Massey posts 328 mph pass during 4-wide qualifying, will attempt to set record Sunday during NHRA eliminations

April 14

Concord, N.C. (April 14, 2012) - Spencer Massey is never surprised that his car performs to the level it does and that was no different when the Prestone/FRAM Top Fuel dragster lit up the score board at zMAX Dragway with a speed of 328.78 mph on Saturday.

"That first run today was awesome, obviously 328 mph is moving," said Massey. "We're going to try to get the numbers to back it up tomorrow during eliminations."

The team has to run a speed of 325.50 to back up their current run and reset the national speed record.

Massey's team struggled during the opening round of 4-wide qualifications on Friday, but showed great improvements since.

"Our weekend didn't start off exactly as we'd like but then we got down the track just like we needed to and get in the show," Massey said. "It's supposed to be hot on Sunday but we're just going to go back to our hot weather tune-up and go A to B every run."

Massey also noted that the unique format during this weekend's 4-wide NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event means he doesn't have to cross the line first tomorrow during the opening round of eliminations. He'll line up in a quad with teammate Antron Brown, Morgan Lucas and Hillary Will.

"My teammate Antron and I can both win since it's the first two that advance," Massey said. "So we could even be second tomorrow and go on to the next round with this 4-wide. You could win this whole race by being first to the stripe in only the final round, which is pretty cool. It's a different strategy but it makes for great racing."

Massey goes into eliminations on Sunday with the confidence of strong performances throughout the past two years with the leadership of the crew chief duo of Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara.

"This team has always performed the past couple of years and it's amazing how these guys can get this car to go down the track like it does every time. It's awesome."

Spencer Massey, Prestone/FRAM dragster
Qualifying position: position: No. 6
Sunday's 1st round opponent: Antron Brown, Morgan Lucas, Hillary Will
No. 1 qualifier: Steve Torrence (3.799 sec., 322.34 mph)

FRIDAY
Session 1: 7.092 sec., 80.31 mph
Session 2: 3.869, 319.82
SATURDAY
Session 3: 3.814, 328.78
Session 4: 3.892, 318.99

FULL THROTTLE SCHEDULE:
Sunday: Eliminations, noon.

ON ESPN2
Sunday: 7-10 p.m. (ET); 7 p.m. (PT)

WEATHER.COM FORECAST:
Sunday: High 83, partly cloudy, 20 percent chance of rain

FOUR-WIDE FOUR-MAT
The Four-Wide NHRA Nationals features the world's most unique drag racing format at the world's only four-lane dragstrip at the world's most impressive drag racing stadium.
Here are some tips about understanding how racing four-wide works:

Sunday eliminations: The specially-modified eliminations ladder in Sunday's first round will feature Race A (qualifiers 1, 8, 9, 16), Race B (qualifiers 4, 5, 12, 13), Race C (qualifiers 2, 7, 10, 15) and Race D (qualifiers 3, 6, 11, 14). Race A and Race B will be on one side of the ladder, while Race C and Race D will be on the other.
The first two cars to get to the finish line barring redlight or other disqualification advance to the next round.
In the final round, the drivers will finish first through fourth in the order they cross the finish line, barring any red-light starts.

Lane choice: First-round lane choice will go to the quickest qualifier in the group of four, second choice to the second-quickest, and third choice to the third-quickest. In subsequent rounds, first choice will go to the driver with the lowest elapsed time from the previous round, second choice to the second-lowest, and third choice to the third-lowest.

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 177 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.

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