The highly formidable Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) team enjoyed the bounty from drag racing’s ultimate annual event attraction…..notching two more significant NHRA circuit victories.

On Sunday —  from his seventh-seed position, Jack Beckman drove his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat through the eliminations ladder and to a coveted win at arguably the most famous and prestigious drag race in the world, 66^th annual (Denso Spark Plugs) NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.

Beckman and his crew’s consistent efforts this season and throughout the weekend afforded them a chance to advance to a fourth final round appearance in six events thus far this year. The veteran Funny Car driver began his charge through the field with a solid 3.909-second elapsed time run to defeat Cruz Pedregon. He added a clean pass for a quarterfinal win over DSR teammate Ron Capps before deposing Tim Wilkerson with a holeshot win in the semifinals. For the final elimination round, Beckman staged his Mopar machine next to J.R. Todd then took it straight down the track for a 3.908-second winning effort to beat his opponent’s 3.960-second pass.

2020 Mello Yello points leader Jack Beckman won his 2nd career NHRA US Nationals title.

The win propelled Beckman back atop the NHRA Funny Car world championship leaderboard with just five races left on the 2020 calendar. With his second victory of the year, Beckman also captured a second national event title at the historic race affectionately known to drag racing fans as “the Big Go” to accompany the one he earned in 2015.

“This is my second U.S. Nationals Funny Car title and I don’t know if we can ever top your first win but today we showed that we can kill it with consistency, we can have issues and rally back,” said the 2012 Funny Car world champion. “The crew chiefs made great decisions and the crew guys found a couple anomalies in the pants and jumped right on it. Nobody panicked and we made this car go down the track all four times today. We learned this trophy. We are back in the Funny Car points lead. That’s for final rounds this year. It has been a crazy 2020, but I’m thinking we can get a couple more of these with our Dodge Charger.”

DSR team driver Tommy Johnson Jr qualified #1 and set low ET.

Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Funny Car drivers Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman waited more than a month to run the All-Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat final elimination round, rained out at the Summernationals on July 19, it was nonetheless an important race on multiple fronts. 

Run as their third and final qualifying pass for the 66th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, Hagan drove straight down the left lane of Lucas Oil Raceway with a 3.919-second elapsed time run at 328.54-mph to defeat his DSR teammate Jack Beckman’s 3.940-second run and take his team into the history books.

The win marked a milestone 350th national event victory for the NHRA’s winningest team, coming 50 years after team owner Don Schumacher won the first of his five national titles as a driver in his Funny Car debut at the 1970 NHRA U.S. Nationals.

Saturday’s event schedule at Indy include the final round for a previously rained out NHRA event — Matt Hagan’s win marked a milestone victory for the DSR team.

“It’s hard for me to even comprehend the team having that many wins,” said Schumacher of the milestone victory that further cements DSR’s drag racing dynasty and positions them as one of the motorsports industry’s most elite teams. “I’m just amazed at the accomplishments that my teams and team members have made over the last 22 years.”

“What a huge milestone, what a legacy Don Schumacher has created here,” said Hagan of the team’s collective achievement which also resulted in his 35th career win with the team. “I lost my brother a couple of years back, and I switched helmets for this race. I know he’s riding with me, but God bless it. I tell you, I’ve probably been as nervous as running for a championship just because you want to get it done.”

Hagan’s second win of the season moves him up to second place in the Funny Car Championship standings behind his DSR teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. with just five national events left on the reworked 2020 NHRA schedule. The win marks the eighth consecutive Funny Car victory for DSR, dating back to October 2019 at Dallas.

Racing his Toyota – JR Todd placed runner-up and also set top speed for FC — 331.28 mph

Event Essentials:   Denso Spark Plugs US Nationals  (Sep 3-6th, 2020) 

Tim Wilkerson ran well at Indy in his LRS Ford — qualifying 3rd and going to the semi final round.

Independent Dale Creasy Jr scored a major round one upset when be beat low qualifier Tommy Johnson Jr to the stripe on Sunday.

Floridian Dave Richards qualified his Ford Mustang for drag racing’s ultimate event — hitting a best of 4.134 secs.

Posted with files by Pat Caporali and Bruce Biegler

Photos by Dave DeAngelis and courtesy of Mopar