Fast Start for Mopar Dodge//SRT with Provisional No.1 Qualifier Position to Launch 2020 NHRA Season

February 7, 2020 , Pomona, Calif. -  This weekend’s 60th annual Winternationals at the historic Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California, kicks off the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series 24-event season and Mopar Dodge//SRT got right back to work and to the top of the timesheets. Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Matt Hagan drove his Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car straight to the provisional No.1 qualifier position with his official first run of the season.

Hagan and his DSR HEMI®-powered machine, which sports a new blue and white Mopar scheme that will be seen at 10 events throughout the year, wasted no time taking his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the top of the timesheets with a 3.867-second / 331.20-mph pass. While his second qualifying run didn’t go quite as planned, Hagan is pleased with the quick start to the weekend and season.

“There’s a lot of confidence unloading off the trailer like that and being able to run a good number,” said the 2011 and 2014 NHRA Funny Car World Champion. “We had a great test session in Vegas and laid down some good numbers. I was up there just pressing this last run. I was trying to run a 0.081 or 82 and it just didn’t stick. All in all, I think we have a really good car, everybody is confident. I think there are still some low numbers to be had tomorrow.”

The battle for the 2020 Funny Car Championship is no laughing matter as all four Don Schumacher Racing entries expect to be fiercely competitive and at the top of the leaderboard throughout the season aboard the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat powered by the iconic HEMI engine.

Runner-up in the 2019 Funny Car Championship last year, Jack Beckman picked up right where he left off as he took his Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for a 3.868-second / 326.95-mph run that put him in the provisional No. 2 qualifier spot. He posted a Q2 run with a session best 0.57 reaction time and a 3.885-second run at 328 mph.

Tommy Johnson Jr. also had a good first day back on track putting his MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat fourth on the Friday qualifying sheets with a 3.910-second pass at 332.92 mph.

2017 Funny Car Champion Ron Capps had a bit more difficult a start to the season after being unable to test alongside his DSR teammates in Las Vegas last week after his team’s trailer caught fire en route. The team regrouped quickly and Capps drove his HEMI-powered Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the eighth spot in Friday qualifying with a 3.947-second run at 324.12 mph.

DSR’s Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster was back on track with driver Leah Pruett at the helm and a bright new white and blue Mopar paint scheme. Looking to build on her career-best fourth place ranking in the Top Fuel championship last season, Pruett’s Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster finished the first day of qualifying action at Pomona fourth with a best run of 3.715 seconds / 324.75 mph.

Pruett is featured in Dodge Garage’s latest episode of “The Rundown,” where she gives a preview of this weekend’s NHRA Winternationals. It can be seen at www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/racing/2020/02/the-rundown-with-leah-pritchett-nhra-winternationals.html.

NHRA qualifying resumes at Auto Club Raceway with two more sessions on Saturday, Feb. 8, and with televised coverage beginning at 7 p.m. (ET) on FOX Sports1.
 
Dodge Garage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News
Fans can follow all the NHRA’s action this season at Dodge Garage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise. For more information, please visit www.dodgegarage.com.

@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers in action in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.

Mopar
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) is the service, parts and customer-care brand for FCA vehicles around the globe. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, the Mopar brand has evolved over more than 80 years to represent both complete care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.

Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era, with Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, and expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today, the Mopar brand's global reach distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in over 150 markets around the world. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 25 customer contact centers globally, Mopar integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.

Mopar is the source for genuine parts and accessories for all FCA US LLC vehicle brands. Mopar parts are engineered together with the same teams that create factory-authorized specifications for FCA vehicles, offering a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide. Complete information on the Mopar brand is available at www.mopar.com.
 
Dodge//SRT
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge proudly offers a complete lineup of performance vehicles that stand out in their own segments. For 2020, Dodge literally expands its high-performance Charger model lineup, adding a Widebody exterior to America’s only four-door muscle car. The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat maintains its reign as the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world. 
 
The 2020 Dodge lineup also features the 2020 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye, 2020 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, the Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody and the 2020 Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320. The 2020 Dodge Durango SRT, the fastest, most powerful and most capable American three-row SUV, completes the brand's performance lineup. These visceral performance models join a 2020 brand lineup that includes the Durango, Grand Caravan, Journey, Charger and Challenger.  Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by global automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. For more information regarding FCA (NYSE: FCAU/ MTA: FCA), please visit www.fcagroup.com.
 
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