U.S. Army Racing Trio Seeking To Close NHRA’s Western Swing in Seattle Final 

KENT, WA – After a successful month of July, where the U.S. Army Racing trio of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, Antron Brown and Leah Pritchett each advanced to a final in the three NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events, the mission this weekend is to make it four straight in the 31st annual NHRA Northwest Nationals, the finale of NHRA’s three-event Western Swing, at picturesque Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington.

Schumacher, the eight-time Top Fuel world champion and driver of the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR), is coming off his 151st career final-round appearance Sunday in Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. That run put back up to second second in the championship standings with three events remaining before the points are reset for NHRA’s six-event Countdown to the Championship playoffs following the 64th annual U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis Sept. 3.

Brown, who reached the NHRA New England Nationals final the first weekend of July, returns to Washington looking to make it three consecutive Seattle wins in a row behind the wheel of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR and hoist a Wally in the Top Fuel class for the 50th time in his career Sunday afternoon.

Pritchett has experienced the peaks and valleys of competing in the ultra-competitive Top Fuel class during the first two legs of the Western Swing. She dominated the NHRA Mile-High Nationals near Denver two weeks ago before bowing out in the first round last weekend. She’ll look to return to the proverbial mountaintop at Pacific Raceways aboard the Sparkling Ice/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR and secure her third win in 2018 and the eighth of her career.

Schumacher and his U.S. Army team are looking for a record-tying fifth Seattle event title this weekend and continue building momentum following last weekend’s fourth final-round appearance of the season. “The Sarge” is hoping to be completely healthy in Seattle this weekend after battling a painful pinched nerve in his shoulder last weekend in Sonoma. A win Sunday would tie Schumacher with Joe Amato atop the all-time Seattle titles list with five wins apiece. He rattled off four wins in five seasons – 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 – during his run of six consecutive Top Fuel world championships and adding another Seattle win would be just the kind of boost he and his team need to continue their championship aspirations this season. The path to victory starts with qualifying Friday and Saturday and, in two of the last four Seattle events, Schumacher has secured the No. 1 position.

Last August, Brown, the three-time Top Fuel world champion, closed out the Western Swing in dominating style by racing to his third career Top Fuel win at Pacific Raceways. After topping the field in qualifying, he defeated Ron Smith, Mike Salinas, Clay Millican and Terry McMillen to capture his 49th career Top Fuel Wally. A return to Seattle may be the perfect recipe for Brown to break through and win for the first time since. He has reached the Seattle final five times in Top Fuel competition and last August established a track record elapsed time of 3.685 seconds en route to claiming his second career No. 1 qualifying effort at the track.

Pritchett and her team led by Tod Okuhara and Joe Barlam have been making big strides during the 2018 campaign, especially with their qualifying program. She earned her second No. 1 spot of the season in New Hampshire and followed that with another one in Denver. She qualified second last weekend at Sonoma. Prior to last weekend’s first round defeat, she had advanced to the semifinals in Norwalk, Ohio and New Hampshire and raced to victory in Denver. Her goal this weekend is to surpass last year’s Seattle performance, during which she raced her way to the semifinals, beating Shawn Reed and Schumacher before losing to McMillen.

Qualifying for the 31st annual NHRA Northwest Nationals begins Friday afternoon with FS1 providing live coverage at 7 p.m. EDT. Saturday’s qualifying highlights are set for a delayed FS1 broadcast at 10 p.m. The FOX network will broadcast Sunday’s elimination rounds live beginning at 4 p.m.

TONY “THE SARGE” SCHUMACHER, driver of the U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing

Not only is this weekend’s NHRA Northwest Nationals the finale of the Western-Swing, but it also gets you one step closer to the Countdown. Do you like where you and the U.S. Army Racing team have positioned yourselves?

“Absolutely. We gutted it out last week and got to the final and made up some points in the standings. Now we turn the focus toward Seattle, where we’ve won in the past. We’re heading into the weekend second in points with a great opportunity to win, and then we head back to Brainerd, where we’ve also won. This is the time of the year when you can really get yourself going. After Brainerd, it’s Indy, our biggest race and one that we’ve won more than anybody, and then it’s championship time, when we get to the races that really count. And we know how to win when it matters. We have a good car and, most importantly, we have the confidence, now. We started the year with a crew chief (Mike Neff) who came over from Funny Car and he says, ‘Look, it’s going to take a little time.’ Well, it’s been a little time, we’re sitting second in the points and we’re running as well as anybody and better than most. We’re in a good place and we still keep making gains, we’re improving, and the most important races of the season are ahead of us.”

ANTRON BROWN, driver of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing

The 2018 season hasn’t quite gone as planned, but the good news is that you are heading back to Seattle where you dominated last year and have a great opportunity to get that first win of 2018 and begin building momentum toward the playoffs. What’s the key to have a successful weekend?

“The key is simply putting it all together. We were confident going into Sonoma last weekend and we’re just as excited to get to Seattle. We had a really good car at Sonoma. Everything we worked on, we improved upon. Now we know we’ve got a car that can be a No. 1 qualifier. On race day, we didn’t change too much, and we were as quick as everybody early in the run. We just had a hole out in our second-round run and got bit by that. With that being said, we’ll make that better at Seattle. We’re excited to go to the Northwest Nationals at Seattle and getting better from there. We know a win’s just around the corner. We’re just one tab off here, one tab off there. But we’re getting all those dots aligned and pretty soon I think we’re going to go across that finish line and pull off a win soon. It’s been a challenging season and, for me, it’s making me a lot better, our team’s getting better, we’re all getting better together. I’m back in the zone and just need to keep that up and just not throw anything away, just do the same thing every time, and we’re going to get better together. The Countdown is coming and I see that we are going to peak at the right time. People don’t realize that we’re far from being a new team, but we’ve moved a lot of people on the team around at the beginning of the season. So I’m proud of where we’re at and how we’ve grown through all the struggles and challenges, and also through all the changes we’ve made to the car to make it better. Credit to all our teammates like Mike Neff and Phil Shuler on the Army car, our cars are where they are now identical to each other. We’ve been growing together with each other and I think our package as a whole is the best one out here. We’re going to peak at the right time and I think we’re going to be deadly when the time comes.”

LEAH PRITCHETT, driver of the Sparkling Ice/U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing

The NHRA Northwest Nationals aren’t just another event for you. What’s special about this weekend’s return to Seattle for you?

“Seattle is a pretty great landmark for me. It’s really where I integrated with DSR two years ago. I had been with them part-time and, when we hit that race in 2016, that was the very first step toward what we have today. We have gotten really good at having a lot of primary partners individually for each race and this one’s no different. There’s a new color people haven’t seen on the track in a long time. I’ll call it fuchsia for Sparkling Ice and this is their hometown race. I’m going to look at it exactly like Denver. We were in Mopar and Dodge’s country in Denver and we harnessed that energy. Lots of pressure but, honestly, I never felt it was the ‘P’ word but I preferred to call it energy. I’m looking forward to Seattle, Sparkling Ice’s hometown headquarters race, their one primary, and we’re looking to finish The Swing off just like we started it.”