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U.S. Army NHRA Racing Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona Friday Qualifying Report 

Pomona, CA – The U.S. Army driver trio of Leah Pritchett, Antron Brown and Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher are first, third and 11th on the provisional ladder, respectively, after the opening two rounds of qualifying Friday for this weekend’s season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.

Schumacher and his U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) had a promising open to his day with the third-best qualifying run of the opening session. It weighed in at 3.792 seconds at 326.24 mph that was outdone only by his U.S. Army and DSR teammates. His second run in prime, nighttime conditions went up in smoke shortly after his launch from the starting line, leaving him to coast across the finish line in 6.748 seconds at 98.23 mph.

“We were definitely going for something in the 60s (3.60 seconds) and it was clearly out there, but that doesn’t mean it was out there in our lane that run,” said Schumacher, who’s won a record-tying six Pomona event titles and owns a record 10 No. 1 qualifying efforts. “It got pretty fast before 60-foot and then it went south. We’ll go fast tomorrow, but the bottom line as it is every weekend is that we’ll need to go rounds on Sunday. We need to win more rounds than anybody else. We’re chasing second place and we just need to go out and be fastest in the qualifying sessions tomorrow and then win rounds on Sunday. This track generally gets better as we go through the weekend, so we’ll be good tomorrow.”

Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR opened with the second-fastest run of today’s first session with an effort of 3.791 seconds at 325.37 mph. He topped it in a big way with a run of 3.704 seconds at 329.50 mph that ended up third overall.

“We’ve just been working on it really hard,” said Brown, who scored back-to-back Top Fuel event titles here in 2009 and 2010 to go with his event title in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class in 2004. “Mark (Oswald, crew chief), Brad (Mason, crew chief) and all of these Matco/U.S. Army boys – man, they’re getting it right. That time I simply hit the gas and felt it take off, we had a great 60-foot, which is what we’ve been working on. So, next year, we’re coming, baby. This race, this weekend, we love being in Pomona and we just want to end on a good note.”

Pritchett and her Mopar/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR was fastest in both sessions today, starting with a run of 3.774 seconds at 312.64 mph, and closing with a head-turning run of 3.649 seconds at 329.34 mph. She’ll look to hold her position for her fourth No. 1 qualifying effort of the season Saturday.

“What you saw right there was teamwork at work,” said Pritchett, who reached the final round against Steve Torrence two weekends ago, her fifth final-round appearance this season. “That was absolutely phenomenal. I knew it before we even got to halftrack. That was a nice little quiver and that’s when you know you’re going somewhere. At halftrack, it hunkered down in a way that I haven’t felt in a really long, long time. This is that Mopar power, this is in that Dodge garage, and I knew it was good but didn’t know how good. Phenomenal, that’s what we want to do – we want to end the season on a super high note, and that’s what my guys are doing right now.”

FS1’s delayed coverage of today’s qualifying highlights is set for 10:30 p.m. EST. The final two qualifying sessions are set for 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday with FS1’s qualifying wrap-up show set for 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Elimination rounds are set for 2 p.m. Sunday with FS1’s live broadcast beginning at 4 p.m.

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