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The Sarge, Army Team Conquer Thunder Valley

Schumacher Captures Record 84th Career Top Fuel Win, Sixth at Bristol, And Fourth on Father’s Day

It was lightning in a bottle in Thunder Valley for Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and the U.S. Army Dragster team for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Sunday as the winningest driver in Top Fuel history and in the history of iconic Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway conquered the most challenging conditions of the season and captured the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Thunder Valley Nationals event title for a record sixth time.

Schumacher, the record eight-time world champion, upped his record total of event titles to 84 and ended a winless drought dating back to the 2017 Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. It also marked the fourth time in his illustrious career he has won on Father’s Day for the team owned by his father, the first coming in 2000 at Columbus, Ohio, and the most recent three here at Bristol in 2010, 2012 and today.

Track temperatures that far surpassed the 140-degree mark created extreme challenges for drivers and car tuners throughout the weekend, but the U.S. Army team proved to be the most consistent in qualifying Friday and Saturday and during today’s four elimination rounds.

From his No. 2 spot on the elimination ladder, Schumacher opened with the second-best run of the first round, powering his way down the track in 3.917 seconds at 316.82 mph in beating a tire-smoking Terry McMillen. He then outran Pat Dakin in a close race in the second round, crossing the stripe in 4.028 seconds at 288.64 mph to Dakin’s 4.041 seconds at 298.14 mph. That earned a semifinal showdown with points leader and recent nemesis Steve Torrence. It was neck and neck all the way down the track with Schumacher pulling away at the finish in 4.038 seconds at 297.02 mph to Torrence’s 4.232 seconds at 253.33 mph.

Mike Salinas, Schumacher’s final-round opponent, was making his first career final-round appearance while “The Sarge” was making his 150th. Like in the first round, Schumacher and his first-year crew chief Mike Neff tuned the Army car for a strong run, and the driver and car delivered with a solid effort of 3.946 seconds at 313.58 mph while Salinas smoked his tires early and coasted across the finish line.

“Yeah, Mike was telling me to get the fact it’s my 150th final round and his first out of my head, to just do what I do, get a 60 light, go down the racetrack, keep it in the middle and pull the parachutes,” Schumacher said. “We’ve been in 150 final rounds and people are going to win some of those against us. When you race in the final round, you have to be calm, relaxed, do your job and get that win. At the end of the day what you don’t want to do is say you could’ve had more wins but you’ve left something on the table. We’ve had times when we’ve lost on a holeshot, times we’ve done different things and got outrun – there’s always going to be a reason why you didn’t win but you’ve got to minimize that. We try to be the best we can, try to be a machine and just replicate what we do best. I was definitely prepared to do my best on that last run today because he had run very, very close to us. I didn’t expect it to be an easy round by any means. So, great job for the Army team. It was Father’s Day, which makes it a big moment day and those are the kinds we’ve been the best at over the years.”

Antron Brown and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster team for DSR, who qualified right behind Schumacher in the No. 3 position, entered the day with high hopes of scoring Brown’s first career Bristol victory. The driver and his car certainly delivered in the first round, laying down what turned out to be the fast Top Fuel run of the day of 3.897 seconds at 316.82 and holding off a determined Richie Crampton. But unexpected tire smoke just short of halftrack against Torrence led to a run of just 5.090 seconds at 155.65 mph while Torrence was able to pedal his car across the line in 4.232 seconds at 253.33 mph.

“This is the hottest racetrack we’ve raced on so far this year,” said Brown, the three-time Top Fuel world champion. “We made the necessary changes to slow it down, but the track was still really hot. With that said, we made it down there and we were just a little bit too fast. I’m very proud of my Matco Tools/U.S. Army guys. They’ve shown a great work ethic and we keep gaining and getting better and better. One of our goals was to come in here and qualify in the top-five and we did it by qualifying No. 3. We have the same goal for next week, we want to go to Norwalk and qualify in a top-tier spot. We just need to keep working on our whole package and making it better, including myself getting better. We stayed consistent this weekend and I felt pretty good. I’m just looking forward to the next race. I love the way we’re making gains and getting better and better. We dropped the low ET of the first round in some really hot and intense conditions. We’re just scratching the surface of what we’re capable of.”

Pritchett and her Papa John’s/FireAde/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR laid down their best run of the weekend in the fourth and final qualifying run Saturday afternoon to grab the No. 9 spot on the elimination ladder. But Salinas, her first-round opponent, got a jump at the start on a holeshot and beat her across the finish line. Salinas’ reaction time was .062 of a second to Pritchett’s .092, which made the difference despite Pritchett’s superior run of 4.011 seconds at 287.72 mph to his 4.023 seconds at 295.53 mph.

“We definitely felt hopeful, felt good going into today after finishing with a strong qualifying effort,” Pritchett said. “It’s been a little while since we’ve been the first pair out. There’s no sugar coating it at all. The numbers don’t lie. I was the weak link within our team and I wasn’t able to get to the finish line first. Salinas had a jump on me out of the gate. I’ve been struggling with my reaction times all over the board and this weekend it got us. Our car was there. It was the quicker car in the best conditions of the day. When something happens with the car or the team, what I love the most about it is, whatever goes wrong or if we have a situation, someone takes responsibility for it and I take responsibility for this one. But, I tell you what, it’s not going to be pretty for whoever I line up against first at Norwalk. These things sting and I’m going to find my way around it and over it. Already, we’re moving on to Norwalk. It’s unfortunate for my team. They don’t deserve that. It’s a learning process and I’ll never stop learning.”

After 11 of 24 events on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour for 2018, the top-10 drivers in the Top Fuel class are:

1. Steve Torrence (896 points)

2. Clay Millican (786 points, -110)

3. Tony Schumacher (760 points, -136)

4. Doug Kalitta (717 points, -179)

5. Leah Pritchett (663 points, -233)

6. Antron Brown (588 points, -308)

7. Brittany Force (552 points, -344)

Terry McMillen (552 points, -344)

9. Scott Palmer (461 points, -435)

10. Mike Salinas (421 points, -475)

 

Next up for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series competitors is next weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. FS1’s delayed three-hour broadcast of elimination rounds Sunday, June 24, is set for 6:30 p.m. EDT.

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