{"id":4160,"date":"2020-02-24T15:14:20","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T15:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=4160"},"modified":"2020-02-26T19:50:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T19:50:34","slug":"dsr-desert-domination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=4160","title":{"rendered":"DSR Desert Dominance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It was an all-Mopar Dodge \/\/SRT Funny Car final round showdown at the Arizona Nationals with Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Tommy Johnson Jr. earning his first victory of the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Series season over his teammate, Jack Beckman.<\/p>\n<p>From his No. 4 qualifier position, Johnson Jr. drove his MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat past Paul Lee and Bob Tasca, then used a holeshot win over DSR teammate Ron Capps to set up a final elimination battle against Beckman. Johnson powered past his DSR opponent, who lost traction early, to make his way to the winner\u2019s circle in the second event of the season.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4153\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?attachment_id=4153\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4153\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4153\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-4153 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2008-077289qrsqbhm2g02fk1tt3s7onn10u-e1582556802474.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4153\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tommy Johnson Jr defeated is racing teammate Jack Beckman in an all Mopar\/DSR final round for NHRA&#8217;s Arizona Nationals<\/p><\/div>\n<p>With the win, Johnson\u2019s collected his 18th career Funny Car national event Wally trophy, his second at Phoenix\u2019s Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, and his first final round victory over Beckman in five final-elimination encounters.<a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?attachment_id=4112\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4112\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4112\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/mopar.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"70\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The early season win provided some relief for Johnson and his team, who were looking to recover quickly from a difficult 2019 Countdown to the Championship that followed a promising regular season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had such a good car last year and we didn\u2019t finish well at all, so to come out strong and get that out of the way right off the bat and know how good a car you have right now is great,\u201d said Johnson who jumps four spots into second place in the Funny Car championship standings with his efforts this weekend.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4157\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?attachment_id=4157\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4157\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4157\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4157\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/AZ-TJ2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"261\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4157\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">For Tommy Johnson&#8217;s team &#8211; it was NHRA career win #18.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cNow we just shift to maintaining it and learn from the mistakes you make. I think we learned really well what we did wrong last year, and what we needed to do to fix it. It\u2019s nice to be able to know that you did fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the final against Johnson Jr., Beckman initially had the advantage as they launched off the starting line but lost traction in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and, while he made efforts to pedal it, was unable to recover control quickly enough.<\/p>\n<p>Coming off consecutive wins in both the 2019 season finale and the 2020 season opening national event at Pomona, Beckman\u2019s runner-up finish to his teammate keeps him atop the Funny Car championship standings with 220 points.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4154\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?attachment_id=4154\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4154\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4154\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4154\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/AZ-MattH.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"319\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4154\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Racing for Mopar &#8212; Matt Hagan was the #1 qualifier at Phoenix with 3.859 secs run.<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Event Essentials: \u00a0 NHRA Arizona Nationals (Feb. 21-23rd, 2020)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<table class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"height: 232px;\" border=\"1\" width=\"544\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"23%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"39%\"><strong>NAME<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"10%\"><strong>ET<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"8%\"><strong>MPH<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"19%\"><strong>CAREER WIN<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"23%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"39%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"10%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"8%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"19%\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"23%\"><strong>Winner:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"39%\">Tommy Johnson Jr<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"10%\">\u00a03.883<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"8%\">326.40<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"19%\">\u00a0 \u00a018th<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"23%\"><strong>R\/UP:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"39%\">Jack Beckman<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"10%\">\u00a06.156<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"8%\">119.31<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"19%\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"23%\"><strong>Low ET:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"39%\">John Force<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"10%\">\u00a03.848<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"8%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"19%\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"23%\"><strong>Top Speed:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"39%\">John Force<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"10%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"8%\">335.90<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"19%\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"23%\"><strong>Bump Spot:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"39%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"10%\">\u00a06.987<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"8%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"19%\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"23%\"><strong>Event Entries:<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"39%\">\u00a016 Cars<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"10%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"8%\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"19%\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4159\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?attachment_id=4159\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4159\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4159\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4159\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Screen-Shot-2020-02-24-at-10.03.31-AM-e1582556663532.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"330\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4159\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wily John Force sped to both low ET and top speed of the race in round #1 and had a &#8220;final four&#8221; placing<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Posted with files by Pat Caporali and Bruce Biegler<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Photos by Auto Imagery, Marc Gewertz and Gary Nastase<a href=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?attachment_id=4172\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4172\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4172\" src=\"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Nitro_FC_Canada650x160_New_v1-1-e1582746407906.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"123\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was an all-Mopar Dodge \/\/SRT Funny Car final round showdown at the Arizona Nationals with Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Tommy Johnson Jr. earning his first victory of the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Series season over his teammate, Jack Beckman. From his No. 4 qualifier position, Johnson Jr. drove his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4160"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4178,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160\/revisions\/4178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}