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Mopar Dodge//SRT - Johnson Jr. No.1 Qualifier at E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis

*This press release and photos are also available online at: *
https://media.fcanorthamerica.com/newsrelease.do?id=21851


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*Mopar Dodge//SRT Up to Speed Quickly with No. 1 Qualifier Tommy Johnson
Jr. in NHRA Racing Restart*

·       Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Tommy Johnson Jr. earns top spot
in Funny Car qualifying aboard MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for
Sunday’s E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals

·       Funny Car points leader Jack Beckman qualifies third aboard his
HEMI®-powered machine for the first NHRA event after four-month hiatus

·       Matt Hagan posts sixth quickest time to earn spot in top half of
qualifying ladder aboard his Mopar Dodge/SRT Funny Car

·       DSR driver Leah Pruett Mopar Dodge/SRT Top Fuel Dragster qualifies
10th on Sunday’s eliminations ladder next to DSR teammate Tony Schumacher
who makes his return to competition since November 2018

*July 11, 2020, Brownsburg, Ind. *– Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver
Tommy Johnson Jr. wasted no time getting his MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT
Hellcat back up to speed at Lucas Oil Raceway by qualifying in the top spot
for Sunday’s elimination rounds of the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals after
a four-month pause in the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello
Yello Drag Racing Series season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Picking up from where he left off as Funny Car title winner at the Arizona
Nationals in February, Johnson set the quickest elapsed time on his first
qualifying run with a 3.983 second run at 317.72 mph to kick off the
two-day race event; the first of a pair of back-to-back race weekends at
the Indianapolis drag strip to restart the 2020 NHRA season and the first
major-league auto racing event in the state of Indiana to allow fans back
in the stands.

"It's just a great start after such a long layoff and all the uncertainty,�??
said Johnson Jr. of his first No. 1 qualifier position of the season and
the 19th of his career. “It's going to be a tough day tomorrow because the
conditions are going to be so much different. Today was really irrelevant
for tomorrow, but it's good to know that we have a good baseline and can go
from there.�??

Johnson Jr. will have Ron Capps as a first round opponent in the next lane
after his DSR teammate qualified 16th for the first time since 2009
(Chicago) based on his first run of 4.555 sec. at 184.70 mph and a problem
on the start line that never saw him take a second pass.

Funny Car points leader, Jack Beckman drove his Infinite Hero Foundation
Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the third spot on the eliminations ladder with
his second run of the day by posting a 4.050 second / 298.47 mph effort.

“Now that we've lost the first two qualifying runs (due to shortened race
event), and the fact that 18 cars showed up, we knew qualifying was going
to be a nail biter; we just didn't think it would be for us.�?? said Beckman
after first run issues sent the team back to the pits looking to work out
the gremlins and improve the car for a final shot at improving their ladder
position. “I always think we have a car good enough to win the race.
Qualifying third kind of underscores that for me.�??

Matt Hagan also saw improvements made to his Mopar Dodge//SRT Charger
Hellcat Funny Car between qualifying runs to help him post the sixth
quickest run of the day.

“All in all, it was a great qualifying day,�?? said Hagan who will face off
against Daniel Wilkerson in the first round and is looking forward to
racing in front of fans again. “Really glad to be a part of NHRA and I want
to thank the sanctioning body for bringing the fans back out. We’re one of
the first motorsports series to do that.�??

“Our Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is running well and it’ll be fun to
get back into competition mode tomorrow,�?? added Hagan who is looking to
move up from his fifth place position in the points battle. “Our car is
running strong, we had two good laps today. It was hot today which it makes
it a little trickier to be able to navigate the car, but the conditions
will be different tomorrow. I’m excited. It’s going to be an early morning
tomorrow. We warm up at 6:45 a.m., so I’m going to eat a good steak dinner
tonight, get some rest, and get ready to do this tomorrow.�??

In Top Fuel competition, Leah Pruett and her DSR Mopar Dodge//SRT Dragster
will be joined by two additional DSR entries for the doubleheader race
events in Indianapolis. Veteran racer Tony Schumacher, the winningest Top
Fuel driver in NHRA history, returns to competition for the first time
since November 2018, while Cory McClenathan, who retired in 2019, had five
of his 34 career wins while racing for DSR from 2008-2010.

Pruett qualified 10th with a quick time of 3.934 seconds at 306.33 mph to
find herself paired up for a first round match-up against her
seventh-seeded teammate, Schumacher.

“We have Tony Schumacher with a long list of success here at Indy but this
is not the U.S. Nationals,�?? said Pruett who sits second in the Top Fuel
championship point standings. “This is the Indy Nationals and this Mopar
team is definitely ready to fight this fight and looking forward to
competition tomorrow. We have a long night ahead of us as we triple check
everything and be on my practice game and race face for tomorrow even under
the mask.�??

McClenathan qualified 12th and will meet T.J. Zizzo as his first round
opponent.

Elimination rounds at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals begin at 9 a.m. on
Sunday, July 12, while television coverage includes live action on the FOX
national broadcast network beginning at 12 p.m. (ET).

*NHRA Championship Points Standings (After two of 18 National events):*

*FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)*

*1.*      *Jack Beckman (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 258 (1)*

*2.*      *Tommy Johnson Jr. (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 216(1)*

3.      John Force – 173

*4.*      *Ron Capps (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 159*

*5.*      *Matt Hagan* (*Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 158*

6.      Tim Wilkerson – 139

7.      Alexis DeJoria – 134

8.      J.R. Todd – 101

9.      Robert Hight – 100

10.   Cruz Pedregon – 96



*TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)*

1.     Doug Kalitta – 250 (1)

2.     *Leah Pruett (Mopar Dodge//SRT) – 169 *

3.     Steve Torrance – 159 (1)

4.     Brittany Force – 153

5.     Justin Ashley – 140

6.     Antron Brown – 134

7.     Austin Prock – 131

8.     Shawn Langdon – 124

9.      Clay Millican – 122

10.   Billy Torrence – 110



*Dodge Garage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News*
Fans can follow all the NHRA’s action this season at Dodge Garage
<http://www.dodgegarage.com/>, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar
drag racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online
racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise.
For more information, please visit www.dodgegarage.com.

*@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram*
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports
<http://www.instagram.com/DodgeMoparMotorsports> Instagram
channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers in
action in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, NHRA Sportsman
grassroots racers competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown,
Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.

*Official Driving School of Dodge//SRT*
Dodge is the official sponsor of the Bob Bondurant School of High
Performance Driving in Chandler, Arizona, where guests get behind the
wheels of the fastest street-legal cars in the world with professional
instruction and time on the track. Customers who buy a new SRT model
receive one full-day session as part of the Dodge//SRT Package and have the
opportunity to learn how to get the optimum performance from their new
vehicles in a controlled environment.  For more information, visit
dodgegarage.com/track-experience.

*Mopar*
Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) is the service,
parts and customer-care brand for FCA vehicles around the globe. Born in
1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, the Mopar brand has
evolved over more than 80 years to represent both complete care and
authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.

Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era, with Mopar
Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing
use, and expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today,
the Mopar brand's global reach distributes more than 500,000 parts and
accessories in over 150 markets around the world. With more than 50 parts
distribution centers and 25 customer contact centers globally, Mopar
integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance
customer and dealer support worldwide.

Mopar is the source for genuine parts and accessories for all FCA US LLC
vehicle brands. Mopar parts are engineered together with the same teams
that create factory-authorized specifications for FCA vehicles, offering a
direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide.
Complete information on the Mopar brand is available at www.mopar.com.

*Dodge//SRT*
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of
brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge
shifts into high gear with muscle cars and SUVs that deliver unrivaled
performance in each of the segments where they compete.

2021 marks the year that Dodge is distilled into a pure performance brand,
offering Hellcat-powered, 700+ horsepower SRT versions of every model
across the lineup. For the 2021 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip
dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the new
797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest
mass-produced sedan in the world, and the new 710-horsepower Dodge Durango
SRT Hellcat, the most powerful SUV ever. Combined, these three muscle cars
make Dodge the industry’s most powerful brand, offering more horsepower
than any other American brand across its entire lineup.

In June 2020, Dodge was named the "#1 Brand in Initial Quality,"
making it the first domestic brand ever to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power
Initial Quality Study (IQS). Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands
offered by global automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. For more information
regarding FCA , please visit www.fcagroup.com.

*Follow Dodge, SRT and FCA news and video on:*
Company blog: http://blog.fcanorthamerica.com
Media website: http://media.fcanorthamerica.com
Dodge brand: www.dodge.com
Dodge Garage: www.dodgegarage.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dodge or
https://www.facebook.com/FiatChrysler.NorthAmerica/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/dodgeofficial or
www.instagram.com/FiatChrysler_NA
Twitter: www.twitter.com/dodge or www.twitter.com/FiatChrysler_NA
YouTube: www.youtube.com/dodge or www.youtube.com/fcanorthamerica



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Motorsports media distribution list, please reply to this email with the
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For more information, please contact:

*Pat Caporali*

*Motorsports Communications—Mopar Dodge//SRT*

*Mobile: 248.421.9427*

*Pat.Caporali@external.FCAgroup.com* <Pat.Caporali@external.FCAgroup.com>

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