October 3, 2018
, Auburn Hills, Mich.
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For the seventh and final weekend this season, Leah Pritchett will switch between her Mopar Dodge Top Fuel dragster and Factory Stock Showdown Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, racing through a hectic schedule as she attempts to claim one championship and improve her chances for a second at the NHRA FallNationals near Dallas, scheduled for Oct. 4-7.
Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Pritchett is just a single point outside of the top spot in NHRA Factory Stock Showdown and sits fourth in the NHRA Top Fuel standings heading into action at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. The NHRA Factory Stock Showdown season wraps up this weekend, while the third event in the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs is on tap for Top Fuel.
Pritchett made history last weekend at the NHRA stop near St. Louis, becoming the first driver in the Factory Stock Showdown class to make a pass in the seven-second range with a 7.936-second elapsed time (ET) during qualifying. She went on to claim the event win in her Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, her second consecutive in the class, to go along with her two event wins in Top Fuel.
“More than anything, not only am I pumped for this race, but proud of the journey of both these teams (Top Fuel and Factory Stock Showdown) to get to the position we are in going into Ennis,” said Pritchett, who is seeking her first series championship in both classes. “Unique barely describes the upcoming weekend. Everything we’ve been working towards comes to this weekend, in both categories.
“Obviously for Factory Stock, we have an extremely solid shot at winning a championship being only one point out of first place. Our strategy is to continue doing what we’ve done, not play ladder games, just run as fast as we can every time, and ultimately the game plan is to win the race, which would win us the championship.
“Still in strong contention in Top Fuel. Ennis is huge because it holds a very strong potential to be a turning point in the Countdown. Same mindset, win the race. We’re coming into Ennis with a new front-half after noticing issues in St. Louis from an incident. I think this excites me more than the magnitude of the race, because I know with new pipe, our crew chiefs will have their cooperative hot rod back. That brings a new level of confidence that I can’t wait to energize with in the car. At this point for both classes, we still cannot worry about what the competition is doing, and we will remain focused on our own path to being the quickest in every way.”
Fellow DSR Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak driver Mark Pawuk also cracked the seven-second barrier, going even lower than Pritchett with 7.929 ET to reset the class E.T. record and earn the No. 1 qualifying spot at St. Louis. Pawuk will be among the favorites at Dallas as he hunts for his first Factory Stock Showdown win.
Pritchett’s Mopar-powered Top Fuel teammate, Tony Schumacher, enters Dallas third in the standings in his battle to add to his eight series crowns. In NHRA Funny Car, 2016 series champion Ron Capps holds the fifth spot in the standings and leads the four-driver Mopar Dodge DSR squad. Tommy Johnson Jr. is sixth in his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T, while two-time NHRA Funny Car champ and Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver Matt Hagan, a three-time winner this year, is seventh. Jack Beckman, owner of the 2012 NHRA Funny Car title, is ranked ninth in his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.
Dodge Garage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News
Fans now have a one-stop destination for Mopar and Dodge drag racing news. Dodge Garage (http://www.dodgegarage.com) is a digital content hub and premier destination for drag racing and muscle car enthusiasts.
Fans can view daily updates and get access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise. Dodge Garage features include exclusive content, such as the “Chasing the Title” video series, which offers fans a unique, behind-the-scenes glimpse at DSR drivers and teams in action on and off the track.
For information on Mopar on and off the track, check out the Mopar brand’s official blog, http://blog.mopar.com.
About Dodge//SRT
Dodge//SRT offers a complete lineup of performance vehicles that stand out in their own segments. Dodge is America’s mainstream performance brand and SRT is positioned as the ultimate performance halo of the Dodge brand, together creating a complete and balanced performance brand with one vision and one voice.
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge, who founded the brand in 1914. Their influence continues today. New for 2019, the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye is possessed by the Demon. Its 797-horsepower supercharged HEMI® high-output engine makes it the most powerful, quickest and fastest muscle car reaching 0-60 miles per hour (mph) in 3.4 seconds and the fastest GT production car with a ¼-mile elapsed time (ET) of 10.8 seconds at 131 mph. It also reaches a new top speed of 203 mph. Joining the Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye is the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat with its more powerful 717-horsepower engine, the Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody, which features fender flares from the SRT Hellcat Widebody and adds 3.5 inches of width to Scat Pack’s footprint, as well as and the new Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320. Infused with exclusive drag strip technology from the iconic Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, the Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 is a drag-oriented, street-legal muscle car and a blank canvas for the serious grassroots drag racer. The 2019 Dodge Durango SRT, America’s fastest, most powerful and most capable three-row SUV with a best-in-class tow rating of 8,700 lbs. fills out the brands’ performance lineup. These visceral performance models join a 2019 brand lineup that includes the Durango, Grand Caravan, Journey, Charger and Challenger — a showroom that offers performance at every price point.
About Mopar
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) is the service, parts and customer-care brand for FCA vehicles around the globe. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, the Mopar brand has evolved over more than 80 years to represent both complete care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.
Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era, with Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, and expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today, the Mopar brand’s global reach distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in over 150 markets around the world. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 25 customer contact centers globally, Mopar integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.
Mopar is the source for genuine parts and accessories for all FCA US LLC vehicle brands. Mopar parts are engineered together with the same teams that create factory-authorized specifications for FCA vehicles, offering a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide. Complete information on the Mopar brand is available at www.mopar.com.