Great time by Massey, Prestone/FRAM team not enough in first round of eliminations at Maple Grove Raceway

October 08

READING, Pa. (Oct. 7, 2012) - Spencer Massey's time of 3.772 seconds in the first round Sunday in the NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway would be good enough to win almost every drag race.

But it wasn't at the track near Reading, Pa., when rookie Khalid alBalooshi of Al-Anabi Racing upset the No. 2 driver in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series points.

The early exit for Massey's Prestone/FRAM team, their second first round loss of the season, also cost them in the points standings where Don Schumacher Racing teammate Antron Brown advanced to the semifinals with the quickest time ever in NHRA and extend his lead over Massey to at least 64 points heading to the last two events of the Countdown to the Championship.

After two lengthy rain delays, NHRA determined at around 5:30 p.m. to postpone continuation until Monday at 11 a.m.

One of the famous drag racing phrases is "sometimes it's a drag, sometimes it's a race." Unfortunately for Massey and the Prestone/FRAM team, Sunday's eliminations were a drag.

"That's a tough one to take," Massey said. "We ran great, but we just got beat. It just shows how tough it is out here. Not very often do you post a 3.77 and not get a win light."

All weekend, records have been set and career bests recorded.

"We've seen extreme conditions all weekend long," he said. "It's been cool, overcast and fast. We just needed to be a little bit faster today."

He was adamant about how well his hard-working crew adjusted to some problems they had during qualifying.

"These guys on my team haven't had an easy weekend. We had some problems in qualifying and hurt some parts but our guys never stopped working. They've been grinding for six weeks now, and I couldn't be more proud of them."

The team will return to DSR headquarters near Indianapolis for two weeks before heading west to Las Vegas and Pomona, Calif., for the final two events.

"We'll just take these next two weeks off and relax and get recharged to make a strong run for it in these last two races. We may be down but we aren't out of it yet."

The following are Massey's results and other event information:

TOP FUEL
Event winner: To be determined Monday

Spencer Massey, Prestone/FRAM dragster
Qualifying: No. 3
First round: Khalid alBalooshi (3.754 sec., 322.81 mph) def. MASSEY (3.772, 320.81)
FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 3.807 sec., 324.90 mph
Session 2: 3.763, 321.12
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 3: 4.497, 155.27
Session 4: 3.778, 326.08

UPCOMING FULL THROTTLE EVENTS
Oct. 25-28, Big O Tires NHRA Nationals, Las Vegas
Nov. 8-11, Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, Pomona, Calif.

About FRAM
FRAM Group LLC has its headquarters in Perrysburg, Ohio. Its leading automotive care products include FRAM® oil, air, transmission and fuel filters; Autolite® spark plugs and ignition wire sets; Prestone® antifreeze/coolant and car care products; and Holts® car care. It maintains R&D capabilities in the United States and Europe and has a manufacturing footprint in 10 countries worldwide.

About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., consists of seven professional NHRA teams: in Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the FRAM/Prestone dragster of Spencer Massey and the Matco Tools dragster of Antron Brown; and in Funny Car, 2011 NHRA Funny Car champion Matt Hagan in the Aaron's Dream Machine/Mopar Dodge Charger R/T, Valvoline NextGen Dodge piloted by Jack Beckman, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Service Central Dodge of Johnny Gray. DSR has won 195 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.

Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.

- DSR -