U.S. Army NHRA Racing Route 66 NHRA NationalsFinal Qualifying Report
The U.S. Army Racing Top Fuel duo of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown will start Sunday’s elimination rounds of 
the 17th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals in the second and third positions after both made their best runs of the weekend in Saturday’s final Mello Yello Drag Racing Series qualifying session at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.
Both teams displayed a level of engineering and teamwork reflective of the Army’s leading-edge technology Saturday when conditions continued to improve. Schumacher, driver of the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), closed qualifying with a run of 3.775 seconds at 325.61 mph. It was his fourth clean pass of the weekend and positioned the seven-time Top Fuel champion in the number two position for the second consecutive year at his home track. Last June, he stormed through the field from the same qualifying spot to win for the fourth time at Route 66 Raceway.
“The U.S. Army team has been phenomenal this weekend,” said Schumacher, who is looking for career Top Fuel win number 75 and third in 2014. “I feel great. We are right where we want to be. We have a really good U.S. Army Dragster. It ran well in the heat and that’s going to be important tomorrow. Conditions will certainly change, but (crew chief) Mike (Green) and (assistant crew chief) Neal (Strausbaugh) have a really good handle on the car. I think it’s great to be in the top two, but it’s a better feeling knowing how good our car is. You always have the advantage when you have a better car. I’m a Chicago guy and we won the race last year. Our goal after last week’s win in Epping was to string some wins together. You can’t make it to five without winning two. I’m really excited for tomorrow.”
Schumacher will face Clay Millican in the opening round of eliminations Sunday. It will be a rematch of last year’s final and last weekend’s semifinal at New England Dragway. Schumacher holds a 22-3 advantage all-time over Millican.
Brown duplicated his U.S. Army teammate’s consistency with four solid passes during the Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions. The 2012 Top Fuel champion posted his final pass of 3.783 seconds at 312.42 mph in the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR Saturday night to secure the third position on the ladder.
“Everything worked good for us today,” said Brown, the 2012 O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals winner. “We really wanted that No. 1 spot, but the motor killed itself at the end. That’s why the speed wasn’t there, but we’ll take it. That was a good lap for us. We’ll dig deep tomorrow and go to work. I’m really proud of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army boys for how hard they are working. Conditions will certainly be a little different tomorrow. We’re ready for that. That’s going to be the biggest key tomorrow…being able to adjust to the conditions and get down the track. We’re absolutely ready to go.”
Brown will face Billy Torrence in the first round. Sunday’s matchup will be only the second meeting between the two with Brown claiming the first race at St. Louis last fall.
Top Fuel elimination rounds are set for noon EDT Sunday. ESPN2’s live coverage of elimination rounds begins at 3 p.m. EDT.
