U.S. Army NHRA Racing 37th Annual Mile-High NHRA Nationals Friday Qualifying Report

Friday’s rain-delayed opening two rounds of qualifying for this weekend’s 37th annual Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in the Denver suburb of Morrison, Colorado showed the U.S. Army duo of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown fifth and ninth, respectively, on the Top Fuel timesheets.

Schumacher, the eight-time Top Fuel world champion and two-time Mile-High Nationals winner in his U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), closed the night with a stout run of 3.836 seconds at 313.07 mph. The Sarge did not get down the track cleanly on his first effort of the day after a two-hour rain delay, crossing the finish line in 8.572 seconds at 70.27 mph.

Brown, the two-time and defending Top Fuel world champion in the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR, got down the track in 3.911 seconds at 281.30 mph in tonight’s second session. He, too, struggled to get down the track in the opening round, crossing the finish line in 7.599 seconds at 90.89 mph.

FS2 will carry a one-hour qualifying show recapping tonight’s sessions at 3 a.m. and 7 p.m. EDT Saturday. The final two qualifying sessions are set for 6:30 and 9 p.m. Saturday with delayed coverage on FS1 at 11 p.m. Sunday’s elimination rounds are set for 1 p.m. with live TV on the FOX broadcast network beginning at 3 p.m.