Houston Pre-Race Report
NHRA SpringNationals
Event 5 of 24 (Houston)
Royal Purple Raceway
Baytown, Texas
April 20-22, 2018
Noteworthy:
- Don Schumacher Racing ‘doubled up’ winning in both Top Fuel and Funny Car at the 2017 event:
- Top Fuel winner- Leah Pritchett
- Funny Car winner- Ron Capps
- Antron Brown won his first Top Fuel event at the 2008 Houston race
- Matt Hagan won his first Funny Car event at the 2010 race
- Jack Beckman enters the event as the Funny Car points leader
- Texas transplant Tony Schumacher resides in Austin
(Excerpt)
DSR Driver Information:
Funny Car:
TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger R/T
NHRA Houston Event Highlights:
2002 runner-up
2017 Houston Recap:
Qualified seventh; First round exit (defeated by Jonnie Lindberg in E1)
Last event (Las Vegas I):
Qualified second; Semifinal finish (defeated Tim Wilkerson, Matt Hagan in E1, John Force Del Worsham in E2; defeated by J.R. Todd, Jack Beckman in E3)
2018 Season Statistics:
Six round wins; Ranked fourth in points
Career Statistics:
426 races; 17 wins (two Top Fuel); 15 No. 1 qualifiers (one Top Fuel)
Quotable:
“The Make-A-Wish team had a good car on a new race track at our last race in Vegas, so hopefully we can have the same success on another new track this weekend in Houston.”
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/Sandvik Coromant R/T, 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.
DSR has won 320 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships.