U.S. Army NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Final Qualifying Report

The U.S. Army tandem of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown landed in the top half of the of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Top Fuel Series field with strong runs to close qualifying Saturday in the sixth annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte.

Schumacher rocketed down the track twice in U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) posting passes of 3.729 seconds at 323.58 mph in the opening session and closing qualifying with a run of 3.726 seconds at 328.94 mph. The eight-time and reigning Top Fuel world champion ended up with the No. 3 position and will face Leah Pritchett, Clay Millican and Larry Dixon in Sunday’s opening quad.

“We have a great U.S. Army car and we are ready to race,” said Schumacher, who is seeking his first Four-Wide Nationals triumph. “These U.S. Army guys led by (crew chief) Mike Green and (assistant crew chief) Neal Strausbaugh have been doing a great job. To go out on a track that we really had no idea what it was going to do and put up a big run like that to start with big. My nine-man U.S. Army team is versatile and can adapt to just about any conditions. They are just like the Army in that regard and make a real difference for me. It’s fun to get in this car. Seeing a sold out crowd out here today gets me even more pumped up for this race. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Brown made a major improvement from session one to session two behind the wheel of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR. He lost traction in his first pass and was only able to make a lap of 10.277 seconds at 68.74 mph. His crew led by co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald made the right adjustments for session two as the reigning Four-Wide Nationals second pass of 3.792 seconds at 318.32 mph moved him from 15th to ninth.

“Today was a good day for us,” Brown said. “We found some things at the shop this last week that had been the root of our problems for the last six months and today we began getting back to where we want to be. We just got too aggressive in that first run, but the car did exactly what it should have done. Brian and Mark and all the Matco Tools/U.S. Army guys are on the right path. We’re excited to get back out here tomorrow and see what we can do. There’s nothing like the Four-Wide and my hat goes off to Bruton Smith and everyone here at zMAX. They did an awesome job with the new surface. Tomorrow is going to be crazy out here.”

Brown will face J.R. Todd, Shawn Langdon and Dave Connolly to begin eliminations Sunday.