Highlights:
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* Shortened season will still see Mopar and Dodge//SRT as event title sponsors at four of the remaining 16 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series races
* All four DSR Dodge Charger Hellcats sit top-5 in Funny Car Championship points standings
* DSR Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster restarts season top-3 in points standings with
Following the suspension of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic on
The E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals on
FUNNY CAR NOTES & QUOTES
Two-time Funny Car world champion and driver of the Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat,
'I'm really excited about getting back to racing in Indy. We're such a fan-engaged sport - we're so used to being able to take pictures with the fans, fist bumps, all that, and it'll be a different vibe. We did some virtual autograph sessions with Mopar during our downtime and that was cool and I think our fans really enjoyed that. At the end of the day, we're entertainers and we're going to make sure we entertain our fans and make sure we give them a great show on the race track. I'm just excited to be able to be back and be able to rep our partners in Mopar, Pennzoil and Sandvik on the track. Every weekend, you're so used to driving 330 mph. I never thought there was anything other than racing, but it's been good being able to spend some time at home growing my businesses. I was able to get a really good handle on these companies I'm growing and now I'm able to fully focus on racing again. We had a really great car when we left off. We were No. 1 qualifier at the first two events and I'm excited to get back in my Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. Bring it on, let's go do this.'
'Everybody is talking about getting back to business as usual and in racing we're going to be getting back to business but there's nothing usual about it. This is completely unprecedented. We're going to lose Friday qualifying at every race from here on out and that could drastically change your approach as a crew chief and as a driver just in qualifying. And then none of us have been in a race car for probably the longest period in our drag racing careers, so we're going to get to make shakedown runs the day before a race weekend. I don't think that's been allowed for nearly 50 years in drag racing. So, the scenario is what it is and we're all going to do our best to make things get back to whatever 'normal' is as quick as possible but I've got to tell you, I've had driving withdrawals and now I feel like it's so sudden. After waiting for so many months I'm looking at the calendar and it's like when you're a kid getting ready to go back to school. I just can't wait to get my bag packed and get on that airplane.'
Winner of the last event before the season was suspended at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in February,
'I'm certainly excited about going back racing but it's been a long period of downtime and there are some jitters that go along with that. Being out of the car for so long, it's going to take a few runs to get back into the swing of it. We were doing so well and had some good momentum going before the break and you hope that continues. You park the car and don't touch it for so long and it's been sitting there ready to go for a while. We had an opportunity to improve on it, we put on a new front half. We have a great team and a great car. It'll take a little bit of getting used to those first days back but that's the same for everyone. It's going to be great to get back to some sort of normalcy, even though there will be some restrictions. I'd love nothing more than to pull off a win at both of these Indy races and take the lead in the points.'
Driver of the HEMI-powered Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat,
'2020 has been full of surprises, to say the least. It's going to be nice to get a little bit of normalcy back in our racing lives. Once NHRA announced that we had these two races in
'It's going to be a treacherous, hot, humid weekend, which we know can be very difficult, especially with 11,000-horsepower nitro engines. I brag about the NAPA Know How with our team and we've shown that we can run in those conditions as good as anybody. This is going to test a lot of people. We'll get a couple of shakedown runs on Friday and then it's just two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, so you're not going to have a whole lot of data to go off of. That's why the way that
TOP FUEL NOTES & QUOTES
DSR's
'I feel like we've all been living the real-life motorsports version of double-dutch, waiting for the right time and circumstances, and it's finally our turn to return. Excited would normally be the term used for the feeling I get when race week nears, but I honestly feel the more precise description is 'ready.' We already had a strong performing race car when the hiatus began and this Mopar crew has taken this time to ensure that performance stays maximized. I've properly filled my time with various athletic activities and attending/watching other racing, but have confirmed that nothing comes close to the sensory impact of nitro racing. Composure within competition has been a focus of mine during this time and there is nothing more in this world that I am looking forward to more than strapping back into our Mopar Top Fueler and chasing that Wally.'
NHRA Championship Points Standings (after two of 18
FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1.
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3. John Force - 173
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9. Bob Tasca III - 87
10.
TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)
1.
2. Brittany Force - 153
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Fans can follow all the NHRA's action this season at
@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers in action in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.
Dodge is the official sponsor of the
Mopar
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) is the service, parts and customer-care brand for
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
Dodge//SRT
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and
2021 marks the year that Dodge is distilled into a pure performance brand, offering Hellcat-powered, 700+ horsepower SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2021 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the new 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the new 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the most powerful SUV ever. Combined, these three muscle cars make Dodge the industry's most powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.
In
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