Bonus Points: Six
Quotable:
"I'm so lucky to be able to drive this race car. There's a lot to be said about adapting to conditions, adapting to race tracks, and adapting run to run. These are the most volatile cars, but they're also the most meticulous. They've got to be babied at times, but today (Rahn) Tobler really showed the championship form we've had for the past couple of years when we ran a 96 (3.967) in the heat of the day and no one else went down. I was smiling the whole time the 'chutes were out and I got on the radio and said 'that's my boy, Tobler!'
"Tomorrow is going to bring conditions that we really went to the six-disc (clutch) for. It's going to be fast, it's going to be cool out and we never felt like we could run as good as the six-disc cars did in those conditions. I'm really excited to be able to go up there tomorrow and see what Tobler has in store for us. We won this race last year, and we'll see if we can do that again tomorrow."
MATT HAGAN
Driver of the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 11
The Competition:
No. 3 Tommy Johnson Jr.
No. 6 Cruz Pedregon
No. 14 John Smith
The Results:
Q1: 3.966 E.T. at 320.89 MPH
Q2: 9.580 E.T. at 72.52 MPH
Q3: 6.180 E.T. at 110.13 MPH
Q4: 4.062 E.T. at 310.20 MPH
Quotable:
"You get one shot at every lane. It's drag racing and it's Four-Wide. There's a lot that can go wrong and a lot can go right, we've just got to win. You don't have to win the race, you just have to beat two other people."
TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 3
The Competition:
No. 6 Cruz Pedregon
No. 11 Matt Hagan
No. 14 John Smith
The Results:
Q1: 5.352 E.T. at 135.35 MPH
Q2: 3.887 E.T. at 328.70 MPH (Two bonus points for second quickest run of the session)
Q3: 5.387 E.T. at 133.43 MPH
Q4: 4.414 E.T. at 197.39 MPH
Bonus Points: Two
Quotable:
"I think the track will come back to everyone on Sunday. Should be better track conditions than what we saw on Saturday. Good qualifying effort by the Make-A-Wish team. The car ran great when the conditions were good, but the sunny track with a little bit different prep on it is throwing everybody a curve. Hopefully tomorrow's cool conditions will bring it back to us a little bit and we'll make some good runs."
