50th annual NHRA Gatornationals
Event 3 of 24 (Gainesville)
Gainesville Raceway
Gainesville, Fla.
March 15-17, 2019
DSR Gainesville Saturday Highlights:
- The DSR Top Fuel dragsters will start race day at the 50th running of the NHRA Gatornationals seeded in the top five
- The four-car DSR Funny Car squad qualified in the top-half of the field with Tommy Johnson Jr. leading the way in third
- Both Antron Brown and Leah Pritchett made top three runs in Q3 to earn bonus points
- Johnson powered to the quickest run of Q3 and earned three bonus points
- Matt Hagan banked a point when he clocked the third quickest pass of the final Funny Car qualifying session
Driver Information:
Funny Car:
(Excerpt)
TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
Qualified: No. 3 (lane choice)
The Competition: No. 14 John Smith
The Results:
Q1: 5.002 E.T. at 152.24 MPH
Q2: 3.985 E.T. at 322.58 MPH
Q3: 3.896 E.T. at 324.75 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest run of the session)
Q4: 4.385 E.T. at 182.92 MPH
Bonus Points: Three
Quotable:
On his Q4 explosion:
“That was probably the biggest boomer I’ve ever had. That was a big one. There was no warning whatsoever. The car was running really good and just before the finish line, kaboom! Unexpected for sure. I hate it for the crew guys, all the extra work it’s going to cause. They went through that enough already in Phoenix. I don’t think any of (these explosions) are related, and that’s what’s unfortunate. I don’t think it’s a problem we have, it’s just maybe a run of bad luck. We’ll get it fixed, the car has been running really well. We’ll come out here tomorrow, see if we can’t lay down some good runs and keep the body on it.”
About Don Schumacher Racing:
Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) is the winningest team in NHRA Drag Racing history, having claimed more than 325 NHRA national event titles and 17 world championships since opening its doors in 1998.
Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana, DSR fields seven professional teams competing in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series. In Top Fuel, the Matco Tools dragster driven by three-time world champion Antron Brown, the MOPAR/Pennzoil/Sparkling Ice dragster driven by Leah Pritchett and eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher’s machine. In Funny Car, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driven by 2016 world champion Ron Capps, the Mopar Express Lane/Pennzoil/Sandvik Coromant Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat piloted by Matt Hagan, and in Terry and Doug Chandler’s ‘giving cars,’ 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge, and Tommy Johnson Jr. behind the wheel of the Make-A-Wish Dodge.
DSR also campaigns two Factory Stock Showdown entries. The duo is piloted by Pritchett, the 2018 Factory Stock Showdown Series champion, and former Pro Stock racer Mark Pawuk.
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at Shoeracing.com, on Twitter and Instagram at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.