{"id":57636,"date":"2021-11-15T05:54:58","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T10:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=57636"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:20:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:20:48","slug":"capps-and-dodge-charger-srt-hellcat-earn-2021-nhra-funny-car-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2021\/11\/capps-and-dodge-charger-srt-hellcat-earn-2021-nhra-funny-car-world-championship.html","title":{"rendered":"Capps and Dodge Charger SRT®<\/sup> Hellcat Earn 2021 NHRA Funny Car World Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat driver Ron\nCapps and Don Schumacher Racing earned the 2021 National Hot Rod Association\n(NHRA) Funny Car World Championship in an exciting season finale at the Auto\nClub Raceway at Pomona, California. It is the veteran driver\u2019s second Funny Car\ntitle of his 27-year career, following his first championship win in 2016, and\nthe seventh of the 19-year partnership between DSR and the Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> and Dodge\/\/SRT\nbrands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn behalf of Dodge\/\/SRT,\ncongratulations to Ron Capps for his HEMI\u00ae<\/sup>-powered world championship\nperformance,\u201d said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge Brand Chief Executive Officer \u2013\nStellantis. \u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to have Ron and the Don Schumacher Racing team\ndemonstrate what Dodge\/\/SRT performance looks like by earning their second NHRA\nFunny Car World Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongratulations to Ron Capps from all\nof us at Mopar on this hard-earned second career Funny Car world championship,\u201d\nsaid Mark Bosanac, Head of Mopar Service, Parts and Customer Care for FCA \u2013\nNorth America. \u201dWe appreciate the outstanding efforts during this championship\nseason and thank them for proudly showcasing Mopar performance on the\ntrack.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat a crazy day and crazy season,\u201d\nsaid Capps. \u201cThe fact that the Countdown came down to the Pomona Finals and was\na real fight between the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcats of Cruz Pedregon, Matt Hagan\nand I was really neat. And to see that as a manufacturer Dodge had the\ncompetition covered, all three of us were pretty proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capps claimed his second NHRA World\nChampionship after powering his NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to two\nevent wins, three runner-up finishes and advancing to the semifinals or better\non 11 occasions. Capps and his crew collected a category-best 36 round wins and\nfour No. 1 qualifier awards while taking the points lead five different times\nover the course of the 20-event season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Dodge Charger SRT body has been\ncrazy fun to drive this year,\u201d added Capps. \u201cWe came out with a new chassis and\nnew body and this year this body has made me a whole new driver. It\u2019s been fun\nto have more vision and to be able to see better and when you are going 330 mph\nthat\u2019s what you need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny\nCars entered the final race day of the season with a chance to take home the\nchampionship Wally but once both No. 2 qualifier Capps and DSR teammate Hagan\nin the No. 7 position turned on win lights in the first round of eliminations,\nPedregon was no longer in contention for the crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a pending head-to-head showdown\nbetween Capps and Hagan in the quarterfinals, the 67-point difference, or the equivalent\nof a three rounds, between the two contenders added to drama. If Capps beat\nHagan, he would immediately be crowned Funny Car Champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the two Dodge Charger SRT\nHellcats put on a show with a side-by-side battle that saw Hagan emerge the\nwinner following a 0.074-second reaction time and 3.948-second elapsed time run\nat 322.34 mph to edge Capps at the stripe despite a solid 0.043-second reaction\ntime and 3.995-second drive at 319.45 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew it was going to come down to\nthe wire but we really had to worry about Matt (Hagan),\u201d said Capps, who\nwatched from the sidelines as the possibility that Hagan could successfully\ndefend his Funny Car crown hinged on him taking the Direct Connection Dodge\nCharger SRT Hellcat to the winner\u2019s circle. \u201cWe qualified well but still ended\nup racing him in the second round. It was a close race but then I had to stand\nbehind his car and wait to see how it played out. Really proud of the job (Crew\nChiefs) \u2018Guido\u2019 (Dean Antonelli) and John Medlen and the whole team has done\nthis year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hagan needed to get his Mopar machine\npast Alexis DeJoria in the semifinals to have a shot at retaining his crown.\nThe three-time NHRA champ was quicker on the start but by half-track his\nopponent slipped past for the round win, ending Hagan\u2019s drive and reign as\nFunny Car champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve got a great team, a great car\nand at the end of the day there were three Dodge Charger SRT Hellcats in the\nrunning for this championship, with (Ron) Capps, me and Cruz (Pedregon),\u201d said\nHagan. \u201cDodge is just doing an amazing job out there and I’m glad to be a part\nof it. Today didn’t go the way we wanted it to but to be in the championship\nhunt and be able to have a shot at it year after year is a testament to the\nperformance equipment we have and the hard work this team has put in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a category-best four wins this\nseason, Hagan and his Mopar Dodge\/\/SRT team\u2019s runner-up finish in the\nchampionship was their 11th time closing out a season with a Top-10 result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third contender in the Funny Car\ntitle chase heading into the final race day was  Pedregon, who arrived at\nAuto Club Raceway fresh off his victory at the Dodge\/\/SRT Nationals in Las\nVegas and put his Snap-On Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat No. 6 on the ladder\nwith consistent qualifying runs. With a 91-point deficit prior to the opening\nround, any championship hopes for the Cruz Pedregon Racing team were contingent\non Capps exiting in the first round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While that didn\u2019t happen, Pedregon\nlined up for the first round match against No. 11 seed Tim Wilkerson feeling\npositive about the consistency and progress his team made this season.\nPedregon\u2019s HEMI-powered machine had a good launch and was on the move when tire\nsmoke early in the run brought to a close his team\u2019s best season performance\nsince 2013. The team finishes fourth in the points standings with two wins, a\npair of runner-up finishes and a No. 1 qualifier award. Their Dodge Charger SRT\nHellcat turned on win lights 30 times in eliminations this season, only the\nthird time in 20 years that Pedregon has won 30 or more rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Top Fuel action, DSR pilot Leah\nPruett\u2019s solid qualifying performance put the Direct Connection Mopar\nDodge\/\/SRT dragster No. 3 on the eliminations ladder with a 3.706-second pass\nat 327.59 mph in the final session. That afforded the HEMI-powered machine lane\nchoice over No. 14 seed Cameron Ferre for the opening round of the final\nnational event of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a quick start, Pruett was\nchasing down her opponent when a loss of traction prior to half-track hampered\nher efforts and brought her race day to an early end. She closes out her season\nseventh in the Top Fuel standings, her sixth consecutive top-10 finish since\njoining Don Schumacher Racing in 2016, with an event title at the Pomona\nWinternationals and runner-up finish at Sonoma.\n\nThe NHRA Camping World\nDrag Racing Series will return to the dragstrip in February with a 22-event\nseason schedule that will again include five national events with Mopar Express\nLane and Dodge\/\/SRT title sponsorship.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae Hellcat driver Ron Capps and Don Schumacher Racing earned the 2021 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car World Championship in an exciting season finale at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, California. It is the veteran driver\u2019s second Funny Car title of his 27-year career, following his first championship win in 2016, and the seventh of the 19-year partnership between DSR and the Mopar\u00ae and Dodge\/\/SRT brands. \u201cOn behalf of Dodge\/\/SRT, congratulations to Ron Capps for his HEMI\u00ae-powered world championship performance,\u201d said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge Brand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":57638,"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-57636","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\/2021\/11\/RonCappsChamp_Feature.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\/57636"}],"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=57636"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57641,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57636\/revisions\/57641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}