{"id":28158,"date":"2019-09-12T10:18:02","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T14:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=28158"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:24:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:24:17","slug":"going-to-the-grove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2019\/09\/going-to-the-grove.html","title":{"rendered":"Going to the Grove"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are many autumn traditions most\nof us look forward to each year. Raking leaves, getting lost in a corn maze, or\ngoing to a cider mill for apples, donuts and pumpkins come to mind. But if\nyou\u2019re one of the many drivers and teams chasing a 2019 NHRA World\nChampionship, the fall season means it\u2019s countdown time in the all-important points\nchase. At this weekend\u2019s Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> Express Lane NHRA Nationals at the historic Maple\nGrove Raceway Park, located among the lush green rolling hills of the Pennsylvania\nDutch Country, racers and their crews must really stay hyper-focused in going\nrounds and winning the few remaining races. One slip-up here can send\nshockwaves for the lingering races as this year\u2019s NHRA season power shifts into\nhigh gear. All their sins, mistakes and even heartaches going back to the\nregular season that fired up at the Winternationals back in February are\nerased. Like a fresh set of spark plugs in an engine, the drivers and their crew\nare ready to hit on all eight and burn some nitro. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"leah<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the past, Maple Grove Raceway has\nproduced some record-breaking times and speeds not only for the Pro classes,\nbut also with the Sportsman racers competing in Stock and Super Stock. The cool\ntemps and acres of trees near the track provide the right mix of chilled oxygen\nthat internal combustion engines crave when making tons of horsepower. This\nyear will be no different as racers pack the staging lanes, roll into the water\nbox and heat up their slicks. The launch off the pad is so important to any\nracer if he or she is looking to win. In drag racing, there are no do-overs.\nTwo cars go down the strip, only one comes back for the next round. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among all the NHRA racers, both grassroots and\nprofessional alike, Maple Grove Raceway is more than just another stop along\nthe tour. For Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett, she\u2019s struggled throughout 2019 and had just\none win this season coming in Brainerd, Minnesota, last July. Leah knows the\ncountdown will give her team a shot for the championship as she enters the\ncountdown in the seventh spot. She\u2019s never won at Reading and that alone motivates\nher and the team even more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"leah<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExcited for another Mopar-sponsored\nrace, especially with what looks like great conditions in Reading. We have a\ngreat amount of performance momentum behind this team, and there is no better\ntime than now for us to apply power and consistency. We have all worked hard to\nsolidify a spot in the Countdown and there is no room for error in our hunt for\nthe championship,\u201d said Leah. \u201cI believe that it is no accident that the\nwinners of Reading have been that year\u2019s champion. It shows that coming in hot\nout of the gate is pivotal for the championship momentum. We intend to execute\nprecision performance strategy every step of the way. Excellence starts at the\nshop, and this team has worked diligently to dissolve any mishaps that may trip\nup our performance, from the simplest of procedures to new technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also rumbling in the pits, four pilots from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) who get strapped into their 11,000-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat Funny Cars will begin their fight for the 2019 world championship. For two-time Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan, he\u2019s looking to add another notch to his already impressive resume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matt<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery one of these Countdown races\nis so important. I feel like you have to win two or three of them to really\nhave a shot at winning the championship. It\u2019s just a matter of who\u2019s going to\nget hot at the right time. In the last six events, we\u2019ve won a race, been\nrunner-up and been to four semifinals, so it\u2019s clear our Mopar Dodge Charger SRT\nHellcat Widebody is running great. The confidence is there, our car is there,\nand I think we\u2019re peaking at the right time. I can\u2019t wait to turn on some win\nlights this weekend. I\u2019ve done well at Reading in the past; I\u2019ve even won it on\nfire, which made it onto ESPN\u2019s SportsCenter<\/i>. I\u2019ll try and stay off of\nSportsCenter<\/i> this weekend, but hopefully still get the win for Mopar,\u201d said\nMatt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His teammate and fellow Charger\njockey Jack Beckman, took the gold back in 2012, while Ron Capps, in his familiar\nNapa Auto Parts Charger, won in 2016. Tommy Johnson, Jr. is still looking for\nhis first NHRA Funny Car World Championship, but he didn\u2019t come away totally\nempty-handed last year. His friends at Dodge gave him a Charger SRT Hellcat for a\nyear and he\u2019s been giving it quite a workout at his home track, Indianapolis\nRaceway Park, the few weekends he was actually home. Overall, the regular season\nin 2019 has seen 14 final round Funny Car appearances by Dodge Charger SRT\nHellcat drivers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jack<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re looking to catch all the\naction from Maple Grove Raceway, FOX Sports 1 will air coverage of the Mopar\nExpress Lane NHRA Nationals starting with qualifying Friday evening from 6:30 \u2013\n8:30 p.m. ET and Saturday from 9 \u2013 10 p.m. ET. For Sunday\u2019s eliminations, FOX\nSports 1 will be going live from 2 \u2013 5 p.m. ET, so turn it up to \u201c11\u201d and hang\non to your couch\u2019s armrest!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"leah<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many autumn traditions most of us look forward to each year. Raking leaves, getting lost in a corn maze, or going to a cider mill for apples, donuts and pumpkins come to mind. But if you\u2019re one of the many drivers and teams chasing a 2019 NHRA World Championship, the fall season means it\u2019s countdown time in the all-important points chase. At this weekend\u2019s Mopar\u00ae Express Lane NHRA Nationals at the historic Maple Grove Raceway Park, located among the lush green rolling hills of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":28164,"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-28158","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\/2019\/09\/feature-11.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\/28158"}],"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\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28158"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28176,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28158\/revisions\/28176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}