U.S. Army NHRA Racing NHRA New England Nationals at Epping Final Qualifying Report
The U.S. Army Racing trio of Leah Pritchett, Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown secured the first, 
second and 12th spots on the ladder, respectively, for Sunday’s elimination rounds of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire.
Schumacher and his U.S. Army Dragster team for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) used their monster Friday night run of 3.744 seconds at 330.31 mph to grab the second position. Saturday was all about preparing for Sunday’s eliminations. A hotter track surface was the biggest difference between Friday night’s qualifying session and the two sessions Saturday. Schumacher wasn’t able to make full runs in either session Saturday posting laps of 4.838 seconds at 149.96 mph in session three and 4.757 seconds at 154.72 mph to close qualifying, but the all-time winningest driver in Top Fuel history is confident he and his U.S. Army Racing team will be ready for battle Sunday.
“You have to push the envelope sometimes to get ahead,” said Schumacher. “That’s what this U.S. Army team does. We continue to push ourselves. Mike Neff and Phil Shuler aren’t going to back down and they are driven to make this team a consistent winner. We were so close on that last run to making the exact lap we were trying to make. You have the heat today and everyone is factoring in that. We went back to what we did at Bristol, where were sliding down the track in hot conditions, and then you see a couple cars put up some mid 3.80s and you adjust to that. We just missed it slightly. I can feel how close the car is. We’re excited for tomorrow. Our goal for the second half of the season is to be our best on Sunday and we’ve got a great opportunity tomorrow. Over prepare and go with the flow. I’ve said that a lot and that’s just what we are going to do.”
Schumacher will take on James Maroney in the first round Sunday. Maroney only made one qualifying attempt and grabbed the 15th spot with his run in Friday’s first session.
Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR came out swinging Saturday afternoon when he and his team led by Mark Oswald and Brad Mason absolutely had too. Brown came into the session with the 16th-best time and was the second car to make a lap. Despite losing a cylinder, his run of 3.974 seconds at 276.58 mph was the best in the session and moved him up to 12th heading into Saturday’s final qualifying session. The three-time Top Fuel world champion came back looking to climb higher on the ladder, but after losing another cylinder early on he slowed to a run of 4.176 seconds at 221.63 mph run.
“I’m proud of my Matco Tools/U.S. Army boys for their hard work today,” said Brown, who has reached the Epping final the last two years. “We were dealing with a hot, slimy track. We knew we had to make something happen today and coming out in Q3 it was important for us to get down the track cleanly. We lost a cylinder, but still managed to put up the best pass of the session. Not only did we pick up three bonus points, but we also moved up the ladder. That run gave us the opportunity to take a swing at it in the final session, but we dropped a hole again and shut off early. We are getting closer and closer to our race day setups. We’re feeling really comfortable and confident heading into tomorrow because it’s supposed to be even hotter than it was today. I think we are in a good spot. We just have to go A to B and we’ll take it one step at a time tomorrow.”
The 2016 New England Nationals winner faces off with Clay Millican in a titanic matchup to get things started Sunday.
Pritchett and her Mopar/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR locked down their second straight No. 1 qualifier award at New England Dragway with Friday’s run of 3.742 seconds at 324.51 mph and were impressive again Saturday in the heat. She posted the second-best pass of Saturday’s first session with a run of 4.044 seconds at 245.23 mph and really turned up the wick to close qualifying when she put up a lap of 3.858 seconds at 319.75 mph.
“I think the key to the momentum for anybody that’s playing for Sunday is to diversify their portfolio,” said Pritchett following her second No. 1 qualifier of 2018 and ninth of her career. “The last time we were successful at that was in Atlanta when we won. Last year we always looked forward to Q2 because we had a solid Q1. We found some problems leading up to this race that let us get a solid run down on Q1 so we could throw everything at it, all the Mopar-power on Q2. (That run) was exactly what we wanted and then we used Saturday as practice for race day. We tested on Q3 and then we practiced during Q4, and we got the results we wanted for tomorrow. The momentum is there, and I have all the faith and confidence in this team. They never give up, they’re always persevering. Our hard work is paying off.”
Pritchett will look to become only the second driver in Top Fuel this season to earn the No. 1 qualifier and go on to win the event. Millican accomplished that feat in Topeka back in May. Pritchett faces Audrey Worm in the first round.
