ENNIS, TX – It was simply a matter of ending up on the bad side of a good drag race that led to an early exit for Tony Schumacher and the Maynard Family Racing team during Sunday’s elimination rounds at the Texas NHRA FallNationals.

With six Texas Motorplex triumphs, Schumacher is the winningest Top Fuel driver in the history of the facility, and the 2020 ‘Texas Motorplex Legend’ award recipient was hoping to add to his total as he sought to race to the winner’s circle for the second time this season.

Piloting the SCAG Power Equipment livery for the last time in 2022, Schumacher entered the final qualifying session on Saturday evening sitting in the No. 13 spot after clocking a 3.836 E.T. as his best run of the weekend’s first three qualifying rounds. Crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler turned up the wick in Q4, tuning Schumacher’s machine to a 3.801 E.T., and while it was a solid pass, it wasn’t enough to improve their position on a ladder which was mostly set from Friday night’s Q2 session during prime racing conditions.

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Ennis, TX – As a resident of Austin, Schumacher considers the Texas Motorplex to be his home track. At the 2020 event, Schumacher was named a Texas Motorplex Legend and was the second person to be awarded the honor, which was first introduced in 2019.

With six Texas Motorplex triumphs, Schumacher is the winningest Top Fuel driver in the history of the facility Schumacher claimed his first NHRA national event win in 1999 at Dallas and went on to win his first of eight championships later that year.  The Maynard Family Racing Top Fuel dragster will fly the SCAG Power Equipment colors for the final time in 2022 this weekend Schumacher and the JCM team announced a partnership expansion with SCAG Power Equipment last month.

Starting in 2023, SCAG will serve as the primary backer of Schumacher’s 11,000-horsepower machine at all events through 2025. Before qualifying gets underway, team owners Joe and Cathi Maynard will be honored at the Austin Peay State University Naming Celebration of the Joe and Cathi Maynard Family Athletics Complex at Fortera Stadium in Clarksville, TN on Friday morning Named Austin Peay’s 2020 Philanthropists of the Year, Clarksville residents Joe and Cathi Maynard have given generously to the University since 2017, including improvements to the baseball field – now named Joe Maynard Field – and the softball park – known as Cathi Maynard Park.

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MADISON, IL – After a frustrating start to his 2022 NHRA Countdown campaign, SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher was optimistic that the Maynard Family Racing team would experience an uptick in performance beginning with this weekend’s NHRA Midwest Nationals. Following last week’s Charlotte event, Schumacher had remarked that he thought the team would crack into the 3.6-second zone for the first time this season during the St. Louis race. Schumacher noted that the JCM tuning brain trust of Todd Okuhara, Phil Shuler, and Marc Denner was pleased to see that their 11,000-horsepower machine was starting to react to what they were asking it to do, and felt they had a good baseline to work off of heading into World Wide Technology Raceway.

“We haven’t run in the 3.60-range all year. And, I think this weekend in St. Louis, it’ll run that 60 we’ve been waiting for,” Schumacher had said in between the Charlotte and St. Louis events, adding, “The car’s performance is finally doing what we’re asking it to do. When you have a car that does that, you can fine-tune the run. Every time we were making a change, the car would just do the same thing; it wouldn’t react. Now we’re making changes, and it’s responding to what we’re doing, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Even if it’s bad, at least you can say, ‘okay, that’s not it, we need to take a different approach,’ but at least you have that information to be able to make that call.”

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Madison, IL – Schumacher and the Maynard Family Racing team announced a partnership expansion with SCAG Power Equipment during last weekend’s Charlotte event. Starting in 2023, SCAG will serve as the primary backer of Schumacher’s 11,000-horsepower machine through 2025.

“A couple of things have hurt us this year. Having three qualifying runs rather than four has really put us behind the eight ball being down one run at each race. We’re making drastic changes in how we run the car. So, if we miss it Friday night, now we’re not qualified, so then we’re stuck playing catch up trying to get in the show on Saturday, and we’re stuck making a conservative to run to make sure we’re qualified. You can’t make it down only one out of three qualifying runs and expect to win on Sunday. We can see the light, though. It’s getting better, we’re getting there. In round one in Charlotte, we were on a good, good run, and then the blower came apart. Our numbers were better than (Hart’s). We were on track to run a .60. We haven’t run in the 3.60-range all year. And, I think this weekend in St. Louis, it’ll run that .60 we’ve been waiting for.

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CONCORD, NC – It’s no secret that Tony Schumacher’s 2022 NHRA Countdown to the Championship campaign has gotten off to a rocky start. After two consecutive first-round losses to start the playoffs, it would be easy for the winningest Top Fuel pilot in NHRA history to get discouraged, but the veteran driver knows that the sport of NHRA Drag Racing has its ebbs and flows, and Schumacher feels confident that the Maynard Family Racing team is on the brink of seeing a turnaround in their on-track performance.

“Man, it’s been a rough start,” said Schumacher, who staged the SCAG Power Equipment Top Fueler opposite No. 6 qualifier Josh Hart in the opening round of eliminations at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte. “Qualifying in the 11th spot in that last session here, that’s not what we wanted, but overall, I think we made huge progress for the team. I know it doesn’t show on paper right now, but we made big, big, big changes this weekend, and I truly believe our performance will start to reflect that next weekend in St. Louis.”

Countdown-contenders Schumacher and Hart were the first two competitors to hit the track on Sunday morning and were ready to put on a great show for the fans, but their round-one matchup wasn’t without some drama.

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Maynard Family Racing Announces Expanded Multi-Year Partnership with SCAG Power Equipment

CONCORD, NC – NHRA Top Fuel championship-contender Tony Schumacher and the Maynard Family Racing team announced today that they have renewed their partnership agreement with SCAG Power Equipment, an industry leader in commercial and residential riding, stand-on, and walk-behind lawn mowers, as well as professional and residential debris management equipment.

SCAG burst onto the NHRA scene in 2022 when it made its drag racing debut at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. with Schumacher at the helm of the SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster. The Mayville, Wis.-based organization was eager to partner with NHRA’s winningest Top Fuel driver when Schumacher announced his full-time return to the sport ahead of the 2022 season. What started as a seven-race primary/six-race co-primary one-year partnership, has now grown into a multi-year agreement with SCAG increasing their role to become a primary partner of the Maynard Family Racing Top Fuel team through 2025.

“The decision to not only continue, but expand upon our partnership with Tony Schumacher and the Maynard Family Racing team was an easy one,” explained Randy Gloede, President and CEO of SCAG Power Equipment, from the zMAX Dragway media center on Saturday morning at the Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals. “NHRA was a new market for us and we looked at 2022 to be somewhat of a trial run. Our distributor and dealer network quickly capitalized on the value of our relationship with Tony through social media campaigns, appearances, trackside hospitality, midway interactions, and customer appreciation events.

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Concord, NC – Schumacher will make his first Carolina Nationals appearance since 2018. So far in 2022, Schumacher has one win (Seattle), and one runner-up finish (Brainerd, Minn.) The winningest Top Fuel driver in NHRA history is vying for his ninth series title

“I’m looking forward to getting back to Charlotte for the second time this year and racing it ‘normal’ two-wide. We’re in the Countdown, and the fact that Reading didn’t work out well for us really puts the pressure on. We’ve got five races to cowboy-up and get this thing moving. I think we’re heading in the right direction. We made drastic changes in Reading, and I think it’s going to show starting this weekend. The conditions are going to be great, and we’re going to go out and try and win this thing. We’re going to test after Dallas, we’re going to test after Vegas, and we are going to get our car back into winning form.” explained Tony

Countdown to the Championship Ranking: 12th

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READING, PA – Tony Schumacher qualified the SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel dragster 11th for the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, the opening event of the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Making his first Countdown and Maple Grove Raceway appearance since 2018, Schumacher returned to ‘the Grove’ looking to add to his category-best five Reading Wally trophies.

Schumacher’s 3.754-second pass from the weekend’s third qualifying session pitted him against fellow championship-hopeful Clay Millican in round one of eliminations on Sunday morning. Schumacher, a two-time finalist in 2022 who powered to victory in Seattle last month, scored a large holeshot start on Millican to nab the early lead, but his 11,000-horsepower machine drove into tire smoke shortly after, and his opponent was able to drive around for the win, ending Schumacher’s day after the first round.

“It’s been four years since I’ve been back at Reading, and man, this is a beautiful place,” said Schumacher, an eight-time Top Fuel series champion. “The fans were jam-packed in here all weekend, and we love to see that. Our car did not perform that well during qualifying, and we didn’t do that great on race day. We had a huge lead versus Clay early on and then it spun the tires, I pedaled, it shredded a belt, and Clay got past at the finish line.

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Reading, Pa – Tony Schumacher leads the class in number of Top Fuel victories (five) at Maple Grove Raceway. Schumacher has been the Reading No. 1 qualifier seven times- the most of any Top Fuel driver at a single event.

The 2022 event marks Schumacher’s first time returning to Reading since 2018. Schumacher will make his first Countdown to the Championship appearance since 2018. So far in 2022, Schumacher has one win (Seattle), and one runner-up finish (Brainerd, Minn.) The winningest Top Fuel driver in NHRA history will be vying for his ninth series title.

“This is the first time where we’ve had a Countdown with more than 10 cars fighting for the Top Fuel title. There are 12 teams battling it out this year, and that’s exciting, and I’m one of those that believes this is the right decision. I think that if a team shows up, runs every race, makes a few qualifying runs, they deserve to be there. We are fortunate that we didn’t get in that way. We got into the Top 10, and stayed in the Top 10, based on the way we performed, and we’re proud of that.

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INDIANAPOLIS – Despite a first-round exit at the NHRA U.S. Nationals near Indianapolis, Tony Schumacher is optimistic about the performance of his Maynard Family Racing Top Fuel dragster going into the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. The 10-time Indy winner secured the No. 10 spot in the Countdown, giving him a shot at a ninth NHRA Top Fuel world championship.

With 25 Top Fuel entries vying to make the elimination show, it was a nail-biter of a weekend for Schumacher, who went into the final day of qualifying for the ‘Big Go’ not qualified, but his DSR Performance-powered Maynard Family Racing dragster fired off a 3.743-second blast during Q4 to secure one of 16 spots in the fastest Top Fuel field in NHRA history.

Starting race day from 13th, Schumacher and opponent Mike Salinas left the starting line together, but the 86-time race winner ran into issues and had to coast through the finish line with a 5.072-second pass. It wasn’t enough to beat Salinas, but Schumacher was quick to point out the positives of the weekend.

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