U.S. Army NHRA Racing 11th Annual NHRA Carolina Nationals at Charlotte Final Qualifying Report
Concord, NC – The U.S. Army driver trio of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, Leah Pritchett and Antron Brown are 
sixth, seventh and 11th on the elimination ladder, respectively, after the final two rounds of qualifying Saturday for this weekend’s 11th annual NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway just outside of Charlotte.
Schumacher and the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) continued their consistency in qualifying laying down two more competitive runs including his best of the weekend – 3.732 seconds at 329.42 mph – in Saturday’s first session. He closed qualifying with a solid trip down the track of 3.746 seconds at 328.94 mph to hold the No. 6 position and set up a meeting with Brown in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations. The U.S. Army Racing teammates have met in two of the first three Countdown races, with Schumacher advancing both times.
“We certainly were consistent through four rounds of qualifying, but we were a little disappointed in that last run,” said Schumacher, a two-time winner at zMAX Dragway. “We needed more power, and that’s data we can put to use tomorrow. It puts us in a good spot. We run Antron first round and if we can move on, the ladder gives us a shot at the guys we are chasing in the points. (Clay) Millican in the second round and (Steve) Torrence in the third round. It’s an incredible opportunity. We’ll bring our ‘A’ game tomorrow and let the fans get to see an A+ race.”
Brown and the Matco Tools ‘Tools for the Cause’/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR team bounced back Saturday after a pair of frustrating passes Friday. The three-time Top Fuel world champion, like his other U.S. Army Racing teammates, posted his best lap of the weekend in qualifying session three Saturday with his run of 3.785 seconds at 326.40 mph to jump from 15th to 11th on the ladder. In Saturday’s final session, the data shows that Brown was on a really good run before his machine overpowered the track late in the run resulting in a pass of 6.314 seconds at 106.22 mph. Brown will look to earn his third consecutive zMAX Dragway Countdown round win over Schumacher Sunday in the first round.
“The good thing is that we started the day with a good run down the track,” said Brown, the winningest Top Fuel driver at zMAX with three career wins. “We had some gremlins in the car in Dallas and they showed up here yesterday, which made for a frustrating qualifying day. Today, the Matco Tools/U.S. Army boys went to work. They had that no quit attitude and stripped the car down last night and replaced everything with new stuff and made a few changes. We were able to make a nice lap down the track and give us something to work with. It moved us up in the field and allowed us to take a shot at the No. 1 spot in Q4. We just got a little bit overly aggressive. The good thing is that everything did exactly what it wanted to. We’ve got a lot of confidence going into tomorrow. To have the confidence that our car is capable of a run in the 3.68 or 3.69 (seconds) area is something we haven’t had for a while. Now we can back it down and try to run somewhere in the low 3.70s and we’re going to need it. We’re facing Tony and the U.S. Army team and they have been running low 3.70s all weekend every lap, which is phenomenal. I just hate that we have to race first round, but we are going to go out and give it all we got and leave it all out there.”
Pritchett and her Papa John’s Pizza/Fireade/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR continued to improve opening today with a run of 3.755 seconds at 322.04 mph. The run prompted crew chief Tod Okuhara and assistant crew chief Joe Barlam to push things a little farther in Q4 and the changes were just too much as her machine lost traction just past halftrack and she rolled to the line in 4.524 seconds at 166.50 mph. She’ll face No. 10 qualifier Richie Crampton in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations.
“I think the communication between the car and crew after Q4 is going very well,” said Pritchett. “We are trying to operate inside a window that we didn’t know how big it really was. Ultimately, it just wanted a little more power. One thing about this team is that we know how to make power and that’s what has us excited for Sunday. We found the limit in that second run today and sets us up really nicely for tomorrow. It’s exciting for me to see my crew chiefs excited. I get to see all of their emotions, including their frustrations. And when we get to a spot like we are right now, their confidence extends throughout the team. A win tomorrow would do absolutely everything needed to maintain our championship contention. We know it’s really our last shot at making a championship push. We can only control our own destiny and make sure our racecar is performing it’s best. I’m doing the best job I can driving. A win tomorrow would certainly reignite all of the championship feelings inside us that are just kind of harnessed away right now.”
Eliminations are set for noon Sunday with FS1 broadcasting three hours of live eliminations beginning at 2 p.m.
