{"id":4479,"date":"2020-11-04T15:37:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T15:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=4479"},"modified":"2020-11-04T15:44:00","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T15:44:00","slug":"clean-sweep-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=4479","title":{"rendered":"“Clean Sweep” Season!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don Schumacher Racing’s (DSR) highly formidable Funny Car team left nothing on the table in 2020!<\/em><\/p>\n

Last Sunday at the season ending Dodge NHRA Finals — the four car team contingent – completed an amazing undefeated season – winning every NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series event presented in 2020.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Hagan and his \u201cdemon-possessed\u201d Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye have earned the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Series Funny Car World Championship title and the national event win at the season-ending Dodge NHRA Finals Presented by Pennzoil in Las Vegas. It is Hagan\u2019s third championship crown after title wins in 2011 and 2014 and the sixth Funny Car class victory for the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) team in 18 years.<\/p>\n

From the No. 2 position on the eliminations ladder, Hagan earned his third Wally trophy of the year in a season dominated by the DSR stable of HEMI\u00ae-powered Funny Cars. The DSR foursome of Hagan, Tommy Johnson Jr., Jack Beckman and Ron Capps finished 1-2-3-4 atop the Funny Car standings and combined for a NHRA season “sweep” in which a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat won every national event to extend the team\u2019s undefeated streak to a record 14 consecutive victories since October 2019.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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(Matt Hagan clinched the 2020 NHRA World Championship in style – winning the season ending NHRA Dodge Finals event — his 3rd win for 2020)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been just an unbelievable season,\u201d said Hagan. \u201cMy guys have put an unbelievable car behind me with Pennzoil, Dodge SRT and Mopar. Everybody who supports us. It\u2019s great to win for Camping World and their first championship. My guys have worked so hard all season long. I can\u2019t say enough about them and thank them. Three wins, a championship, it\u2019s just special. I can\u2019t wait for next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cTo have Matt Hagan win the championship at the Dodge NHRA Finals and cap off it off with an undefeated season and record 14th straight victory is a testament to the team\u2019s hard work and the pure performance of the Charger SRT Hellcat,\u201d said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Global Head of Alfa Romeo and Head of Passenger Cars \u2013 Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT, FCA \u2013 North America. \u201cIt is really satisfying to watch our quickest, fastest and most powerful production vehicles represented so well on the race track.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of all of us at Mopar, congratulations to Matt Hagan on a well-deserved third NHRA World Championship and a dominating performance in Funny Car competition this season,\u201d said Mark Bosanac, Head of Mopar Service, Parts and Customer Care for FCA \u2013 North America. \u201cReflecting on Mopar\u2019s long-standing involvement in the NHRA, including 18 successful years in partnership with Don Schumacher, we take great pride in this title win.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a two-round lead over his closest championship challengers, teammates Johnson and Beckman, Hagan clinched the crown after wins over Cruz Pedregon and Paul Lee in the first two rounds and just prior to staging his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye for his semifinal match-up against Alexis DeJoria. The deal was sealed after Beckman was upset in the opening round against Paul Lee and No. 1 qualifier Capps defeated Johnson as the first semifinal pair to take the track.<\/p>\n

With the 2020 Funny Car championship secured, all that was left to determine was who would take home the Dodge NHRA Finals Wally trophy as Hagan and Capps lined up for the seventh head-to-head Hellcat final round battle of the year.<\/p>\n

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(Ron Capps went to the fuel FC final round and set top speed of the race)<\/p><\/div>\n

While Capps had the early lead his efforts went up in smoke at half-track as Hagan took his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for a solid 3.914-second final lap to earn his 36th career victory and defend his 2019 win at The Strip at Las Vegas Speedway and tie the NHRA reco<\/p>\n

\u201cDodge and the DSR fab shop, they\u2019ve put a great race car underneath us,\u201d said Hagan. \u201cMy crew chief Dickie Venables, I can\u2019t say enough about the guy. He\u2019s won me two world championships (2014, 2020) and we\u2019ve runnered-up a few times. There\u2019s a handful of guys on this team who haven\u2019t won a championship before. I\u2019m just so proud to give them that opportunity and I know how bad everybody wanted it.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to have won three world championships now in this sport, it\u2019s incredible,” added Hagan. \u201cIt all comes back down to my guys and the car they put under me. It\u2019s not just me. I try not to mess it up. This is one of the most humbling sports I\u2019ve been involved in and it always seems to come down to the last race and that certainly doesn\u2019t make me look any younger. Thank you to everyone who supports what we do and we hope we made you proud to be a part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tommy Johnson Jr., had a strong semi-final round finish which assured him of 2nd place in final season points)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Event Essentials: \u00a0NHRA Dodge Finals (Oct 30-Nov. 1st, 2020)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nNAME<\/strong><\/td>\nET<\/strong><\/td>\nMPH<\/strong><\/td>\nCAREER WIN<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Winner:<\/strong><\/td>\nMatt Hagan<\/td>\n\u00a03.914<\/td>\n326.40<\/td>\n\u00a036th<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
R\/UP:<\/strong><\/td>\nRon Capps<\/td>\n\u00a04.463<\/td>\n173.70<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Low ET:<\/strong><\/td>\nMatt Hagan<\/td>\n\u00a03.901<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Top Speed:<\/strong><\/td>\nRon Capps<\/td>\n<\/td>\n329.80<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bump Spot:<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n\u00a04.617<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Event Entries:<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a018 Cars<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n
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(Toyota brand driver Alexis Dejoria completed a strong end of season surge – she placed in the “final four” at Las Vegas)<\/p><\/div>\n

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(FC class racing featured the debut of newcomer Chris Morel (from Reno NV) who qualified #16)<\/p><\/div>\n

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2nd generation racer Stephen Densham entered his California-based Ford Mustang and qualified #11.<\/p><\/div>\n

Posted with files by Pat Caporali and Bruce Biegler<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos by Marc Gewertz and courtesy of Mopar\/Dodge SRT<\/em><\/p>\n

To view additional Funny Car photos from this event – link to our LMLCMedia photo gallery: \u00a0HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don Schumacher Racing’s (DSR) highly formidable Funny Car team left nothing on the table in 2020! Last Sunday at the season ending Dodge NHRA Finals — the four car team contingent – completed an amazing undefeated season – winning every NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series event presented in 2020. Matt Hagan and his \u201cdemon-possessed\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[126,20,125],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479"}],"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=4479"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4490,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479\/revisions\/4490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}