Snake Eyes in Vegas for Army Top Fuel Duo

Uncharacteristic First-Round Exits for Both Schumacher, Brown at The Strip

Las Vegas proved to be none too kind Sunday for the high-rolling U.S. Army driver duo of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and his Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) teammate Antron Brown. They arrived in Sin City occupying the top two positions in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Top Fuel standings and looking to add to their 10 combined career victories at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But those hopes came to an abrupt end when both were eliminated in the very first round.

Schumacher, the eight-time and defending Top Fuel World Champion and eight-time Las Vegas event winner, has been a model of consistency in qualifying through these first five stops on the Mello Yello Series tour, qualified second here this weekend and matched up in the first round with three-time Top Fuel world champ Larry Dixon, the No. 15 qualifier.

As fate would have it, Dixon promptly eliminated Schumacher and the U.S. Army Dragster for DSR by laying down the fastest run of all 16 first-round competitors – a solid effort of 3.795 seconds at 318.09 mph to Schumacher’s 3.828 seconds at 319.29 mph.

“That was a good race, hats off to him,” Schumacher said upon exiting his 10,000-horsepower racing machine after the first-round duel. “He was pulling hard and then started to slow down. I was catching him but just ran out of space. If it was 1,320 (feet), I might have had him, but it’s not. That’s made the best racing in the world. I know people complain about it not being a quarter mile, but the racing at 1,000 feet makes for just tighter, better races. You’re going to lose some. Unfortunately for us, it always seems like when we get beat in an early round after a great weekend of qualifying, it’s against somebody who lays down the fastest run of the session. Fortunately, we win more often than not. We’ll just pack up and move on to the next one, keep our heads held high and represent the U.S. Army with dignity and honor. The Army is ‘America’s Team’ and exists to defend the Nation and uphold the American way of life.”

Brown, the driver of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR, failed to reach at least the semifinal round of eliminations for the first time in five outings this season. He reached the semis twice and the finals twice, most recently two weekends ago in Charlotte when he scored his second consecutive NHRA Four-Wide Nationals title for his first victory of the season.

The 2012 Top Fuel world champion struggled through qualifying and landed the No. 14 position, which matched him up with No. 3 qualifier Shawn Langdon, the 2013 Top Fuel world champ. Brown got to the finish line in 3.901 seconds at 310.77 mph while Langdon was able to get him with a run of 3.866 seconds at 305.84 mph.

“We went out there and the track was way better than what we thought,” said Brown, whose two career Las Vegas event titles came in the spring 2011 and fall 2013 events. “That said, we gave it our best shot and the track just ate us up, meaning we wore too much clutch. It’s literally like I never took my foot off the clutch pedal. We’ll go back and work and get ready for Houston. The good part is that it’s early in the season and this Matco Tools/U.S. Army team is growing and learning with every run. Even though we lost early, we learned a lot for when the tracks get hot and nasty this summer. It’s not growing pains, it’s just racing in general. You’re always learning every race you go to. Our main focus is to peak at the right time and that’s when the Countdown (to the Championship) comes and that’s our goal. We’re already in the Traxxas Shootout and we’re in a good position in the points. We’ll go to Houston and try to get better at each and every race. We’ll test Monday and hope to get things started at Houston with a solid lap out the box for the first qualifying session. That maps out the entire weekend.”

Despite their early exits today, Schumacher and Brown maintained their top two positions in the Top Fuel standings. The weekend began with Brown holding a 26-point lead over second-place Schumacher. The Sarge closed the gap to 10 points this weekend by virtue of his qualifying points and session bonuses.