NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
Event 4 of 24 (Las Vegas I)
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nev.
April 6-8, 2018
DSR Las Vegas Race Day Highlights:
Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Jack Beckman (Funny Car) earned runner-up finishes
Jack Beckman moved into the Funny Car points lead
Antron Brown competed in his 1,000th professional round on Sunday
Don Schumacher Racing had four cars (two Top Fuel, two Funny Car) in the final elimination quad
Four-Wide Nationals note: Bolded driver/time advanced to the next round. Drivers are listed in order of how they finished.
(Excerpt)
Funny Car:
TOMMY JOHNSON JR.
Driver of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 2 (3.932 E.T. at 318.84 MPH)
The Results:
E1:
Tommy Johnson Jr. 4.030 E.T. at 316.01 MPH
Del Worsham 4.496 E.T. at 244.25 MPH
Tim Wilkerson 4.855 E.T. at 172.36 MPH
Matt Hagan 5.899 E.T. at 117.68 MPH
E2:
Tommy Johnson Jr. 4.007 E.T. at 314.68 MPH
J.R. Todd 4.054 E.T. at 314.17 MPH
John Force 4.050 E.T. at 315.34 MPH
Del Worsham 4.049 E.T. at 307.93 MPH
E3:
J.R. Todd 4.041 E.T. at 317.05 MPH
Jack Beckman 4.052 E.T. at 312.21 MPH
Courtney Force 4.007 E.T. at 300.53 MPH
Tommy Johnson Jr. 3.978 E.T. at 311.70 MPH
Race Recap:
Tommy Johnson Jr. was set up to repeat his victory at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway from last spring. He entered race day qualified second with his time of 3.932 at 318.84-mph.
During the first session of competition, Johnson drove Terry and Doug Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Dodge to a 4.030 -second at 316.01-mph to advance to the second round.
Johnson then ran the best lap of the session in round two with his stout 4.007-sec pass to advance to the final quad along with his DSR teammate, Jack Beckman.
Unfortunately, during the finals, Johnson was eliminated from competition when he left the starting line early and fouled out.
Quotable:
“The car was running flawless and just performed exceptionally well this weekend and we found a problem after Gainesville and I’m super excited about what we’ve got in store for us. We were just a little short on completing a great weekend but I’m not disappointed whatsoever.
“I’m excited about coming up on three in a row. Once you get running well you want to try to keep that going and with three in a row there’s a good chance we can go out there and win all three of those. I’m just super excited about the way this team is performing.
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Points Standing:
265 points, ranked No. 4
Leads fifth ranked Ron Capps by eight points
Trails third ranked Matt Hagan by 31 points
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.