Brown takes Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster to final round at Sonoma, but for second consecutive year DSR can’t find route to winner’s circle
SONOMA, CA – The wine country around Sonoma, Calif., near San Francisco is an outstanding tourist destination 
even for those who don’t imbibe in alcoholic beverages.
But Sonoma Raceway has not been the best place to visit for Don Schumacher Racing the past two years.
For the first time in 15 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events this year, DSR did not win a nitro title on Sunday in the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. Through the first 14 races, DSR had won 19 of a possible 28 nitro titles.
Last year, DSR also couldn’t find the way to the Sonoma winner’s circle.
But three-time and reigning Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster led by crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald advanced to its eighth final round and third straight but lost to Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence who won for the sixth time this year.
“We’re having a great (Western) Swing,” Brown said.
“We would have liked to have won here and kept the sweep going but, getting the runner-up, we can’t hang our heads. This week, we started off a little rough on Saturday but we still had a great qualifying – we qualified No. 4. Going into race day today, our Matco Tools/U.S. Army boys were steady, smooth and consistent. We just did what we needed to do to win each round.
“In the final, we thought we had to step up there but, at the step of the throttle, we had an ignition problem where the car was literally operating not even on the full ignition system because we had no power. Then it lost a hole going down the racetrack while Steve and those boys did what they needed to do to win, so hats off to them.”
Brown started this season holding a 20-1 winning advantage over Torrence, but Torrence has won three of four meetings with Brown and won the last three times they met in a championship round. Brown defeated Torrence at the Topeka, Kan. race in May.
In Funny Car, Jack Beckman advanced the deepest of DSR’s Dodge Charger R/Ts by going to the semifinals but his car shut off a few hundred feet from the finish line and J.R. Todd, who went on to win the title for Kalitta Motorsports, recovered from early tire smoke to chase down Beckman for the win.
“It’s always disappointing to lose,” Beckman said.
“Today was really tough for the Infinite Hero team for a few different reasons. One is, the car in the other lane, (eventual event winner Todd), had massive problems. They smoked the tires instantly, they gave us a huge window to go through. We couldn’t do it. Our car just quit running 200 feet from the finish. I was dead in the water and we were coasting, and it’s a helpless feeling to know that that car’s coming up on you and going about 150 miles an hour faster than you’re going.”
In a rare occurrence, three DSR teams lost in the opening round including Ron Capps (NAPA Auto Parts) and Matt Hagan (80th Anniversary Mopar/Express Lane) in Funny Car, and eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher (U.S. Army). Sonoma Top Fuel pole winner Leah Pritchett (Papa John’s Pizza) and Tommy Johnson Jr. (Terry Chandler’s Make-A-Wish Dodge) lost in the second round.
The three-week Western Swing concludes next weekend at Seattle.
