Indy Weekend Ends Abruptly for U.S. Army Trio

U.S. Army Racing’s Brown, Schumacher and Pritchett Exit Early in NHRA’s Biggest Race

The goal of the weekend for the Army Racing trio of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, Antron Brown and Leah Pritchett was to reach new milestones during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series’ signature event at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. Unfortunately, making history will have to wait at least another year after all three lost traction in their respective runs and exited before they could advance deep in today’s elimination rounds of the 64th annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals.

Schumacher, the most decorated driver in Top Fuel and U.S. Nationals history, entered the weekend with a mission of scoring his 11th career Indy triumph. His first run of the weekend was his best and only time the U.S. Army Dragster for DSR made a 1000-foot run at speed. The eight-time Top Fuel world champion was hoping his U.S. Army Racing team led by Mike Neff and Phil Shuler would be able get his machine down the track Monday, but his race with Billy Torrence was simply a repeat performance from the Saturday and Sunday’s qualifying passes. “The Sarge” lost traction before reaching the eighth-mile and legged out a run of 4.203 seconds at 256.55 mph. Torrence won easily with his lap of 3.831 seconds at 320.05 mph, the second-best run of the session.

“What a way to end a frustrating weekend,” said Schumacher, following only his fifth first-round exit in 23 career U.S. Nationals. “This is Indy and you want to come out and be your best every day here. Especially today, when everything was on the line. We have a fast race car, but just never got a handle of it this weekend. That’s tough, because we had good results last week here testing. This place has been so special to me and the U.S. Army for the last 18 years. We certainly had a different outcome in mind for this weekend, but it doesn’t always work out the way you want it to. We just finished a team meeting led by (crew chief) Mike Neff and the message was we will not be out worked and we have an excellent opportunity to win the championship. We’re sitting third heading into the Countdown and we earned that spot. It’s almost a clean slate from here on. It’s about the team that can finish now. Six races to decide it all. That starts in Reading in two weeks and we’ll be ready.”

Brown also entered the weekend with the chance to do something no other U.S. Nationals competitor had ever accomplished. The New Jersey native won a pair of U.S. Nationals in Pro Stock Motorcycle and scored his first Top Fuel Indy triumph in 2011. No driver has ever won multiple U.S. Nationals in two different classes. Coming in on the heels of two consecutive final-round appearances, the three-time Top Fuel world champion believed crew chief Mark Oswald and assistant crew chief Brad Mason had the Matco Tools/U.S. Army/Toyota Dragster for DSR running the best it has all season.

In Monday’s first round, Brown laid down an impressive run of 3.835 seconds at 324.12 mph to beat reigning Top Fuel world champion Brittany Force, who smoked the tires early resulting in a pass of 4.693 seconds at 160.58 mph. The win set up a second-round matchup with Doug Kalitta and unfortunately for Brown, it was over quickly. Brown’s machine went up in smoke early in the run and he coasted to the finish with a lap of 6.903 seconds at 104.84 mph while Kalitta maintained traction longer and advanced with his pass of 4.089 seconds at 249.90 mph

“We started off really good today,” said Brown. “After qualifying third, we were in a good spot against Brittany Force, who you never expect to face after qualifying third. We came out strong in the first round. We were within a couple thousandths of the quickest pass in the round. Coming back in the second round against with Dougie (Kalitta), we knew everything was on the line. The track was the hottest it’s been all weekend and we just got a little bit too aggressive on the starting line. Doug just made it farther down the track before he lost traction too. It’s always tough losing. The bigger picture was in play there also. If we would have beat Doug, we would have been fifth in the points and had a shot at moving up to third in the points. It didn’t work out and we’ll enter the playoffs sixth after the points are reset. Now we go to Reading and the Countdown is on. That’s where our focus is.”

Pritchett qualified the Papa John’s Pizza/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR sixth and was looking to join Shirley Muldowney as the only female winners in Top Fuel at the U.S. Nationals. Following Sunday’s final qualifying session, she had high expectations heading into her fourth run at a U.S. Nationals professional victory. Pritchett and Kalitta were the final pair of the opening round. Kalitta had the advantage from the start with his reaction time of .067 of a second and pulled away to run a lap of 3.888 seconds at 273.44 mph while Pritchett lost traction midway through her run and slowed to a pass of 5.580 seconds at 125.12 mph.

“We started the weekend rising to the occasion by putting that lap on the board Friday night, but the rest of the qualifying sessions were a challenge,” said Pritchett. “We had confidence coming into today after putting in a new clutch package for last night’s final qualifying run. Unfortunately against Doug (Kalitta), it just wasn’t quite enough. It’s something that we thought we had a grasp on, but obviously we aren’t quite there yet. It’s frustrating for the crew chiefs right now. We were all hoping that we were making a change for the better, but it’s something we are going to have to figure out quickly with the Countdown starting. Yeah, Indy has kicked our butt again, but that’s okay because the Countdown is definitely where this team is going to shine.”

The U.S. Nationals was the 18th of the 2018 NHRA campaign and closed out the regular season. Schumacher, Pritchett and Brown rank third, fourth and sixth, respectively, in the lineup of 10 drivers competing in the Countdown to the Championship that begins in Reading, Pennsylvania in two weeks.

The points for the 10 drivers qualified for the six-race Countdown to the Championship in Top Fuel are as follows:

1. Steve Torrence (2,100 points)
2. Clay Millican (2,080 points, -30)
3. Tony Schumacher (2,070 points, -40)
4. Leah Pritchett (2,060 points, -50)
5. Doug Kalitta (2,050 points, -60)
6. Antron Brown (2,040 points, -70)
7. Terry McMillen (2,030 points, -80)
8. Brittany Force (2,020 points, -90)
9. Mike Salinas (2,010 points, -100)
10. Scott Palmer (2,000 points, -110)

The final 2018 regular season points for the Top Fuel class are below.

1. Steve Torrence (1,422 points)
2. Clay Millican (1,204 points, -218)
3. Tony Schumacher (1,195 points, -227)
4. Leah Pritchett (1,170 points, -252)
5. Doug Kalitta (1,166 points, -256)
6. Antron Brown (1,112 points, -310)
7. Terry McMillen (959 points, -463)
8. Brittany Force (839 points, -583)
9. Mike Salinas (768 points, -654)
10. Scott Palmer (755 points, -667)

Next up is the 34th annual Dodge NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pennsylvania, Sept. 14-16. FS1 will carry live coverage of elimination rounds Sunday starting at 1 p.m. EDT