U.S. Army NHRA Racing 11th Annual NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals Friday Qualifying Report 

The U.S. Army duo of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown earned provisional qualifying positions inside the top-half of the ladder after Friday’s opening sessions of this weekend’s 11th annual NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

Schumacher made a pair of consistent runs in the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) posting laps of 3.785 seconds at 328.38 mph and 3.766 seconds at 325.06 mph. The eight-time Top Fuel world champion ranked fifth following the opening session and holds eighth with two more qualifying opportunities on Saturday afternoon.

“We are working some things out right now,” said Schumacher. “We have a new car and we’ve made two runs with it. When you show up with new stuff and look at the weather, you have to make sure the car gets down the track. The U.S. Army team is assembled with very smart people and they’ll continue to do their jobs. We have a starting point. It looks like we are going to have beautiful weather tomorrow and that should help. I’m excited to get back out here and continue making strides with this U.S. Army machine.”

Brown, the 2014 NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals champion, wasn’t able to make a clean pass in the opening round, but bounced back with an impressive run aboard the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR. His pass of 3.736 seconds moved him from 11th to fifth on the ladder and his speed of 332.26 mph is tops through two qualifying sessions.

“That second run is what we looking for,” said Brown. “It was just nice and smooth. My crew chiefs Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald) were making sure we got down the track. We did more than just get down the track. The car ran incredible out the back door. Tomorrow is going to be cloudy with a high of 76 degrees, so we are looking forward to getting back after it. I feel like we have the opportunity to move up if the track conditions stay right. We’re going to make a run at the top spot tomorrow. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 1:30 and 4 p.m. Elimination rounds are set for at 11 a.m. Sunday with FS1 providing three hours of delayed coverage beginning at 4:30 p.m.