Rain washes out final qualifying sessions for U.S. Nationals; championship eliminations set for Monday with Massey No. 1

September 02

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Sept. 2, 2012) - Remnants of Hurricane Isaac rained out Sunday's final two qualifying sessions in the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway and NHRA's plan is to run its championship eliminations on Monday as scheduled.

According to NHRA, fields for championship eliminations are set after three of the five scheduled qualifying sessions that leaves Don Schumacher Racing's Spencer Massey No. 1 in Top Fuel with the Prestone/FRAM dragster after his team earned a $100,000 bonus for winning Saturday night's Traxxas Nitro Shooout. Tony Schumacher in the U.S. Army ROTC dragster is qualified second and Matco Tools' Antron Brown is fifth.

Rookie Courtney Force holds the pole in Funny Car while DSR's Jack Beckman is No. 2 in the Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T. Following Beckman are DSR drivers Ron Capps fifth for NAPA Shocks, Johnny Gray eighth for Big O Tires/Service Central and Matt Hagan 12th for Mopar/Aaron's.

The U.S. Nationals is the 17th Full Throttle event of the season and marks the end to NHRA's regular season before the Countdown to the Championship begins in two weeks near Charlotte for the top-10 drivers in each pro category. The Countdown is held over the last six events on the 23-race Full Throttle circuit.

Sunday's rain out did not favor any team and certainly not the fans.

"We believe that with the forecast for the remainder of (Sunday) that it would be extremely difficult to get the track into racing condition," said Graham Light, NHRA senior vice president of racing operations. "We are planning to run a full day (Monday)."

The NHRA statement added the Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Funny Cars scheduled to be completed on Sunday "has been postponed to a later date."

Sportsman racing will begin at 8 a. m. Monday with the first round of eliminations for the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series pro tour to begin at 11 a. m.

The following are DSR final qualifying results and other notes:

TOP FUEL
No. 1 qualifier: Spencer Massey (DSR), 3.762 sec., 324.51 mph

Spencer Massey, Prestone/FRAM dragster
Qualified: No. 1
Monday's first-round opponent: Pat Dakin

FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 5.984 sec., 103.69 mph
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 2: 3.815, 323.74 (Shootout first-round win)
Session 3: 3.762 sec., 324.51 mph (Shootout semifinals win; track elapsed-time record)
Shootout final: 3.780, 325.61 (does not count toward qualifying)
SUNDAY QUALIFYING
Rained out

Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army ROTC dragster
Qualified: No. 2
Monday's first-round opponent: T. J. Zizzo

FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 3.814 sec., 324.67 mph
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 2: 3.805, 324.67 (first-round loss in Shootout)
Session 3: 3.772, 326.79 (track speed record)
SUNDAY QUALIFYING
Rained out

Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster
Qualified: No. 5
Monday's first-round opponent: David Grubnic

FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 3.844 sec., 319.37 mph
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 2: 3.851, 317.42 (first-round loss in Shootout)
Session 3: 3.807, 322.34
SUNDAY QUALIFYING
Rained out

FUNNY CAR
No. 1 qualifier: Courtney Force (John Force Racing), 4.049, 317.27 (track record)

Jack Beckman, Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 2
Monday's first-round opponent: Todd Lesenko

FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 4.051 sec., 302.62 mph
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 2: 4.056, 310.70
Session 3: 5.799, 117.56
SUNDAY QUALIFYING
Rained out

Ron Capps, NAPA Shocks Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 5
Monday's first-round opponent: Matt Hagan

FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 4.122 sec., 308.00 mph
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 2: 8.031, 87.65
Session 3: 4.064, 312.13
SUNDAY QUALIFYING
Rained out

Johnny Gray, Big O/Service Central Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 8
Monday's first-round opponent: Jeff Arend

FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: Johnny Gray, 4.079 sec., 310.98 mph
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 2: 6.107, 108.78
Session 3: 5.758, 119.51
SUNDAY QUALIFYING
Rained out

Matt Hagan, Mopar/Aaron's Dream Machine Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 12
Monday's first-round opponent: Ron Capps

FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 4.225 sec., 294.95 mph
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 2: 4.119, 307.65
Session 3: 6.145, 106.56
SUNDAY QUALIFYING
Rained out

FULL THROTTLE NITRO SCHEDULE (all times ET)
Monday: Championship eliminations, 11 a.m.

ON ESPN2 (all times ET)
Monday: Eliminations, 12-6 p.m.

WEATHER.COM FORECAST (at 4 p.m. Sunday)
Monday: high 86; 30 percent chance scattered thunderstorms

TRAXXAS NITRO SHOOTOUT - FUNNY CAR
Rained out Sunday; postponed to a later date

TRAXXAS NITRO SHOOTOUT - TOP FUEL
Saturday's Results
FIRST ROUND: Steve Torrence (3.834 sec., 295.34 mph) def. Doug Kalitta (3.859, 318.99); Morgan Lucas (3.792, 311.63) def. TONY SCHUMACHER (3.805, 324.67); SPENCER MASSEY (3.815, 323.74) def. David Grubnic (3.958, 294.50); Brandon Bernstein (3.842, 318.92) def. ANTRON BROWN (3.851, 317.42).
SEMI-FINALS: Torrence (3.888, 259.41) def. Brandon Bernstein (4.792, 156.81); MASSEY (3.762, 324.51) def. Lucas (4.128, 230.84).
FINALS: MASSEY (3.780, 325.61) def. Torrence (4.840, 155.70)
Winner gets $100,000, runner-up $15,000

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 190 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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