Capps Earns No.1 Qualifier Honors for Mopar at Exciting Four-Wide NHRA Nationals 

April 12, 2014 , Concord, N.C. -  The field is set for Sunday’s fifth annual Four-Wide NHRA Nationals at the purposely built zMax Dragway with Don Schumacher Racing pilot Ron Capps and his Dodge Charger R/T taking top honors in Funny Car qualifying.  It is his first No.1 qualifier position of the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and the 16th of his career.

The unique Four-Wide format for the first round of eliminations will see a field of 16 qualifiers in each class split into four waves of drag racing competition rather than the usual eight.  Competitors will face-off simultaneously in the four lane configuration with the top two finishers of each wave advancing to the next round. That means only three heats are necessary, with the final elimination quad determining the winner, runner-up and two semi-finalists.
                                  
Sitting fourth in the Funny Car standings, Capps earned the top spot with his provisional pole run of 4.059 seconds (314.24 mph) on Friday night, 0.015 seconds quicker than his closest competitor, which held up nicely because of warmer track conditions in the final two qualifying sessions.

"We saw some heat that we knew was going to be here today, but it's also the conditions we are going to see tomorrow which will be nice for fans but track-wise a little warm,” said Capps who’s crew chief Rahn Tobler used Saturday’s runs to prepare for the warmer conditions expected for race day. “It's great to have a crew chief like Rahn. I have loved and love working with crew chiefs that are old school. You know, they go back and look at the parts and analyze things and look at the big picture and Tobler's a good guy to have at a Four-Wide with all that's going on.”

Capps won the traditional event at the Charlotte track in Fall of 2012, but a title win at the unique Four-Wide competition has eluded him. The closest he came was in 2012 when he advanced to the final quad but finished as a semi-finalist. He will line up his Mopar as top seed against Chad Head (16), Dell Worsham (8) and Alexis DeJoria (9) in his foursome of competitors for the first round of eliminations.

Not far behind in third spot on the elimination ladder is DSR teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. who earned his place with the 4.079 second (308.57) effort from Friday’s second pass as well, but who also posted the fourth and second quickest runs of the final two sessions in his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T. His qualifying effort will pit him against Jeff Arend (14), Courtney Force (6) and John Force (11) in his first round quartette.

Two Mopar teammates, both past winners from the 2013 and 2011 editions of the Four-Wide Nationals, will work to become repeat title holders as seventh seed, Matt Hagan, will line up his Mopar Express Lane machine alongside the Dodge Charger R/T of 10th seed, Jack Beckman, to do battle against Robert Hight (2) and Tony Pedregon (15) in first round action.

Leading the Mopar Pro Stockers in qualifying is reigning world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. who qualified fifth on the merit of his 6.538 seconds (212.13 mph) pass on Friday. Coughlin won at the Charlotte track last September on his way to his 2013 Championship and would like to add a Four-Wide win to his list of accomplishments.
"Winning here in the Fall gives us a pep in our step, and we want to keep that streak alive tomorrow,” said Coughlin. “It would be great if we can get both Allen (Johnson) and my car into that final foursome and see if one of us can't walk away with the victory. It's such a special and unique deal that you almost rank it up there with Indy (U.S. Nationals) or the Gators (Gainesville). It has a certain prestige to it even though it's still a fairly new deal for modern-day drag racing.

"Running well today was good because this will most likely be the exact same conditions we'll have tomorrow,” added Coughlin, who also posted the second quickest run of the final session. “Both of these Dodge Darts coming out of the J&J Racing camp are looking sporty.”

Coughlin will line up his JEGS.com Mopar against Shane Gray (4), Robert Patrick (13) and Rodger Brogdon (12) in his quad for the first round of eliminations,
Winner of two national title events thus far this year and sitting third in the Pro Stock standings is Allen Johnson who qualified the Magneti Marelli Dodge Dart in seventh spot to do battle against Erica Enders Steven (2), John Gaydosh (15) and Jonathon Gray (10) in his heat. V. Gaines, who sits fourth right behind Johnson in the points, qualified his HEMI-powered Dodge Avenger 11th and will line up against No.1 qualifier Chris McGaha, Larry Morgan (16) and Jimmy Alund (8).

Television coverage for the fifth of 24 national events in the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Sunday, April 13, with three hours of eliminations coverage starting at 8 p.m. (ET).
 
2014 NHRA Championship Points Standings
(Following qualifying at Four-Wide NHRA Nationals)
 
PRO STOCK (season wins in parentheses)
1.         Erica Enders Stevens – 386 (1)
2.         Jason Line – 364 (1)
3.         Allen Johnson – Dodge Dart – 350 (2)
4T.       V Gaines – Dodge Avenger – 308
4T.        Dave Connolly – 308
6.         Vincent Nobile – 299               
7.         Shane Gray – 274
8.         Jeg Coughlin Jr. – Dodge Dart – 250
9.         Chris McGaha – 238 
10.        Jimmy Alund – 202       
 
FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1.         Robert Hight – 408 (1)
2.         John Force – 393 (1)
3.         Alexis DeJoria – 335 (2)
4.         Ron Capps – Dodge Charger R/T – 282
5.         Del Worsham – 257
6T.        Courtney Force – 244
6T.       Tommy Johnson Jr. – Dodge Charger R/T – 244     
8.         Matt Hagan – Dodge Charger R/T – 237
9.         Jack Beckman – Dodge Charger R/T– 234
10.        Bob Tasca III – 229

 
About Mopar Motorsports
Mopar’s commitment to professional motorsports competition was established in the 1950s when a partnership ignited with drag racing pioneer Don Garlits, resulting in the breaking of numerous speed and performance barriers in HEMI®-powered vehicles over the next several decades. In 2014, Mopar celebrates the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the GEN III 426 Race HEMI® and looks to defend back-to-back NHRA World Championship titles (2012-2013) in the Pro Stock class and battle for another Funny Car World Championship after wins in 2011-2012. While Mopar remains involved in a various professional motorsports series, it continues to honour its roots by being a proud supporter of amateur racing within the NHRA with its sponsorship of the HEMI Challenge and Mopar Sportsman Cup.
 
Mopar Brand
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words Motor and PARts) was trademarked in 1937 with the launch of an antifreeze product but truly made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era. From Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, the brand soon expanded to include technical service and customer support.
 
Today, Mopar is FCA’s service, parts and customer-care brand and distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in more than 130 markets, integrating service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance dealer and customer support worldwide. Mopar is the source for genuine parts and accessories for FCA brands.

Mopar parts are unique in that they are engineered with the same teams that create factory-authorized vehicle specifications for FCA vehicles – a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide. A complete list of Mopar accessories and performance parts is available at www.mopar.com.
 
Mopar-first Features
Mopar has introduced numerous industry-first features including:

• Vehicle-information apps: first to introduce smartphone vehicle-information applications, a new channel of communication with customers
• Electronic owner manuals: first to introduce traditional owner manuals in a DVD and brief user-guide format. First to offer complete vehicle-information kits in Spanish
• Wi-Fi: first to offer customers the ability to make their vehicle a wireless hot spot
• Wireless charging: first to introduce in-vehicle wireless charging for portable devices
• Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS): first to market with interactive vehicle tracking device that sends owner a text when vehicle is driven too fast or too far based on pre-set parameters
• wiAdvisor: first to provide factory-connected tablet technology in the service lane for instant vehicle diagnosis
• wiTech: first to support vehicle diagnosis and software updates leveraging off-the-shelf personal computers and a dedicated wireless tool network
• 2011 Mopar Challenger Drag Pak: first to introduce a 500-plus cubic-inch V-10 drag-race package car