U.S. Army NHRA Racing Third Annual NHRA New England Nationals Friday Qualifying Report
Celebrating the U.S. Army’s birthday is an annual rite of summer on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing 
Series circuit, and this weekend it occurs for the first time at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire, just a stone’s throw from where it all began for the Army 240 years ago on the outskirts of Boston.
The official cake-cutting ceremony isn’t scheduled until Saturday, but Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) got the weekend off to a perfect start Friday in Top Fuel qualifying. The eight-time and reigning world champion and defending New England Dragway event winner was fastest in today’s opening session with a run of 3.785 seconds at 324.28 mph.
Schumacher followed that up with a blazing-fast effort of 3.742 seconds at 324.12 mph in the nighttime qualifying session that eclipsed the track elapsed time record of 3.770 seconds set last year by fellow U.S. Army driver and DSR teammate Antron Brown.
That earned Schumacher a precious six bonus points and drew him slightly closer to the top of the Top Fuel standings, currently occupied by Brown. Schumacher started the weekend trailing Brown by 118 points.
“The car is excellent right now and there was room for improvement after we looked at the computer,” said Schumacher, whose win here last year was his second of five event titles en route to the world championship. “I’m sure most cars that go out there are going to find that. But this still a new car and Mike (Green, crew chief) and Neal (Strausbaugh, assistant crew chief) are really getting it, and we all know it’s eventually going to come around and we’re going to be winning races with it. I’m looking forward to that. This would be a great track to do that. We won here last year and, with the Army’s 240th birthday celebration and the fact it’s taking place so close to where the Army was born would make it all so very special. I’m not sure we can improve upon what happened today, unless a massive cold front comes through. But getting ready for Sunday is what it’s all about when it comes to winning these things. It doesn’t matter if we qualify first or 15th the way things are in this series. It’s all about Sunday.”
Brown, who scored his series-high third event title of the season last weekend at Englishtown, New Jersey, turned in a pair of sold runs today in the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR. He opened the day with a run of 3.858 seconds at 314.17 mph that was eighth in the first session, then capped the evening with a run of 3.784 seconds at 316.30 mph that put him at sixth overall for the day.
“Our hats off to all of our Matco Tools/U.S. Army boys, Brian (Corradi) and Mark (Oswald, co-crew chiefs) for helping us get A to B like that,” said Brown, who after qualifying No. 1 here last year dropped his quarterfinal matchup against Schumacher. “We’re going to have some fun this weekend and do well here at Epping. We lost the race last year so we just want to give the fans something to cheer for and do well.”
Top Fuel qualifying continues Saturday with third- and fourth-round sessions set for 1 and 3:30 p.m. EDT. ESPN2’s qualifying coverage is set for a live broadcast beginning at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Elimination rounds begin at 11 a.m. Sunday with ESPN2’s three hours of delayed coverage set for 5 p.m.
