Schumacher Out Early in Denver

MORRISON, CO – After a wild ride during the final qualifying session that saw his Maynard Family Racing/Kaizen Collision Centers Top Fuel dragster up on two wheels, Tony Schumacher and his Todd Okuhara-led team rolled out their backup car for race day at the NHRA Mile-High Nationals, a DSR Performance-crafted machine which was featured on the premiere episode of ABC’s The Bachelorette alongside Jordan Vandergriff earlier in the week. As the No. 11 qualifier, Schumacher, one of only seven Camping World Series competitors who can claim to have ‘swept the Swing,’ faced Clay Millican as his first-round opponent. With a category-best 41 Bandimere Speedway round wins, Schumacher was eager to add to his total but dropped cylinders early into the run caused his 11,000-horsepower machine to slow and Millican was able to score the round win.

“That was a bummer, but I love this place anyways. Heck of a ride Saturday night; brand new car, just got front-halved and we bent it on a wheelstand,” said Schumacher of his dragster, which featured ‘A Soldier’s Child’ branding, a nonprofit organization near-and-dear to the hearts of the Maynard Family.

“We had to take out our back up car, and it’s disappointing to have such a great crew, such a great car with such great sponsors at such a great event, and have such bad luck at the same time. But, we’ll move on, we’ll go to Sonoma with this back-up car while the guys are back at the shop putting a new front end on our original car, and hopefully we’ll get to run it either at Sonoma or in Seattle. These guys are great at their jobs and I have no doubt they’ll get it figured out.”

Schumacher leaves Bandimere Speedway occupying the No. 12 spot in the Top Fuel standings and is eager to return to Sonoma Raceway where he is a two-time event champion.

Qualified: No. 11 (3.885 E.T. at 302.96 MPH)

Elimination Round Results:
E1: 4.124 E.T. at 244.21 MPH defeated by Clay Millican 3.906 E.T. at 282.54 MPH