Mopar All Fired Up for Phoenix

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Mopar All Fired Up for Phoenix

Mopar gets ready for Arizona Nationals after scoring a Pro Stock win in NHRA season opener at Pomona with Nobile

Three (3) Mopars battled in Pomona finals with Capps in Funny Car, Nobile and Coughlin faced- off in Pro Stock

Four (4) Mopars in top-5 in Pro Stock standings with Nobile (1), Coughlin (2), Gaines (3), and Johnson (5)

Ron Capps (2) and Johnny Gray (3) put Dodge Charger R/T in top-3 Funny Car standings heading into Phoenix

February 21, 2013 , Phoenix, Ariz. -

After a strong showing by Mopar entries at the opening event of the 2013 National Hot Rod Association Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season last Sunday, which included a title win after three Dodge entries battled their way to the final elimination rounds at the Winternationals, teams and drivers are anxious for a repeat performance at the Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway near Phoenix this weekend.

Vincent Nobile posted the first victory of the season after a final round face-off against fellow HEMI®-powered teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. in Pro Stock, to put the pair 1-2 in the Pro Stock standings. The Dodge Avenger of V. Gaines is close behind in third spot on the basis of a strong qualifying performance that saw him equal his best start as no. 2 qualifier, and a second round win against Allen Johnson. Johnson’s Pro1 isn’t too far behind sitting fifth in the standing, putting all four full-time Mopars in the top-5 in points heading into qualifying at Phoenix.

All four also have experience winning at Firebird International Raceway. Nobile beat Johnson in final eliminations to earn a title win in 2011, while Johnson’s last win at Phoenix was in 2005. Gaines’s victory in 2008 ended a seven-year winless streak for him, while Coughlin is hoping to take home a third title win from the event to build on his runner-up performance to start the 2013 season.

"The last six runs we made in Pomona, the two during Saturday qualifying and four we made on race day, gave us so much confidence and that feeling is leading us into Phoenix with a lot of positive attitudes," Coughlin said. "The only thing we could have done better was win the race so we'll try to take that final step this weekend. Phoenix would be a great place to put the JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger in the winner's circle."

“I love coming to this race because I love the area, and while the facility is older, the track surface is good and we’ve had both success and some disappointments here,” said Johnson who finds running at Firebird has always been bittersweet. “We’ve celebrated a win here and it’s also where my dad (Roy) suffered a heart attack (in 2009) but was saved, so we have some history here and I hope to add one more good memory.”

While Don Schumacher Racing’s Ron Capps lost his final elimination Funny Car match-up to Courtney Force in the season opener, his confidence is high due to his past performance at the popular desert track, which includes two wins in five final round appearances and two No. 1 qualifying positions. Capps sits second in the standings with his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Johnny Gray right behind him in third spot.

Matt Hagan is happy with his solid qualifying effort and quarterfinal finish in the Mopar Dodge Charger R/T last week but is looking to build on his seventh place spot in the top-10 standings. Meanwhile, defending NHRA Funny Car Champ Jack Beckman, ninth on the scoring sheets, would love to become a four-time winner at Phoenix.

"I've had great luck at Phoenix, and I don't know why," said Beckman of the three wins he’s posted there in the last five years. "Three of my 15 Funny Car trophies came at Firebird. I don't think I drive any better there, I don't think our tune-ups are better there. But it is a cool feeling where you're familiar with the winner's circle."

The Arizona Nationals will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD with 90 minutes of qualifying coverage airing on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 1 a.m. (ET) and again at 8 a.m. (ET). Three hours and 30 minutes of final elimination coverage will be presented Sunday evening starting at 8 p.m. (ET).

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Solid Qualifying Performances for Mopar at Phoenix

Two Mopar Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars atop qualifying sheet with Gray claiming No.1 qualifier honors and Hagan second

Gaines is top HEMI®-powered Dodge as No. 2 qualifier and among four Mopars in top half of 16-car Pro Stock field

Mopar is 1-2-3 in Pro Stock point standings and 2-3 in Funny Car heading into eliminations on Sunday

Total of seven Dodge Avengers in Pro Stock field and six Dodge Charger R/Ts in Funny Car at Phoenix

February 23, 2013 , Phoenix, Ariz. -

Mopar drivers and teams rolled out solid qualifying performances for the Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway, the second event on the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule. Don Schumacher Racing’s Johnny Gray drove his Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to the top of the scoring sheets in a dominant manner with the two best runs of qualifying, posting a pass of 4.034 seconds at 313.80 mph to earn the top qualifier honors. It is the second consecutive year Gray has earned the pole position at Phoenix and the fourth time of his career.

DSR teammate Matt Hagan put his Mopar into the No. 2 spot with a best run in Friday qualifying of 4.062 sec / 311.20 mph. Fellow DSR driver Ron Capps, currently second in the Funny Car standings on the basis of his runner-up finish in the season opener last weekend, posted the fifth quickest pass, while another Mopar teammate, Jack Beckman, has qualified tenth. Jeff Arend (13th) and Todd Lesenko (14th) bring the total to six Dodge Charger R/T entries in the sixteen qualified positions for the elimination rounds.
In Pro Stock qualifying, all four full-time Mopar entries earned spots in top half of 16-car field for final eliminations with a total of seven Dodge Avengers moving on to compete on Sunday.

V. Gaines led the HEMI®-powered contingency in both Friday qualifying sessions by posting the second quickest elapsed time run of 6.529 sec / 212.63 mph which was good enough to keep him in the No. 2 qualifier position. The No.1 qualifier moniker went to Mike Edwards who set a track record low e.t and top speed of 6.498 sec /213.13 mph.

Mopar’s Allen Johnson posted the best run of the third qualifying session with a 6.542 second, 212.03 mph pass to earn a three point bonus and secure a fifth place spot. Jeg Coughlin Jr., runner-up in the season opener, qualified right behind his teammate in sixth spot.

“We’re steadily making ground with both Mopar cars and the things we tried on mine in the third round, we put on Jeggy’s (Coughlin) car in the fourth round so he picked up a little there,” says Johnson. “We have very raceable cars for tomorrow. We’re not quite as fast as we want to be but we’re close and still leaving a little on the table. Having lane choice is going to be really critical for tomorrow’s racing as the right lane is much better than the left, so we want to maintain lane choice at all costs.”

Last week’s winner at Pomona and Pro Stock points leader Vincent Nobile claimed the eighth quickest qualifying run of the weekend, which means all four Mopar drivers will be given the all-important lane choice for first round of final eliminations. Nobile, Coughlin and Gaines currently hold the top three positions in the points standing while Johnson is in sixth place.

Three additional Dodge Avengers have made the field with Chris McGaha, Matt Hartford and Deric Kramer securing the 12th, 13th and 14th spots respectively.

The Arizona Nationals will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD with 90 minutes of qualifying coverage airing on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 1 a.m. (ET) and again at 8 a.m. (ET). Three hours and 30 minutes of final elimination coverage will be presented Sunday evening starting at 8 p.m. (ET).

Funny Car 1st Round Match-Ups:

1. Johnny Gray (Dodge Charger R/T) vs. 16. Robert Hight
2. Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger R/T) vs. 15. Phil Burkart
3. Courtney Force vs. 14. Todd Lesenko (Dodge Charger R/T)
4. Cruz Pedregon vs. 13. Jeff Arend (Dodge Charger R/T)
5. Ron Capps(Dodge Charger R/T) vs. 12. Tony Pedregon
6. John Force vs. 11. Alexis DeJoria
7. Bob Tasca III vs. 10. Jack Beckman (Dodge Charger R/T)
8. Tim Wilkerson vs. 9. Del Worsham

Pro Stock 1st Round Match-Ups:

1. Mike Edwards vs. 16. Steve Kent
2. V. Gaines (Dodge Avenger) vs. 15. Larry Morgan
3. Jason Line vs. 14. Deric Kramer (Dodge Avenger)
4. Greg Anderson vs. 13. Matt Hartford (Dodge Avenger)
5. Allen Johnson (Dodge Avenger) vs. 12. Chris McGaha (Dodge Avenger)
6. Jeg Coughlin (Dodge Avenger) vs. 11. Rodger Brogdon
7. Erica Enders-Stevens vs. 10. Shane Gray
8. Vincent Nobile (Dodge Avenger) vs. 9. Greg Stanfield

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Mopar versus Mopar Funny Car Final at Phoenix

Mopar vs Mopar in Funny Car final elimination round at Arizona Nationals

Capps beats Mopar teammate Hagan to earn Phoenix title win a week after a runner-up performance at the season opener

All four Pro Stock Mopars win first elimination round; falter in quarterfinals

Mopar leads the NHRA points standings in both Funny Car and Pro Stock classes with Capps and Nobile


February 24, 2013 , Phoenix, Ariz. -

It was an all Mopar final in Funny Car competition, as Don Schumacher Racing teammates Matt Hagan and Ron Capps faced-off at the Arizona Nationals, the second event on the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series calendar. Capps followed up his runner-up finish in last weekend’s season opener at Pomona with a dominating title win by posting a 4.064 second run, his fourth straight 4.0 in his Dodge Charger R/T, to beat his Mopar teammate Hagan's 4.15 second pass. It was Capps' 38th career Funny Car victory and his third at Firebird International Raceway.
“All of us at Mopar would like to offer congratulations to Ron Capps for his two consecutive final round appearances and a big win in Phoenix,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group LLC’s service, parts and customer-care brand. “The Mopar-powered Funny Car package looks strong again this year, and we look forward to Ron and his Don Schumacher Racing teammates contending for more wins in defense of the Championship title throughout what is sure to be an exciting and competitive season.”
“We are starting to feel like we are getting into the same rhythm that we were last year when we went to six finals in a row,” said Capps, who finished runner-up in the 2012 Funny Car Championship by just two points. “I think that both (crew chief) Rahn (Tobler) and I built up some confidence in each other at Pomona, and now here.”
For Hagan, his runner-up finish was a sign of good things to come for what is essentially a brand new Mopar team with the pre-season addition of crew chief Dickie Venables, assistant Mike Knudsen and a number of new crew members.
"I am extremely, extremely, extremely proud of this new, young, race team," Hagan said. "For our second race together to come out here and go to the final, that's huge. We have a lot still to learn but I think it's just a taste of what you're going to see this year out of this team. We take what we learned here and we move toward Gainesville."
With the result, Capps takes over the lead in the Funny Car standings with 210 points while Hagan moves into the third spot with 151 points.
Fellow DSR teammates didn’t fair quite as well with losses in the first round of eliminations. Johnny Gray, who was No.1 qualifier for the event, didn’t have the run he was hoping for when, following a pedalfest, his pass was disqualified after making contact with the wall at the 1000 foot mark. He is currently fifth in points with 122. Jack Beckman’s efforts were hampered with traction issues right at the start of his run, and with two first-round losses in as many events, the defending Funny Car World Champion temporarily drops out of the top-10 in the standings into 11th place.
In Pro Stock competition, all four full-time HEMI-powered Mopars advanced from their first elimination match-ups with Jeg Coughlin Jr. setting the lowest elapsed time for the round with a 6.537 sec and 212.49 mph pass. The quarterfinals, however, were a different story as all four saw their race day cut short.
Defending NHRA World Champion, Allen Johnson’s quarterfinal run elapsed time of 6.549 seconds was beaten on a holeshot by Greg Anderson’s 6.551 pass. Coughlin had an identical .022 second reaction time to his competitor Jason Line but lost the round with a 6.538 to 6.581 difference.
V. Gaines was defeated by Erica Enders who won with a .033 to .074 holeshot after both cars posted identical runs of 6.553 seconds. Vincent Nobile’s .025 second reaction time was beaten by No. 1 qualifier Mike Edwards’ .013 and then at the line by a 6.505 to 6.582 second difference.
Enders went on to earn her fifth career Pro Stock title by defeating Edwards with a holeshot win in the final round to move into second place in the standings.
Nobile still leads the Pro Stock Standings with 171 points, while Coughlin (149 points) is fourth, Gaines (142 points) is fifth and Johnson (107) is tied for seventh place.

It has been a solid start to the 2013 NHRA season for Mopar with wins in the first two races with Capps’ Funny Car victory this weekend in Phoenix and Pro Stock HEMI-powered Nobile’s title win at Pomona. Mopar will work to make it three in a row as teams and drivers prepare for the 44th Annual NHRA Gatornationals, the traditional east coast opening event and the third of 24 events on the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule slated to take place in Gainesville, Fla. on March 14-17.

2013 NHRA Championship Points Standings (after 2 races):
Funny Car

1. Ron Capps Dodge Charger R/T- 210
2. Courtney Force -165
3. Matt Hagan Dodge Charger R/T - 151
4. Bob Tasca III - 124
5. Johnny Gray Dodge Charger R/T - 122
6. Cruz Pedregon - 117
7. John Force - 106
8. Tim Wilkerson - 106
9. Todd Lesenko Dodge - 102
10. Robert Hight - 83
11. Jack Beckman Dodge Charger R/T - 75

Pro Stock
1. Vincent Nobile Dodge Avenger - 171
2. Erica Enders-Stevens - 155
3. Mike Edwards - 153
4. Jeg Coughlin Dodge Avenger - 149
5. V. Gaines Dodge Avenger - 142
6. Jason Line - 119
7. Greg Anderson - 109
7. Allen Johnson Dodge Avenger - 109
9. Greg Stanfield - 104
10. Shane Gray - 83
10. Chris McGaha Dodge - 83