U.S. Army NHRA Racing 34th Annual NHRA Arizona Nationals Friday Qualifying Report
It was another record-breaking Friday night near Phoenix for U.S. Army Racing’s Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and 
his nine-man team led by crew chief Mike Neff at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona.
The eight-time NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Top Fuel world champion made two record-breaking runs during the opening day of the 34th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals establishing a new track elapsed time record and twice turning the fastest speed in Top Fuel history to earn the provisional pole heading in Saturday’s final two qualifying sessions. U.S. Army Racing’s Antron Brown and Leah Pritchett posted the seventh-best and 10th-best runs down the track, respectively.
Schumacher, driver of the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), opened his run for a sixth Phoenix triumph by setting new track records for both time and speed with his pass of 3.649 seconds at 334.65 mph. After seeing Clay Millican break his speed record by going 335.23 mph to open the second session, Schumacher was machine-like to close qualifying with a lap of 3.667 seconds at 336.57 mph to regain the speed record.
“There’s a lot more racing to be done this weekend, but we ran very well today,” said Schumacher. “There were a few other cars that made outstanding runs today and we are all going to have good data for tomorrow. What it tells me is that we have power in the U.S. Army car. To go 336 mph, that means you have an awful lot of power. It’s a fine line between having all that power and hurting stuff. Mike Neff and I talked before the run. He said we’ve got a certain amount of blowers and a certain amount of other parts, so don’t drive past the finish line. We go over a lot of things like that. He’s got a lot of confidence and that’s rubbing off on all of us. Mike and (assistant crew chief) Phil Shuler are really gelling. It’s been fun.
“This track is fast and guys are making killer power. This track has always shown good numbers. And for me it’s been a record-setting track and we’ve been fortunate to win this race quite a few times. Today was kind of a perfect storm. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Brown was also impressive aboard the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR in Friday’s first session. The three-time Top Fuel world champion and three-time NHRA Arizona Nationals champion posted a lap of 3.717 seconds at 333.66 mph, the fastest speed of his NHRA career. He was hoping to post a better run in Friday’s second session, but lost traction early in his run and put up a lap of 7.773 seconds at 88.53 mph.
Pritchett, the two-time defending Arizona Nationals Top Fuel champion, is seeking her second straight pole at Wild Horse Pass and made an opening run of 3.755 seconds at 291.07 mph. The driver of the DSR/Mopar/U.S. Army Dragster wasn’t able to improve her position in during the second session when
Qualifying concludes Saturday with sessions at 2 and 4:30 p.m. EST. Elimination rounds are set for at 1 p.m. Sunday with FS1 providing three hours of delayed coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m.
