U.S. Army NHRA Racing Sixth Annual NHRA Midwest Nationals Friday Qualifying Report 

The U.S. Army driver duo of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown are second and 10th on the provisional ladder after the opening two rounds of qualifying Friday for this weekend’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois.

Schumacher and his U.S. Army Dragster team for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) laid down a stellar run of 3.680 seconds at 327.66 mph in pristine, nighttime conditions on this dragstrip situated just across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis. It vaulted the eight-time Top Fuel world champion to the No. 1 spot but, moments later, Clay Millican laid down a head-turning run of 3.631 seconds at 330.39 that bested the national elapsed time record. Schumacher had to settle for the No. 2 spot in the provisional order with a pair of qualifying sessions still to go Saturday. “The Sarge” opened the day with a run of 3.729 seconds at 329.26 mph that was fourth-best in the opening session.

“Even though that run looked great, I know that Mike (Green, crew chief) was looking for more,” said Schumacher, who’s vying for his third career Gateway event title this weekend and his first since 2009. “Those guys are incredibly smart and they’ve done some incredible stuff, so far. For everyone watching, the fans who stuck it out here tonight, we had incredible weather and the conditions were ideal. For the Army car, what a blessed day. I’m so proud to be here. We’re still in the fight. There’s a long way to go. We’ve got four races to go counting this one here on Sunday, so let’s go and win ourselves a championship.”

Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR laid down the sixth-best lap of today’s opening session, an effort of 3.759 seconds at 325.45 mph, before getting loose at halftrack on his second-session run and shutting it down, coasting across the line in 4.336 seconds at 180.28 mph.

The final two qualifying sessions Saturday are set for 3 and 5:30 p.m. EDT with FS1’s delayed coverage again set for 1 p.m. Sunday. Elimination rounds are set for noon Sunday with live television coverage on FS1 beginning at 2 p.m.