U.S. Army NHRA Racing Third Annual NHRA New England Nationals Final Qualifying Report
Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) stayed at the head 
of the class at the conclusion of qualifying Saturday for Sunday’s elimination rounds of this weekend’s third annual NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series New England Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire.
Appropriately enough, the eight-time and reigning Top Fuel world champion and last year’s winner here at New England Dragway will carry the No. 1 qualifying position – his second this season and the record 78th of his career – into Sunday, which officially marks the 240th birthday of the U.S. Army. Schumacher, his fellow U.S. Army driver Antron Brown, and the capacity crowd at New England Dragway sang Happy Birthday and took part in the annual cake-cutting ceremony just prior to the start of qualifying today.
After laying down the fastest runs in both Friday qualifying sessions – including a track-record effort of 3.742 seconds at 324.12 mph – Schumacher opened track action Saturday with a solid run of 3.886 seconds at 319.07 mph with an eye toward running Sunday in similarly hot and tricky conditions. He closed the day with a run of 3.929 seconds at 309.06 mph after dropping a cylinder. He will meet No. 16 qualifier Morgan Lucas in Sunday’s first round of eliminations. He beat Lucas in the first round last Sunday in Englishtown.
“If you look back at the history of all the Army birthdays, we’ve done pretty well, so it is fitting,” Schumacher said after his first top qualifying effort since taking the No. 1 spot the same weekend he scored his only event title of the season in February at Phoenix. “The Army car is running great and coming off of a win here last year, and to have the opportunity to back it up is very exciting. This new car is just getting better and the crew chiefs are learning and the car is doing what we want it to.”
Brown, who scored three consecutive No. 1 qualifying positions heading into this weekend and won two of the three events at Atlanta and Englishtown, New Jersey, locked up the No. 6 qualifying position he closed the day with Friday. The 2012 Top Fuel world champion opened today with the fastest run of the weekend’s third qualifying session in his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR – 3.826 seconds at 320.74 mph. Brown closed the day with a run of 3.879 seconds at 311.92 that was second in that session. He’ll meet No. 11 qualifier Larry Dixon in the first round Sunday.
“We felt like we missed one here last year at Epping,” said Brown, who was the No. 1 qualifier here last year but dropped a quarterfinal-round matchup to Schumacher. “We ran well but we just got beat. It happens. This is a race that’s on our radar. We’re going to push hard. We want to win for all our Matco distributors here at Epping and for the Army’s birthday. We got the car back right on Saturday and we’re going to put our best foot forward and see if we can get it done here tomorrow.”
ESPN2’s two and one-half hours of qualifying coverage is set for 7:30 EDT tonight. Elimination rounds begin at 11 a.m. Sunday with three hours of delayed coverage by ESPN2 set for 5 p.m.
