September 13, 2014,  Concord, North Carolina - Mopar drivers and teams completed final qualifying at the seventh annual Pep Boys National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Carolina Nationals, the first national event of the six-race playoff series called the “Countdown to the Championship”, with Matt Hagan pacing his Don Schumacher Racing teammates as No.3 qualifier in Funny Car while Allen Johnson led his HEMI-powered Dodge Dart colleagues with a fifth place spot on the Pro Stock eliminations ladder. 

After Friday’s Funny Car qualifying sessions saw the DSR Mopars sweep the top three provisional spots with Hagan, Ron Capps and Jack Beckman, Saturday’s two sessions mixed things up a bit.  The Mopar Express Lane /Rocky Boots Dodge Charger R/T wasn’t able to improve on its 4.114-second run at 304.25 mph from the previous day, dropping Hagan into the third spot on the eliminations ladder as competitor Alexis DeJoria posted a 4.090/300.53 to steal away the No.1 qualifier position. Hagan had the third quickest run in the final session with a 4.164/300.66 to give him a total of four qualifying bonus points in his efforts to move up from his seventh place spot in the Countdown standings. He will have lane choice over Tony Pedregon for the first round of eliminations at zMax Dragway.

Capps, who gained two valuable bonus points in qualifying and sits third in the Countdown, will start Sunday’s eliminations from the fifth place spot on the ladder after he was unable to improve on his best run of 4.123/297.35. That will put him in a first round eliminations match-up against his HEMI-powered teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. who is ranked fifth in the Countdown standings.

Johnson Jr. was quickest of the DSR Mopar machines in final qualifying by posting a 4.437/204.11 lap to put him eighth in the session, but his best effort of 4.185/292.77 put him 12th overall on the ladder.

Beckman, who missed making the playoffs when he failed to dislodge Tim Wilkerson from the tenth and final spot for the Countdown, will face his nemesis in the first round of eliminations after ending up sixth on the ladder with his best qualifying pass of 4.124/305.22.

The final two Pro Stock qualifying sessions saw Allen Johnson pace his fellow Dodge Dart drivers by improving his elapsed time to a 6.595/209.79 on his first pass of the day to put him fifth on the eliminations ladder below No.1 qualifier Erica Enders-Stevens (6.591/210.11) who posted the lowest elapsed time run in every session. Johnson and his “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” factory hot rod will see fellow HEMI-powered driver V. Gaines, who qualified 12th with a best run of 6.632/208.78, as his first round opponent.

Fellow Johnson & Johnson HEMI-powered teammate and defending Pro Stock title winner at the Carolina Nationals, Jeg Coughlin Jr. posted the second quickest time in the final qualifying session with a 6.604/209.23 run, but wasn’t able to improve on his 6.602/209.33 pass from Friday, putting him seventh on the eliminations ladder for Sunday’s battle for the Wally trophy. The JEGS.com Mopar will have lane choice over competitor Greg Anderson in the opening round of eliminations.

A notable victory in Sportsman racing at the NHRA Carolina Nationals was earned by Dave Thomas of West Chester, Pennsylvania, who drove his 2011 Mopar Challenger (512) Drag Pak to a Stock Eliminator class win with a 9.835 second elapsed time run at 140.91 mph by defeating the COPO Camaro of Jeff Myers of Decatur, Indiana and his 9.993/142.10 pass.

An hour and a half of complete qualifying highlights from the seventh annual Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals, the 19th of 24 events on the NHRA Mello Yellow Drag Racing series schedule, will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Sunday, Sept. 14, at 2:00 a.m. (ET) and then three hours of elimination round coverage will air Sunday evening starting at 8:30 p.m. (ET).

2014 Countdown to the Championship Standings
(Following final qualifying at the NHRA Carolina Nationals)
 
PRO STOCK (season wins in parentheses)
1.            Jason Line – 2146 (4)
2.            Erica Enders-Stevens – 2130 (4)
3.            Allen Johnson – Dodge Dart – 2104 (4)
4.            Jeg Coughlin Jr. – Dodge Dart – 2097 (2)
5.            Dave Connolly – 2090 (1)
6.            Shane Gray – 2073 (1)
7.            Vincent Nobile – 2069 (1)
8.            V. Gaines – Dodge Dart – 2052
9.            Chris McGaha – 2042
10.          Jonathan Gray – 2035
 
FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1.            John Force – 2142 (3)
2.            Robert Hight – 2121 (5)
3.            Ron Capps – Dodge Charger R/T – 2106 (2)
4.            Alexis DeJoria – 2104 (3)
5.            Tommy Johnson Jr. – Dodge Charger R/T – 2084 (1)
6.            Courtney Force – 2076 (2)
7.            Matt Hagan – Dodge Charger R/T – 2070 (1)
8.            Cruz Pedregon – 2057 (1)
9.            Del Worsham – 2043
10.          Tim Wilkerson – 2032
11.          Jack Beckman – Dodge Charger R/T – 908
 
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