{"id":16725,"date":"2018-06-04T10:01:54","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T14:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=16725"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:25:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:25:05","slug":"notes-quotes-nhra-route-66-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2018\/06\/notes-quotes-nhra-route-66-nationals.html","title":{"rendered":"Notes & Quotes: NHRA Route 66 Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leah Pritchett, Papa John\u2019s Pizza\/Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> Dodge Top Fuel Dragster<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 10 Qualifier \u2013 3.797 ET<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt like we made so many wholesale changes to find our power and today we got it back. I think the most impressive thing was the three full pulls in eliminations under conditions we didn\u2019t have before. The car reacted to what we were telling it to do, and that will put a smile on everyone\u2019s face all the way until the win light comes on. Three round wins, it\u2019s incredible, the chemistry of the team and the problems we\u2019ve been overcoming. Unfortunately, in the final round, we had problems from the start. The silver lining is when we\u2019re on together, we\u2019re on together, the driver and the car, and you see the smiling faces, but when we\u2019re off together, we\u2019re off together.\u201d<\/p>\n

On two finals in the last three races:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, when you\u2019re winning, you get used to that. The more we do well, the more appreciative and in the moment I get. It\u2019s been a long time. When we won in Atlanta, that was a great sense of satisfaction with Lucy (the Make-A-Wish child who cheered on Pritchett at the event). Going rounds today \u2013 I can\u2019t compare the two, but the enjoyment factor was really high up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the next event at Richmond:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to go well, we\u2019ll have an even playing field for everyone, not having good track data there. I hear it\u2019s supposed to be fast, and this team, we can go back to some of our ways where we know how to lay down some numbers. We\u2019ve struggled with that this year, getting that power back, and now that we\u2019ve found it in the heat, I\u2019m looking forward to applying it. We\u2019re not going to let this final round stop us at all. Our heads are not hanging low at all. We\u2019ll keep (our heads) grounded and down; hopefully, on this swing, we\u2019ll be raising another Wally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ron Capps, NAPA Dodge Charger R\/T Funny Car<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 2 Qualifier \u2013 3.921 ET<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so nice to have our NAPA car back to where it was when we won the championship in 2016, and our eight wins last year. For me, that means it\u2019s going to be a lot of fun because we\u2019re going to win a lot of rounds this summer. We\u2019re going to fight to get back up and get the point lead going into Indy. We\u2019re back a little ways, but we\u2019re making up ground. Great weekend for (our) guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Hagan, Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R\/T Funny Car<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 1 Qualifier \u2013 3.917 ET<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, not what we wanted out of race day. Went out there and (the car) just kind of came loose, it was looping the tires. We\u2019re having to make bigger wholesale changes during race day, and I feel like our Mopar Dodge is responding to the changes. All in all, I feel like we\u2019re closing the gap on a lot of things, and we\u2019re making it happen. We have momentum going into these next three races coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R\/T Funny Car<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 3 Qualifier \u2013 3.944 ET<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLittle bit of a frustrating weekend, and unfortunately for our Infinite Hero team, we\u2019ve had a few of those lately. We\u2019re having some issues fine-tuning the new car with the new clutch, and with four races in a row, you just don\u2019t want to stumble too much. We\u2019re still showing signs of brilliance. The guys are doing a great job digging into the data. I overdrove the car a couple of times today. Fresh pipes, super responsive steering; I\u2019ve got to back myself down a bit. This is a perfect example of where we have to come together as a team of 11 and step up our game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tommy Johnson Jr., Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R\/T Funny Car<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 10 Qualifier \u2013 4.011 ET<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA little frustrating, the track surface was giving everyone fits first round. The cars won\u2019t stay hooked up. We went out there and it spun the tires. I couldn\u2019t see Shawn (Langdon) at that point, but it\u2019s race day, so you try and get back in it and do everything you can to get it down to the finish line. It\u2019s unfortunate, but we\u2019ll regroup and go on to the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 3 Qualifier \u2013 3.749 ET<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a really good U.S. Army racecar here this weekend and weren\u2019t able to take advantage of it. The frustrating part is that we were able to make some progress with the U.S. Army car the last couple of days and we were hoping to make four good runs today. We\u2019ll get right back after it next week in Richmond. I do want to say thanks to Mark Warnick, who is leaving our Army Team and DSR after being with us for 15 years. He won a championship with the Army team in 2014 and was a huge part of our success the past five seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

2018 NHRA Championship \u2013 Point Standings After Round 9 of 24 (Season Wins in Parentheses)<\/strong><\/p>\n

NHRA Funny Car<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Courtney Force (3) \u2013 728<\/li>\n
  2. Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger R\/T (1) \u2013 647<\/b><\/li>\n
  3. Robert Hight (1) \u2013 624<\/li>\n
  4. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger R\/T (1) \u2013 601<\/b><\/li>\n
  5. J.R. Todd (2) \u2013 539<\/li>\n
  6. Ron Capps, Dodge Charger R\/T \u2013 535<\/b><\/li>\n
  7. Tommy Johnson Jr., Dodge Charger R\/T \u2013 522<\/b><\/li>\n
  8. Cruz Pedregon (1) \u2013 433<\/li>\n
  9. Shawn Langdon \u2013 429<\/li>\n
  10. John Force \u2013 383<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    NHRA Top Fuel<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Steve Torrence (3) \u2013 712<\/li>\n
    2. Clay Millican (2) \u2013 687<\/li>\n
    3. Leah Pritchett, Mopar Dodge HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> (1) \u2013 582<\/b><\/li>\n
    4. Tony Schumacher, Mopar Dodge HEMI \u2013 578<\/b><\/li>\n
    5. Doug Kalitta (1) \u2013 570<\/li>\n
    6. Brittany Force (1) \u2013 471<\/li>\n
    7. Terry McMillen \u2013 464<\/li>\n
    8. Antron Brown \u2013 456<\/li>\n
    9. Scott Palmer \u2013 350<\/li>\n
    10. Richie Crampton (1) – 329<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Leah Pritchett, Papa John\u2019s Pizza\/Mopar\u00ae Dodge Top Fuel Dragster No. 10 Qualifier \u2013 3.797 ET \u201cWe felt like we made so many wholesale changes to find our power and today we got it back. I think the most impressive thing was the three full pulls in eliminations under conditions we didn\u2019t have before. The car reacted to what we were telling it to do, and that will put a smile on everyone\u2019s face all the way until the win light comes on. Three round wins, it\u2019s incredible, the chemistry of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":16755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[575],"tags":[528,849,615],"class_list":["post-16725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-drag-racing","tag-dsr","tag-nhra"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/thumbnail-1-1.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16725"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59127,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16725\/revisions\/59127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}