GLENDORA, Calif. – Drag racing fans are invited to join the NHRA, Shell Oil Company (Shell) and Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) on Thursday, April 28, at a special event in downtown Houston.
NHRA, Shell and DSR will be in Hermann Square Park at City Hall at 900 Smith Street at 11 a.m. (CT) celebrating the long-lasting and successful relationships between the three companies. The event will give fans a chance to meet some of the world’s best drag racers and see their 10,000 horsepower, nitro-breathing machines up close and personal.
All seven DSR drivers – reigning Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown, eight-time Top Fuel champ Tony Schumacher, two-time Funny Car champ Matt Hagan, 2012 Funny Car world champion and 2015 runner-up Jack Beckman, Ron Capps, 2013 Top Fuel world champion Shawn Langdon and Tommy Johnson Jr. – and Leah Pritchett will be on site mingling with fans and participating in an exclusive autograph session. Fans can also get pictures with Schumacher’s U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster, Capps’ NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car and Hagan’s Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car that will be on display. Representatives from NHRA, Shell and DSR will talk with the crowd about the excitement of the sport of drag racing and the three companies’ storied history.
NHRA, Shell and Don Schumacher Racing are among the leaders in the world of auto racing. Don Schumacher is one of drag racing’s pioneers in Funny Car, having raced to five national events as a driver. Since 1970, his DSR teams have tallied 269 NHRA national event victories.
DSR and Pennzoil, a Shell brand, announced a marketing partnership in March 2015. Pennzoil, too, has an extensive history with auto racing. Like DSR, Pennzoil has been involved in NHRA drag racing since the early days of the sport when it sponsored the first famous drag racer, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, in 1958. Pennzoil saw great success in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but may be best known in NHRA drag racing for its sponsorship of 1993 NHRA Top Fuel world champion, Eddie Hill.
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series will be in Houston, April 29 – May 1, for the NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway. The sixth of 24 events on the 2016 season will feature two qualifying sessions on Friday, April 29 at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. The final two qualifying sessions will be on Saturday, April 30, at 1 and 3:30 p.m. and will set the field for Sunday’s 11 a.m. eliminations.
***
About Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Royal Dutch Shell plc, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies with operations in more than 70 countries. We deliver a diverse range of energy solutions and petrochemicals to customers worldwide. These include transporting and trading oil and gas, marketing natural gas, producing and selling fuel for ships and planes, generating electricity and providing energy efficiency advice.
We also produce and sell petrochemical building blocks to industrial customers globally, and we are investing in making renewable and lower-carbon energy sources competitive for large-scale use. In the U.S., we operate in 50 states and employ more than 20,000 people delivering energy in a responsible manner.
About Shell Lubricants
The term ‘Shell Lubricants’ collectively refers to the companies of Royal Dutch Shell plc that are engaged in the lubricants business. Shell Lubricants companies lead the lubricants industry, supplying more than 12 percent of global lubricants volume. * The companies manufacture and blend products for use in consumer, heavy industrial and commercial transport applications. The Shell Lubricants portfolio of top-quality brands includes Pennzoil®, Quaker State®, FormulaShell®, Shell TELLUS®, Shell RIMULA®, Shell ROTELLA® T, Shell SPIRAX® and Jiffy Lube®.
*Kline & Company, “Global Lubricants Industry July 2015: Market Analysis and Assessment.”
About Don Schumacher Racing
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., fields seven professional NHRA teams. In Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the Matco Tools dragster driven by two-time world champion Antron Brown and the Sandvik Coromant/Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher dragster driven by Shawn Langdon and in Funny Car, 2011 and 2014 world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots 2015 Dodge Charger R/T, 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge of Ron Capps and the Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr.
DSR has won 269 NHRA national event titles and 14 world championships.
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing.
About NHRA
Headquartered in Glendora, Calif., NHRA is the primary sanctioning body for the sport of drag racing in the United States. NHRA presents 24 national events featuring the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. NHRA provides competition opportunities for drivers of all levels in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series, NHRA Summit Racing Series and the NHRA Drags: Street Legal Style presented by AAA. NHRA also offers NHRA Jr. Street for teens and the Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League for youth ages 5 to 17. In addition, NHRA owns and operates five racing facilities: Atlanta Dragway in Georgia; Gainesville Raceway in Florida; National Trail Raceway in Ohio; Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis; and Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Southern California. For more information, log on to NHRA.com, or visit the official NHRA pages on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
