LUCAS, BECKMAN, ENDERS, SAVOIE CLAIM WINS AT PRESTIGIOUS CHEVROLET PERFORMANCE U.S. NATIONALS: Jack Beckman completed a sweep of the weekend in Funny Car with his victory on Labor Day Monday at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals. Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock), and Jerry Savoie (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were winners at the world’s most prestigious drag race and the final NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event of the regular season. Lucas picked up his first U.S. Nationals victory with a final-round performance of 3.864 at 319.90 in his Lucas Oil dragster to defeat Dave Connolly. The win was Lucas’ first of the season and 12th of his career. He defeated Leah Pritchett, teammate Richie Crampton, and Brittany Force to reach the final. It is the second straight U.S. Nationals victory for Morgan Lucas Racing after Crampton’s win last season. “Winning this race is absolutely massive,” said Lucas, who stepped out of a full-time ride after the 2013 season to focus on the family business, Lucas Oil. “It’s the biggest race win I’ve ever had. I want to live in this moment for a long time because you never know when it will happen again.”
COUNTDOWN PLAYOFF FIELDS SET AT CHEVROLET PERFORMANCE U.S. NATIONALS: The Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals was the final event of the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and set the 10-car Countdown to the Championship fields in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) will lead their respective fields into the six-race playoffs beginning on Sept. 18 at the NHRA Carolina Nationals in Charlotte.
NHRA UNVEILS 2016 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES SCHEDULE: NHRA officials unveiled the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule during the running of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. The 23-race series remains motorsports’ most geographically dispersed U.S. touring circuit and will make its traditional stops across the country, thrilling millions of fans with its unique brand of high-horsepower entertainment. Highlighting the schedule once again in 2016 will be the tradition-rich Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, the world’s most prestigious drag race, at historic Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Labor Day weekend, Aug. 31-Sept. 5. The season again will open and close at famed Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Southern California. The season kicks off at Pomona with the Circle K NHRA Winternationals, Feb. 11-14, and closes at the historic dragstrip with the final race of the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs, the Auto Club NHRA Finals, Nov. 10-13.
He Said, She Said
“I said it back then, give us 20 runs to the finish line and we will have this figured out. Our 18th run to the finish line was our final in Charlotte and our first win of the year. From there it has been fantastic. But no I didn’t think we would be first right now. I remember Saturday at Sonoma ESPN did an interview with Ron Capps and I. One of the questions asked was ‘Do you think you can catch Hagan for first in the points?s We had just come off a Denver win but I think going into Denver we were nine rounds behind Hagan’s car. I was real skeptical about our chances for catching him because as I explained, not only would we have to be near perfect, they would have to stumble and that team had not stumbled yet this year. I can’t believe that we went from a nine round deficit to an eight round surplus in that amount of time.” — Funny Car racer Jack Beckman on being the No. 1 seed in Funny Car enteting in the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship following failing to qualify in Pomona and losing first round in Phoenix to start the season.
Inside the Numbers
18: Number of victories Pro Stock racer Erica Enders has in her career after winning her first Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals title. The win ties her for second on the all-time female win list with legendary racer Shirley Muldowney. Angelle Sampey is the winningest NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series female competitor with 41 wins. Enders recorded her first win in 2012 at Route 66 Raceway. “I’m struggling putting it into words because we’ve worked so hard for so long to get here. There have been times in my career, particularly the final at Indy in 2012, where I really didn’t understand why things went down the way they did. It’s worth the wait. It’s worth the wait to do it with the right people and I couldn’t be more proud of my team. Six wins in a single season is huge because I tied Shirley Muldowney. I talk about Shirley an awful lot because she’s been a lifelong hero of mine because of what she had to endure driving back then. She still managed to do it with grace and class and come out on top. Over the years she became my mentor and my friend. I’m really lucky to have her in my corner. To put my name next to hers for a tie for all-time wins is incredible. I remember it like it was yesterday, wanting to get on the list, period, with just one win, and to say we have 18 is nuts.”
Did You Know
SCHUMACHER ENTERS COUNTDOWN AS NO. 1 SEED: Top Fuel racer Tony Schumacher begins the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship as the No.1 seed for the second time in his career, the first coming in 2008. Schumacher was the first Top Fuel racer to win a championship when the playoff system began in 2007 when he started the playoffs as the second seed. In 2009 he won the championship starting in third, and was fourth when the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs began in 2014. His fourth place start is the lowest a Top Fuel racer has started in the Countdown and gone on to win the series crown. “Any mistake early and you can find yourself 30, 40, 50 points behind and that is a tough deal,” said Schumacher. “Then you are sitting back there and you start to turn knobs you aren’t exactly knowing about because you are forcing the issue. On the flip side of that from the No.1 spot you get defensive and you go out and get beat because you are conservative. What we have to our advantage is we have been here a large amount of times, we’ve done this, we’ve been there. We know what to expect because we’ve been there before.”