Massey wants Top Fuel trophy from home-state track and to take Countdown points lead from DSR teammate

September 19

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Sept. 19, 2012) - There's no place like home for Spencer Massey and there would be nothing like taking an NHRA Wally trophy from his home track, the Texas Motorplex not far from his hometown Fort Worth.

Drag racers all have special tracks where they want to win at more than others and the track in Ennis, Texas, is at the top of the list for the young driver of the Don Schumacher Racing FRAM/Prestone Top Fuel Dragster.

In 1986, a young Massey saw his first pair of Top Fuel dragsters go down the all-concrete dragstrip and he was hooked. That's when he knew he wanted to drive a Top Fueler.

"Every year the Motorplex has been open I've been there to smell the nitro, to live and breathe drag racing," said Massey, who turned 30 a week ago. "That's where I first got my taste of it and where I knew I wanted to go Top Fuel racing."

In 1998, Massey won the track championship at the Motorplex in his first full year of racing.

"I've won a lot of junior races there, some Super Comp amateur dragster bracket races but to win there in a car that I've always dreamed of driving would be just unbelievable.

"It wouldn't be like winning a season championship, but it definitely would be huge in my life. That's always been one of my life goals and to achieve it would just be incredible."

It would be huge for more than one reason. Massey enters the second race of the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship second in points to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher.

"Obviously, it would be huge to win there for many reasons," he said. "It would be huge for championship reasons, for simply winning another race and because that's where I've been every year to watch Top Fuel drag racing."

All eyes will be on Massey this weekend when racing kicks off at 3 p.m. Friday for the first round of qualifying.

"With tons of friends and family members and everything going on there it's just a big weekend. I'm ready to start now."

The following are Massey's statistics and notes:

Spencer Massey, FRAM/Prestone dragster
Career at Texas Motorplex: Wins 0; Runner-ups 1 (2011); Poles 0
2011 at Texas Motorplex: Qualified No. 7; lost in championship round to Bob Vandergriff

2012 Pts Races Wins Rup Poles DNQ Win/Loss
2nd 18 4 2 3 0 37-14
Career Races Titles Rup Poles DNQ Win/Loss
66 10 10 8 2 114-54

NHRA COUNTDOWN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
(Through Sept. 16, 2012; DSR drivers in CAPS)

TOP FUEL
1. TONY SCHUMACHER, 2,170
2. SPENCER MASSEY, 2,160
3. Shawn Langdon, 2,151
4. ANTRON BROWN, 2,142
5. Doug Kalitta, 2,105
6. Morgan Lucas, 2,099
7. Brandon Bernstein, 2,095
8. Steve Torrence, 2,093
9. Bob Vandergriff Jr., 2,053
10. David Grubnic, 2,043

NEXT FULL THROTTLE EVENT: Ennis, Texas (times are ET)
Friday: Qualifying, 3 p.m., 6 p.m.
Saturday: Qualifying, 1, 3:15 p.m.
Sunday: Championship eliminations, 11 a.m.

ON ESPN2 (times are ET)
SUNDAY: Qualifying, 1 p.m.
SUNDAY: Eliminations, 8:30 p.m.

WEATHER.COM FORECAST
FRIDAY: High 91 degrees; 0 percent chance of rain
SATURDAY: High 89 degrees; 0 percent chance of rain
SUNDAY: High 80 degrees; 0 percent chance of rain

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 192 NHRA national event titles and nine world championships.
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.

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