AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals
Event 21 of 24 (Dallas)
NHRA Countdown, Event 3 of 6
Texas Motorplex
Ennis, Texas
October 5-7, 2018
DSR Dallas Elimination Highlights:
- Leah Pritchett wins the 2018 NHRA SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown Series world championship en route to winning the final FSXX event of the season
- Pritchett’s banner day earned event win No. 332 for Don Schumacher Racing, the winningest team in NHRA history, and championship title No. 17
- Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Tommy Johnson Jr. (Funny Car) raced to semifinal finishes
- Johnson cracked into the ‘top five’ in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship standings
- The DSR dragster trio (Antron Brown, Pritchett, Schumacher) remain in the Top Fuel ‘top five’
(Excerpt)
Driver Information:
Funny Car
TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 1 (3.918 E.T. at 321.73 MPH)
The Results:
E1: 3.981 E.T. at 324.44 MPH defeated Terry Haddock 5.079 E.T. at 150.15 MPH
E2: 3.937 E.T. at 322.65 MPH defeated Cruz Pedregon 4.036 E.T. at 303.78 MPH
E3: 3.964 E.T. at 321.58 MPH defeated by J.R. Todd 3.952 E.T. at 320.89 MPH
Race Recap:
Tommy Johnson Jr. unleashed a 3.918-second run in the fourth and final qualifying session in his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to claim the sixteenth No. 1 qualifier spot of his career, his first of 2018 and first at Texas Motorplex. Johnson had a big advantage off the starting line in scoring a round one defeat of Terry Haddock with his 3.981-second pass, the third lowest E.T. of the session.
In round two, the John Collins-tuned Dodge posted another stellar E.T., a 3.937-second pass — the quickest of the quarterfinals — to take out Cruz Pedregon.
During Johnson’s sixth semifinal appearance of the last seven events, he recorded a clean, solid 3.964-second at 321.58-mph run but was behind from the start against opponent J.R. Todd and was unable to make up any ground, ending his day. Johnson moved up to fourth in the Countdown playoff standings with his Dallas performance.
Quotable:
“We’ve got a really good race car now it’s just a matter of putting it all together on Sundays. The continuous improvement is great and hopefully we can keep doing that and have a little luck go our way. We feel really good. If a few of the top cars stumble, we’re right there. We’re in the hunt and not out of this championship yet.”
NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship Points Standings:
Funny Car
1. Robert Hight – 2387
2. J.R. Todd – 2337
3. Tim Wilkerson – 2254
4. Tommy Johnson Jr. – 2251
5. Courtney Force – 2232
6. Ron Capps – 2215
7. Matt Hagan – 2175
8. Jack Beckman – 2172
9. John Force – 2168
10. Shawn Langdon – 2120
About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., fields seven professional NHRA teams. In Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster driven by three-time world champion Antron Brown and the Mopar/Papa John’s Pizza/Pennzoil/FireAde/U.S. Army dragster driven by Leah Pritchett; and in Funny Car, 2016 world champion Ron Capps in the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T; two-time world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, and 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in Terry and Doug Chandler’s Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge and the Chandlers’ Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr.