U.S. Army NHRA Racing 11th Annual NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals Final Qualifying Report
The U.S. Army duo of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown closed qualifying for Sunday’s elimination 
rounds of this weekend’s 11th annual NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio with each turning the second-best qualifying laps during sessions three and four, respectively, Saturday afternoon. Brown and Schumacher hold the fifth and eighth positions heading into Sunday.
Schumacher and his U.S. Army Racing team led by crew chief Mike Green and assistant crew chief Phil Shuler continued to dial in the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR). “The Sarge” posted a lap of 3.874 seconds at 296.63 mph in Saturday’s first session before making an impressive run of 3.789 seconds at 323.74 mph during the heat of the day. His final lap was the second-fastest run during the fourth qualifying session.
“We learned a lot today,” said Schumacher. “If the sun would have stayed out, I think our run in Q4 would have been hard to beat. Things went much smoother today and I feel like we are getting closer with this car. It looks like the weather tomorrow will be similar as it was today, which would certainly help us. I know Mike (Green) and all the U.S. Army Racing guys will be ready to go tomorrow. This sport is incredibly tough and you have to put in the work. We’re all pushed to win. We got down the track with four consistent qualifying runs and learned a tremendous amount. Now we need to take what we’ve learned and put in place for race day. They are only handing out one trophy tomorrow and we want to be in position to win it.”
Schumacher will face Mike Salinas in the opening round Sunday. The eight-time Top Fuel world champion defeated Salinas in their only previous meeting in the first round of the 2012 NHRA Sonoma Nationals.
After closing Friday’s second qualifying second with a stout run, Brown opened Saturday’s third qualifying session with a run of 3.786 seconds at 327.19 mph. behind the wheel of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR. In the final session, Brown and his team led by co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald took a swing at the top spot. Unfortunately, Brown lost traction just before the 330-foot mark and slowed to a pass of 4.882 seconds at 150.82 mph.
“We were going for it,” said Brown. “We wanted that number one spot. We knew it was a long shot, but we thought that little bit of cloud cover might give us a chance. We are in a good place for tomorrow. We made the second-best run in the first session today and we came back and were able to find out how far we can go. That last run was a little aggressive and we didn’t make it to the 330 (foot) mark, but we got our 60-foot up. We learned a lot on that run. That’s what we are doing right now just trying to improve and get better each and every round. We learned something for tomorrow. We are in that top-five position like we always strive for and now we just have to go out there and race like we know how to. We just have to be able to adapt to the situation tomorrow and be versatile. If we can do all of that, maybe we can go one round at a time and find ourselves where we want to be at. And that’s the winners circle.”
Brown will take on Dom Lagana in the first round Sunday. The three-time and reigning Top Fuel champion is 3-1 all-time versus Lagana and has won all 11 of his first round appearances in 2017.
Elimination rounds are set for at 11 a.m. Sunday with FS1 providing three hours of delayed coverage beginning at 6 p.m.
