Dodge//SRT and Mopar are continuing their partnership with Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) with the announcement of a new multiyear sponsorship agreement to kick-off the 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.
The high-powered relationship began during the 2003 season and ranks as one of the longest running partnerships in motorsports. DSR Mopar-powered Dodge//SRT teams have claimed 12 championships in Funny Car, Top Fuel and Factory Stock Showdown, beginning with Tony Schumacher’s 2004 Top Fuel title and the latest, Leah Pritchett’s 2018 Factory Stock Showdown crown. The first triumph for the partnership came in Englishtown, New Jersey, when Whit Bazemore turned on the win light, and the most recent victory was captured in October 2018 when Ron Capps scored the 252nd for a DSR Mopar-powered driver.
“Don Schumacher Racing is one the most successful and respected organizations not just in NHRA, but in all of motorsports, and Dodge//SRT and Mopar are proud to extend our long-running partnership with Don Schumacher, his drivers and teams,” said Steve Beahm, Head of Parts and Service (Mopar) and Passenger Car Brands, FCA – North America. “In addition to our long list of accomplishments on the strip, our brands have worked with DSR off the track in developing and debuting the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car body and elevating our Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak program to the 2018 Factory Stock Showdown championship. We look forward to continuing to win with DSR in 2019 and beyond.”
“DSR is pleased to continue this partnership with Dodge//SRT and Mopar,” said DSR owner Don Schumacher, a former Mopar-powered Dodge Funny Car driver himself in the 1960s and 1970s. “We take a lot of pride in the relationships we have built with our NHRA program and this one has been truly unique. From the early years, Mopar and Dodge have played a major role in our climb to prominence in the Funny Car class and that carried over in our efforts in Top Fuel and the winning continued in another class last year when we secured the NHRA Factory Stock Showdown championship. It’s been a tremendous partnership and we are thrilled to continue it for seasons to come.”
DSR drivers Matt Hagan and Leah Pritchett will carry the torch in the brand’s quest for championships in Funny Car, Top Fuel and Factory Stock Showdown, while Ron Capps, Tommy Johnson, Jr., Jack Beckman and Tony Schumacher will also look to add to Dodge//SRT and Mopar’s rich NHRA heritage.
Heading into the 2019 NHRA campaign, Hagan and Pritchett headline a star-studded stable of drivers that have combined to earn more than 200 of the DSR organization’s 333 overall victories and have reset countless track and national records.
The bar is set high with the goal of increasing those numbers starting in Pomona, California, where Hagan returns as the two-time defending event winner of the season-opening NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway, February 7-10, the first of 24 national events. Pritchett, who won the final three Factory Stock Showdown races in 2018, will begin her title defense in that class at the 50th annual NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, March 14-17, 2019.
Mopar PR
