TOPEKA, Kansas, May 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
- Jack Beckman drives his Mopar
HEMI-powered 2015 Dodge Charger R/T to victory at the rain-delayed
NHRA Kansas Nationals
- The new 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car has claimed six
wins and advanced to the final round in seven of eight events this
season
- Beckman makes NHRA history by becoming the first driver in a
Funny Car to record four consecutive runs below 4 seconds
- Don Schumacher Racing Mopar Dodge drivers hold the top three
spots in the Funny Car standings
- Matt Hagan reaches the
semifinals in his Rocky Boots/Mopar
Express Lane Dodge
- Mopar-powered Pro Stocker V. Gaines advances to
quarterfinals
- "Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar" Dodge Dart Pro Stock
driver Allen Johnson bows out
early
Mopar-powered Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Jack Beckman claimed his second win of the
season and the sixth victory in eight events for the new 2015 Dodge
Charger R/T Funny Car, defeating John
Force in the final round of the NHRA Kansas Nationals at
Heartland Park Topeka.
The victory was the 17th of Beckman's career and a milestone
250th overall for the DSR organization. Beckman also made NHRA
history by becoming the first driver in a Funny Car to record four
consecutive runs below 4 seconds when he dipped into the 3-second
range in the last two of three qualifying sessions, then started
championship eliminations in the 3s for the first two rounds.
Beckman also moved to third in the point standings, behind DSR
teammates Ron Capps (No. 1) and
Matt Hagan (No. 2), putting
Mopar-powered Dodge drivers in the top three positions. A 2015
Dodge Charger R/T DSR Funny Car driver has been to the final round
in seven of the first eight events of the season.
"All of us at Mopar would like to congratulate Jack Beckman on the win in Topeka," said Pietro
Gorlier, President and CEO - Mopar
Brand Service, Parts and Customer Care, FCA. "We're very
pleased to see the success of the DSR team with the new 2015 Mopar
Dodge Charger R/T. A lot of time, investment and hard work went
into designing and building a fantastic new 2015 Mopar Dodge
Charger R/T Funny Car, and to see it win its sixth national title
of this young season is a great reward."
Beckman secured the No. 6 spot in qualifying with a
sub-four-second 3.991 elapsed time but was even quicker on Sunday
against round one opponent Courtney
Force, recording a winning 3.984-second elapsed time at
321.58 mph to her slower 4.035 pass. Beckman bettered that mark
with a 3.972/322.04 to defeat Mopar HEMI-powered Dodge driver
John Hale and advance to the
semifinals against Del Worsham. In a
back-and-forth affair, Beckman led early, gave up the lead after
shaking the tires, then got back on the pedal for a winning
4.169/319.45 run after Worsham also struck the tires and slowed to
a 4.331/216.03.
In the final, Beckman exacted revenge for his trio of DSR
teammates, Tommy Johnson Jr., Capps
and Hagan, who all fell to John
Force. Beckman once again took his 2015 Dodge Charger R/T
below the four-second mark, posting a 3.984 ET to defeat Force and
his 4.002 pass.
"We did not have a good weekend of racing, we had an incredible
weekend of racing," Beckman said. "I thought we had a car that that
nobody could touch."
After swapping bodies following a fire during Friday qualifying,
defending 2014 Funny Car champ Hagan rebounded with a strong
semifinals run that kept his grip on the second spot in the
standings. Hagan qualified his Rocky
Boots/Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T No. 8, then took
out Robert Hight with a 4.027/321.58
mark and Chad Head with a
4.014/315.93. Matched in the semis against arch-rival John Force, Hagan recorded a 4.255/310.48 but
watched Force pull away for the win with a quicker
3.997/324.83.
No. 12 Pro Stock qualifier V. Gaines scored a major upset over
No. 5 qualifier Jason Line in round
one of Topeka eliminations. Gaines
got out of the gate first with a .019 reaction time to Line's .030
and then motored to the win with a 6.632/206.73 pass after Line
experienced problems and slowed. In the second round, Gaines was
too quick off the tree, losing to Larry
Morgan on a red-light foul.
Three-time Topeka winner and
defending event champ Allen Johnson
was hoping for another strong performance at the venue, but
unfortunately his day would end prematurely. Johnson, the No. 6
qualifier, recorded a 6.651/207.46 pass in his "Magneti Marelli
Offered by Mopar" Dodge Dart but was beaten to the finish line by
first-round foe Vincent Nobile's
6.616/208.75.
"We made some real good progress all weekend," said Johnson.
"The weather changed today and we just miscalculated. We had a
misfire again that's been plaguing us, but every time we encounter
it we learn, so we won't encounter it again in the same
condition."
Deric Kramer nailed the start
with a near-perfect .003 reaction time in his Pro Stock Dodge
Avenger, but it wasn't enough to get past Chris McGaha in the opening round.
Next up for Team Mopar NHRA Funny Car, Pro Stock and Sportsman
racers is the NHRA Summernationals, scheduled to take place June
4–7 at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, the ninth of 24
events on the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series
schedule.
2015 NHRA Championship Points Standings
(following the NHRA Kansas Nationals)
PRO STOCK (season wins in parentheses)
1. Erica
Enders-Stevens – 719 (3)
2. Jason Line – 661
(2)
3. Greg Anderson – 654
(1)
4. Chris McGaha –
542
5. Rodger Brodgon – 493
(1)
6. Larry Morgan – 452
(1)
7. Drew Skillman –
424
8. Vincent Nobile –
421
9. Shane Gray – 401
10. Allen Johnson – Dodge
Dart – 369
11. V. Gaines – Dodge Dart – 294
FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1. Ron Capps –
(2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 580 (2)
2.
Matt Hagan – (2015 Dodge Charger
R/T) – 575 (2)
3. Jack Beckman – (2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 531
(2)
4. Del
Worsham – 507
5. John Force – 502 (1)
6. Robert Hight –
460
7. Tommy Johnson Jr.
– (2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 456
8. Tim Wilkerson – 447 (1)
9t. Alexis DeJoria – 395
9t. Cruz Pedregon – 395
10. Courtney Force – 388
About Mopar Brand
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words Motor and PARts) was
trademarked in 1937 with the launch of an antifreeze product, but
it truly made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era. From
Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road
and racing use, the brand soon expanded to include technical
service and customer support.
Today, Mopar is FCA's service, parts and customer-care brand and
distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in over 150
markets around the world. With more than 50 parts distribution
centers and 27 customer contact hubs globally, Mopar integrates
service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance
dealer and customer support worldwide. Mopar is the source for
genuine parts and accessories for FCA brands.
Mopar parts are engineered together with the same teams that
create factory-authorized specifications for FCA vehicles. This
offers a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company
can provide. A complete list of Mopar accessories and performance
parts is available at: www.mopar.com.
Mopar-first Features
Mopar has introduced numerous industry-first features
including:
- Vehicle-information apps: first to introduce smartphone
vehicle-information applications, a new channel of communication
with customers
- Electronic owner manuals: first to introduce traditional owner
manuals in a DVD and brief user-guide format. First to offer
complete vehicle-information kits in Spanish
- Wi-Fi: first to offer customers the ability to make their
vehicle a wireless hot spot
- Wireless charging: first to introduce in-vehicle wireless
charging for portable devices
- Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS): first to market with
interactive vehicle tracking device that sends owner a text when
vehicle is driven too fast or too far based on pre-set
parameters
- wiADVISOR: first to provide factory-connected tablet technology
in the service lane for instant vehicle diagnosis
- wiTECH: first to support vehicle diagnosis and software updates
leveraging off-the-shelf personal computers and a dedicated
wireless tool network
- 2011 Mopar Challenger Drag Pak: first to introduce a 500-plus
cubic-inch V-10 drag-race package car
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