U.S. Army NHRA Racing 36th Annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Friday Qualifying Report 

The U.S. Army driver duo of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown are fourth and seventh on the provisional ladder after the opening two rounds of qualifying Friday for this weekend’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series 36th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway.

Schumacher and his U.S. Army Dragster team for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) debuted a brand new racecar today and opened with a solid effort of 3.754 seconds at 325.53 mph that was fifth-best for the weekend’s first qualifying session. He came back to lay down a head-turning run of 3.695 seconds at 329.42 mph. It was his best run since his career-best 3.660 seconds at 327.90 mph that earned the No. 1 qualifying position at Heartland Park Topeka (Kansas) in May.

“That was a great day for our brand new U.S. Army car,” said Schumacher, who’s chasing his fourth career Brainerd event title this weekend. “For a driver to get into a racecar and trust his team is one thing. But to do what we did with a brand new racecar on its second run ever, Mike (Green, crew chief), Phil (Shuler, assistant crew chief) and these Army guys are second to none. You get in the car, you trust what they do, you do your job, and it’s just outstanding.”

Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR struggled to get down the track in today’s opening session, crossing the finish line in 10.926 mph at 62.50 mph. But he closed the day on a strong note with a run of 3.723 seconds at 321.73 mph. The winner of two of the three events in the recent Western Swing and runner-up in the other was last year’s No. 1 qualifier here a year ago.

Highlights from today’s qualifying action will be broadcast by FS1 at 10 EDT tonight. The final two qualifying sessions Saturday are set for 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. with FS1’s same-day-delayed coverage again set for 10 p.m. Elimination rounds are set for noon Sunday with live television coverage on FS1 beginning at 2 p.m.