U.S. Army NHRA Racing Second annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals Friday Qualifying Report
Madison, IL – The U.S. Army Racing tandem of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown were in need of solid results entering 
this weekend’s second annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill., the third event of NHRA’s six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff.
That mission was accomplished Friday with both Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) teams displaying a level of engineering and teamwork reflective of the U.S. Army’s leading-edge technology and the powerful, realistic training of its Army Strong Soldiers. Both made a pair of solid qualifying passes and rank second and sixth respectively halfway through qualifying. Consistency was a common description as Schumacher posted the third-best run in the opening session and narrowly missed the provisional top qualifier position Friday evening. Brown ranked sixth in both sessions despite losing a cylinder late in his second qualifying run.
Schumacher, driver of the U.S. Army Racing dragster for DSR, moved to the top of the ladder in each session, only to see Shawn Langdon and Spencer Massey beat his run Friday afternoon and then Langdon again Friday night. Schumacher’s pass of 3.782 seconds at 327.74 mph did establish a new record speed.
“We came in here confident after testing in Dallas earlier this week,” said Schumacher, the 2006 and 2010 St. Louis winner. “I felt like we had a really good shot at winning this race simply because we’ve got our U.S. Army Racing dragster feeling like we had earlier in the year. The car is a lot better than I’ve had the last seven weeks or so, and I really feel like we have this car figured out. It’s a really good car right now. It’s free. It’s doing what it’s supposed to do. I am very comfortable driving it. We’ll use Saturday’s two sessions to fine tune for Sunday. If we want to win the championship, we have to win this race. I love being in this position, when our backs are against the wall and we are in absolute must-win situations. This U.S. Army team is incredible when the pressure is the highest and you see them reflecting the strengths of the U.S. Army Soldiers we represent possessing mental, emotional, and physical strength like no other. These are our moments.”
Brown returned to Gateway Motorsports Park looking to repeat his remarkable performance from last season. The reigning top fuel champion established new track records for elapsed time and speed last year before winning the event. After beginning his title defense with a DNQ and second-round loss to open the Countdown, Brown was solid Friday aboard the Toyota/Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster for DSR recording a pass of 3.796 seconds at 318.24 mph Friday evening.
“We are just getting back in the fight,” said Brown, a two-time winner at Gateway (2009 and 2012). “We came out here swinging. The car did what we wanted it to do in both runs today. We put a hole out in that second run, which cost us just a little. We were really happy with the way the car ran. Our plan for tomorrow is to hopefully take advantage of the track conditions and maybe step up a position our two. We have to find a way to make consistent runs in the 3.7 second range. That’s what it’s going to take to win rounds Sunday and ultimately have a chance at winning the race.”
Top Fuel qualifying continues Saturday with third- and final-round sessions set for 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. EDT.
