{"id":44256,"date":"2020-10-04T23:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-05T03:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=44256"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:15","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:15","slug":"johnson-jr-drives-to-victory-and-record-11th-consecutive-win-for-dsr-dodge-charger-srt-hellcat-at-mopar-express-lane-nhra-midwest-nationals-presented-by-pennzoil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2020\/10\/johnson-jr-drives-to-victory-and-record-11th-consecutive-win-for-dsr-dodge-charger-srt-hellcat-at-mopar-express-lane-nhra-midwest-nationals-presented-by-pennzoil.html","title":{"rendered":"Johnson Jr. Drives to Victory and Record 11th Consecutive Win for DSR Dodge Charger SRT®<\/sup> Hellcat at Mopar®<\/sub> Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals Presented by Pennzoil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was wild action-packed day of racing at the Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> Express Land Midwest\nNationals Presented by Pennzoil at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis\nthat concluded with an all-Mopar Funny Car final round showdown, a record 11th<\/sup>\nconsecutive national event victory for the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) team,\nand a shuffling atop the leaderboard for the final stretch in the National Hot\nRod Association (NHRA) Funny Car world championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tommy Johnson Jr. earned his second Wally trophy of the 2020 season by defeating DSR teammates Jack Beckman in the semifinals and then Matt Hagan in the final, both of whom he is battling in a tight Funny Car championship fight with just three national events remaining. Johnson did it decisively by posting the quickest run of the weekend in the final, a 3.884-second, 326 mph effort aboard his MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat, to edge out Hagan\u2019s 3.886-second pass at 330 mph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The last\ncouple races have been “must do well” races and you look over there\n(at DSR teammates Beckman and Hagan) and they’re still going rounds, so when\nyou do face-up against them, it’s a must-win,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cYou can’t let\nthem keep going rounds or you fall a round behind. It was huge to be able to\ntake out both of them today and keep ourselves securely planted in it and make\nit a solid three three-man race right now\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Johnson\nremains third in the standings, the win keeps him in contention with just 34\npoints separating the three teammates atop the leaderboard. His win also\nextends the DSR\u2019s unprecedented streak of victories to a record 11 national\nevents since October 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s incredible\nthat we won that many races in a row as a team and that I won the race today,\u201d\nadded Johnson. \u201cIt’s a tribute to all the hard work, even through the lockdowns\nand everything. These guys are at the shop working and trying to make\neverything better even not knowing when we would race again. They continually\nworked hard to keep that advantage. It’s extremely hard to make these cars run\nthat good, that long, and that many runs in a row, so to be able to do it for\nthis long is incredible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The runner-up\nfinish by Hagan moves the Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver into the\nchampionship lead ahead of Beckman and Johnson. He advanced to his 63rd career\nfinal elimination with round wins against Bob Bode, teammate Ron Capps and\nAlexis DeJoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs tough as it is\nto lose a close final like that, we gained ground and took the points lead,\nSaid Hagan. \u201dWe had a good weekend and it\u2019s hard to complain when you make a\nfinal round. That was the bad side of a really good drag race for our Mopar\nteam. It\u2019s a Mopar-sponsored event and we wanted to win for Mopar and Express\nLane, but at least another DSR Dodge Hellcat won again with Tommy (Johnson). I\njust can\u2019t say enough about my guy working so hard with no mistakes. (Crew\nChief) Dickie Venables is really tuning a mean race car. We\u2019ve had such a fast\ncar all season long. We\u2019re making ground and that\u2019s what matters. We\u2019re used to\nthis thing being tight and most of these championships are won on the final day\nof the season by one or two points. I\u2019m extremely proud of my guys. It was a\ngood day and weekend at St. Louis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capps saw his race\nday end prematurely along with any hopes of remaining close to the fight atop\nthe standings as a result of a second fiery run in two events; this one\nresulting in \u201coil-down\u201d that cost him 10 valuable points and a quarterfinals\nloss to Hagan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Race day at the Mopar Express Lane Midwest Nationals was also marked by a frightening Round 2 incident for Leah Pruett and her Mopar Top Fuel dragster. After qualifying ninth, she started her day with a solid first round pass at 3.676 sec.\/ 328.38 mph over eighth seeded opponent Pat Dakin (0.057\/11.817\/70.73), but hopes of adding a few more round wins were cut short on her next run. Halfway through her drag race against DSR teammate Tony Schumacher, Pruett went for a wild ride as her dragster broke in two and went airborne before landing back on track and coming to a stop. The Mopar driver exited her vehicle unaided and walked away unhurt but disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe was the most\nintense round of competition I\u2019ve ever had and the wildest ride I\u2019ve ever had,\nthat\u2019s for sure,\u201d said Pruett who, despite the setback, remains third in the\nstandings behind points leader Steve Torrence and Doug Kalitta. \u201cWe\u2019re still\ntaking time to process and look at the parts and put a plan together for how to\nmove forward. For me, my body is fine. My mind is fine. The DSR chassis and\nImpact safety equipment did everything it was supposed to. As a drag racer this\nis what we do. There\u2019s a risk. I think the quicker you can get back on the\ntrack, the better. Let\u2019s not ever do that again. I thank the lord, my team, the\nchassis shop, Don (Schumacher), and everybody that helped. Not a great start to\nOctober and that was an early Halloween surprise. That\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brisk temperatures and windy conditions made it more difficult for low downforce vehicles to compete safely on the dragstrip and as such, the NHRA made the difficult decision to postpone racing for all other classes and categories including Factory Stock Showdown. No. 1 qualifier Mark Pawuk and fellow Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak driver Pruett, who qualified seventh, will have to wait until Monday to head to the staging lanes for FSS eliminations at World Wide Technology Raceway. The Mopar Dodge SRT contingent will head west in two weeks for the 35th<\/sup> annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals on Oct. 14\u201318 at Texas Motorsplex near Dallas. NHRA qualifying highlights will be broadcast on FS1 on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7:30\u20138:30 p.m. ET, and Sunday, Oct. 18 from 1\u20132 p.m. ET. Television coverage of the elimination rounds, including Live finals from the FallNationals, will air on Sunday, Oct. 18, on FS1 from 2\u20135 p.m. ET. <\/p>\n\n\n\n