Title Chase Comes Up Short for Army Trio in Vegas

Pritchett Falls to Newly Crowned Champ Torrence in Top Fuel Final

Las Vegas – The U.S. Army Top Fuel driver trio of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, Antron Brown and Leah Pritchett gave it their all in their quests to remain mathematically alive in the chase for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Top Fuel world championship during the season’s penultimate event Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But there was absolutely no stopping the red-hot Steve Torrence, who clinched his first career championship by streaking to his 20th consecutive round win and fifth consecutive event title in this year’s six-event Countdown to the Championship playoffs by beating Pritchett in today’s Top Fuel final.

Schumacher and the U.S. Army Dragster team for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) started the day with a pair of big round wins in their effort to remain mathematically alive in the Top Fuel championship chase. He opened with a run of 3.818 seconds at 315.86 mph that was good enough to eliminate Scott Palmer, who crossed the finish line in 3.850 seconds at 304.94 mph. That set up a second-round meeting with Clay Millican, who was the top qualifier this weekend for the 10th time this season and the driver Schumacher and the Army team look to overtake for second place in the championship before season’s end.

Schumacher put in a solid run of 3.754 seconds at 328.70 mph that was more than enough to beat Millican, who encountered engine issues at the start and could muster a run of just 4.025 seconds at 242.15 mph. Awaiting Schumacher in the Top Fuel semifinals was Pritchett, who laid down her best run of the weekend in 3.730 seconds at 328.46 mph while Schumacher violently smoked his tires in bizarre fashion just after launching from the start line and coasted across the finish line in 6.004 seconds at 93.72 mph.

“I wish I could tell you what happened – they’re still trying to figure it out,” said Schumacher, the eight-time Top Fuel world champion who pulled to within 33 points of second-place Millican in the standings with one event to go. “It spun the tires real high and real fast and then it came down and sheared the clutch off of it. That was awful because we had a good car. We were just slow in the first round, and then, in the second round, we went great. We got the blower back up, the power was made and we went fast. That last round, everything was fine but it literally sheared the clutch completely out of it – one clean cut. We’ll figure everything out and come back for a strong finish to the season in Pomona. We’ve got a good chance to salvage a second-place finish in the Countdown if all goes well for us. Congratulations to Steve Torrence on the championship. Welcome to the fraternity of Top Fuel world champions. That was a team on a mission all year and they earned it – an outstanding job by everyone on that team.”

The day for Brown and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR was much shorter than expected after a strong and consistent two days of qualifying Friday and Saturday. The 2013 Las Vegas event titlist and three-time Top Fuel world champion lost a cylinder early in his first-round run against No. 12 qualifier Blake Alexander but still got down the track in a solid 3.793 seconds at 314.61 mph. Alexander had an even better run of 3.734 seconds at 326.48 mph to send Brown and his team home early.

“It’s just one of those times where we have to stay positive and stay after it,” said Brown, who dropped one spot to sixth in the Top Fuel standings. “Our car ran flawlessly throughout qualifying. We’re really starting to make up some ground. In the first round today, we went out there and we broke the engine about 1.8 seconds into the run and that caused us to seize up the clutch and we dropped a hole before the 330-foot mark and that was the end of our day. Our car was set to run a 71 or 72 (3.71 or 3.72). We had Blake by one hundredth at the tree and the car still ran quicker at 330 feet than we had all weekend and we didn’t even make it that far under power. We still ran a 3.79 despite the engine being hurt. ‘Woulda, coulda, shoulda’ is how racing goes. We just need to learn from it, grow from it and keep getting better. We take some good stuff away from this weekend. We’ll make some test runs tomorrow and get ready for Pomona and we want to end the year on a good note and gear up for next year.”

Pritchett and her Pennzoil/U.S. Army Dragster team for DSR picked up right where they left off in qualifying by powering their way to an easy victory over No. 13 qualifier Troy Buff in the opening round. Pritchett’s run weighed in at 3.735 seconds at 327.43 mph while Alexander crossed the finish line in 3.808 seconds at 319.67 mph. Next up was Alexander, who had lane choice after his stout victory over Brown in the opening round. No matter for Pritchett, who punched her ticket to her ninth semifinal of the season with a run of 3.740 seconds at 322.42 mph while Alexander struggled to lay down a run of 3.968 seconds at 276.29 mph.

Pritchett’s victory over Schumacher in the semifinal round secured her fifth Top Fuel final of the season. Her bid for a third event title of 2018 went up in smoke shortly after leaving the start line, eerily similar to Schumacher’s semifinal run against Torrence, after she double-stepped her launch. She coasted across the finish line in 5.317 seconds at 148.85 mph while Torrence went on to his 10th event title of the season with his clean run of 3.751 seconds at 326.32 mph.

“We have a really incredible racecar – the tuneup for Vegas, a solid effort and chance at a runner-up finish in the championship,” Pritchett said. “To put a silver lining on it, we made it to the final with seven solid passes. The buck stopped at me and I take full responsibility for that, wanting so badly not just to put a stop to Torrence’s reign in this Countdown, but more than anything the win for this team is what I wanted most for them. And to get myself in that mental state and hang it out all on the line, and I did, and my foot thought otherwise. It wasn’t the best driving job to be able to get to the finish line first. Seven just incredible runs, finally the issues we’ve been having with our superchargers and chassis, I think we’ve conquered those. So, if anything, a solid run for a good spot in the championship and a really good head start into 2019. The guys have really stepped up and this entire team has been really impressive to me.”

After 23 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 (2,718  points – clinched championship)

2. Clay Millican (2,487 points, -231)

3. Tony Schumacher (2,454 points, -264)

4. Leah Pritchett (2,394 points, -324)

5. Brittany Force (2,302 points, -416)

6. Antron Brown (2,291 points, -427)

7. Mike Salinas (2,259 points, -459)

Doug Kalitta (2,259 points, – 459)

9. Terry McMillen (2,253 points, -465)

10. Scott Palmer (2,182 points, -536)

The 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season concludes two weeks hence with the 54th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California. Delayed coverage of elimination rounds Sunday (Nov. 11) will be provided by FS2 at 10 p.m. EDT.