U.S. Army NHRA Racing AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at St. Louis Final Qualifying Report
The U.S. Army driver trio of Leah Pritchett, Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown wound up fifth, sixth 
and seventh on the elimination ladder, respectively, after the final two rounds of qualifying Saturday for this weekend’s seventh annual AAA Insurance NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park just outside of St. Louis.
Schumacher continued his qualifying consistency aboard the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Saturday making two more clean runs. His opening pass of 3.779 seconds at 326.79 mph maintained the sixth position on the qualifying grid before the two-time St. Louis winner posted a lap of 3.731 seconds at 330.72 mph, his best run of the weekend, in the final qualifying session. The eight-time Top Fuel world champion will begin the quest for his 85th career Top Fuel victory Sunday by facing Richie Crampton. The two have met seven times previously with a pair of those coming in 2018. Schumacher won their most recent matchup in the second round at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire.
“The last qualifying run was a big one for this U.S. Army Racing team,” said Schumacher. “We have been extremely slow. We were five one-hundredths off and we can’t win a race that way. We made some big changes on that last run and it was an awesome, awesome run. We are heading the right direction. Tomorrow is a long day. No one is safe. I understand there are some cars running better than we are, but this is the beginning. This is when we get the best.”
Brown, the all-time winningest Top Fuel driver at Gateway Motorsports Park with five wins, and his team led by co-crew chiefs Mark Oswald and Brad Mason battled through mechanical issues on his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR Saturday. The three-time Top Fuel champion lost cylinders early in his first run and shut it off coasting to a pass of 6.427 seconds at 104.03 mph. Brown, like Schumacher and Pritchett, closed qualifying with his best run of the weekend. He posted a lap of 3.750 seconds at 320.58 mph and jumped back into the top-half of the field. He will face Doug Kalitta in the first round. The two met most recently in the second round of the U.S. Nationals with Kalitta prevailing. Brown maintains a career record of 29-22 versus Kalitta.
“We needed that Q4 run in Q3 so we could have gone for it in that last session,” said Brown. “In hindsight, we made some good leeway. The car was a run of 3.72 (seconds) or 3.73 but we dropped a hole out the back door. We’re getting a handle on why we are losing so many cylinders, so that’s a good thing. We just got to keep rolling. Tomorrow is race day. We’ve got ourselves in a good spot in the top half of the field. We just proved it in that final session that we can run with anybody. We are moving in the right direction and I feel confident. We’ve got lane choice in the first round and we’ll just go out and do what we do. If you want to win something, you’ve got to beat everybody.”
Pritchett, the driver of the Papa John’s Pizza/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR, was strong in both sessions Saturday. She posted the fourth-best run to open the day, a lap of 3.771 seconds at 325.30 mph, and improved during her final pass. It was a thrilling 330 mph side-by-side run with Pritchett’s lap of 3.718 seconds at 330.96 mph. She wound up No. 5 on the ladder and will face No. 12 qualifier Scott Palmer in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations. The two have met 10 times previously with Pritchett winning eight, including their most recent race in the second round of the Dodge Mile-High Nationals in July.
“Coming into St. Louis, we made some very large wholesale changes,” said Pritchett. “We have stayed committed to them and it’s very pleasing to see the car cooperating to the changes. We went out in Q4 to run a 3.71 (seconds) and that’s exactly what we did. Picking up six one-hundredths when it counts. We’re just chipping away at it. This is really exciting for the fans and the sport that we’re putting these fast numbers down when we really need to. Tomorrow is race day. We know the car is cooperating. We’ve opened up our tuning window and I can’t wait to get after it tomorrow. This is when you step up for the Countdown.”
Elimination rounds begin at noon (EDT) Sunday with FS1’s live television coverage set to begin at 2 p.m.
