Chandler, Arizona – Sandvik Coromant’s latest partnership agreement couldn’t have been timed better. Less than a week after announcing an expansion of its relationship with Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), that team and Mopar teammates Matt Hagan and Leah Pritchett won their respective classes in the 33rd Annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, part of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.
Hagan took home the Funny Car Wally for the second consecutive event and the 24th time in his career, while Pritchett won in Top Fuel for the third time overall and the second time in a row.
Hagan and the Mopar/Sandvik Coromant Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team qualified in the No. 4 position and were matched up against Mopar teammate Ron Capps in the NAPA Dodge Charger R/T in the final round.
“We are excited about Matt’s fantastic start to the season and obviously thrilled that he won the very first race that we wrapped his car in Sandvik Coromant colors,” says Sean Holt, president of Sandvik Coromant in the Americas. “Congrats to Matt and Don Schumacher Racing. Knowing that DSR and Sandvik Coromant engineers worked hand in hand on improving parts for all DSR cars makes the start to this season even more special.”
Hagan turned on the win light in the right lane as he made a pass of 3.878 seconds at 330.88mph with a reaction time of .057. Capps narrowly missed the victory with a reaction time of .075 paired with a 3.883-second pass at 333.88mph.
After a heartbreaking redlight in the semifinals during the Winternationals, 2016 Funny Car champion Ron Capps righted the ship with his advance to the final round. Capps bested Jeff Arend in the first round before defeating Gary Densham in the second. He then dispatched of Jim Campbell to advance to the final round against Hagan.
For more information on Mopar and Dodge in NHRA, check out the Mopar brand’s official blog, http://blog.mopar.com.
In other racing news, Kurt Busch won NASCAR’s Daytona 500 on Sunday, providing Ford Motor Co.’s fifth win in the past nine years. The Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) victory came on the final lap as Busch passed Kyle Larson for the win.
“What a great win to start off a partnership. It is so great with Stewart-Haas and to have Kurt win it, our last Ford champion and in his first race back with Ford is fantastic,” said Raj Nair, executive vice president of global product development and chief technical officer, Ford Motor Co. “We were so fast. We knew we had a good chance and Kurt hung in there after getting caught up in that crash. He didn’t give up.”
The win was Busch’s 29th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory and his 15th with Ford, dating back to when he debuted with Roush Fenway Racing in 2000.
“There is nothing predictable about this race anymore, and the more years that have gone by that I didn’t win I kept trying to go back to patterns that I had seen in the past. My mirror fell off with 30 laps to go and I couldn’t even see out the back,” said Busch, who won Ford’s last series championship in 2004. “It just got crazy and wild, and I am so proud of all the drivers at the end. We put on a show for a full fuel run, and nobody took each other out and it was one of the smartest chess games I have seen out there. All the hard work that Ford and SHR put into this – this Ford Fusion is in Daytona’s victory lane.”
Source: FCA US LLC, Ford Motor Co.