U.S. Army NHRA Racing NHRA Nationals at Brainerd Final Qualifying Report
The U.S. Army driver trio of Antron Brown and Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Leah Pritchett wound up third, 
seventh and eighth on the elimination ladder, respectively, after the final two rounds of qualifying Saturday for this weekend’s 37th annual NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway.
Schumacher and his U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, a three-time Brainerd Nationals winner, three-time runner-up and six-time No. 1 qualifier, bettered his Friday provisional qualifying time with his opening run today, an effort of 3.818 seconds at 326.87 mph that was second-best for the session. It bumped him up temporarily to fifth on the ladder, but after his closing, late tire-smoking run of 4.225 seconds at 202.30 mph, he fell to No. 7. Schumacher will face No. 10 qualifier Terry McMillen in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations.
“I like this racetrack – to win this race, you have to be everybody and this is a good place to race,” said Schumacher, who’s Brainerd victories came in 2000, 2004 and 2008. “We were pushing it there a little bit that last run. When you see someone put up a big number ahead of you and go number one, you don’t want to be out there just being average.
Mike (Neff, crew chief) originally wanted to just slide it down there and make sure we have a good race-day tuneup, but after seeing the numbers ahead of us, we wanted to go quicker. We were right there. It almost made it. We’ve almost made it a lot of times. We tried a lot of different things these last two days and we definitely learned a lot. Conditions are going to be cooler tomorrow so we’ll see who can come out and get it figured out soon enough.”
Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR, who won the Top Fuel class of this event in 2011 and was runner-up the last three seasons, had a pair of consistent runs today, starting with an effort of 3.837 seconds at 323.50 mph and closing with a run of 3.834 seconds at 319.45 mph. But the father-son duo of Billy and Steve Torrence both surpassed Brown’s provisional No. 1 qualifying effort from Friday night today, ruining his bid for a 50th career No. 1 here this weekend. Brown will face No. 14 qualifier Luigi Novelli in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations.
“I feel really good” said Brown, who was No. 1 Top Fuel qualifier here in 2014 and 2016. “We went down the track almost every lap this weekend. Got beat out by four-thousandths of a second for the No. 1 qualifying spot, but hey, we’ll take it. We qualified in the top-three and we’re going to get ready for tomorrow. The Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota Top Fuel Dragster is running really mean. I’m pumped. Just ready to get after it and hopefully can make it a good race day here in Brainerd.”
Pritchett and her Mopar/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR, the defending event champ and two-time winner this year, also laid down a pair of consistent runs today, starting with an effort of 3.818 seconds at 323.04 mph and closing with a run of 3.829 seconds at 324.59 mph. She wound up No. 8 on the ladder and will face No. 9 qualifier Scott Palmer in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations.
“We’ll be running an excellent guy, excellent crew, part of that Capco bunch, and Sunday’s going to be totally different,” said Pritchett, who beat Brown here in last year’s Top Fuel final. “Our Q4 wasn’t exactly what we were looking for. We wanted to push and pushed a little bit too hard. We’re finding that right balance. I think we’ve been on the spectrum. I think Sunday will be an entirely perfect day to land it right in the middle where we want it. It’s been shown you can win from any position. I’ve always loved racing at Brainerd. Tomorrow’s the day to bump it up.”
FS1 will broadcast a one-hour qualifying highlight show at noon EDT Sunday, followed by three hours of live eliminations coverage beginning at 2 p.m.
