U.S. Army, Schumacher hold pole to open ’16 Mello Yello season while Beckman’s Infinite Hero Dodge leads DSR at No. 4
POMONA, CA – Eight-time Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher and his U.S. Army crew chief Mike Green 
don’t believe in “making a statement” regarding the performance of their Don Schumacher Racing dragster.
But if they did, after pre-season testing a week ago and Friday’s opening day of qualifying for the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season then this would be a good time to do it.
A week after leading pre-season testing near Phoenix with a time of 3.683 seconds, Schumacher and his team earned the provisional pole after Friday’s two sessions with a best time of 3.722 at 323.66 mph after first-round run of 3.822 that was the third best to open the 56th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals at Pomona, Calif.
“You know, a lot of guys have been asking about whether we were trying to make a statement with that 3.68-second run in Phoenix, I make it a point to not say something like that is a statement,” said Schumacher, who finished second in last year’s championship race to DSR teammate Antron Brown after winning the coveted title in 2014.
“All we do is our absolute best and, when we’re running really well, you’re happy.
“We tested last week in Phoenix and we ran in the 60s (3.60 seconds) and we just had an incredible car. It was 60 degrees out there, maybe in the low 70s, and then we came here and it was quite a bit warmer. We talk about that with the Army all the time, being able to adapt and change, having a crew that is capable of looking at numbers and be able to adapt to any situation that we’re given.”
Brown and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army team are ranked sixth heading to Saturday’s final two qualifying sessions for Sunday’s championship eliminations that will air live on Fox’s FS1 channel.
Shawn Langdon, a Southern California native and the 2013 Top Fuel world champion, is qualified eighth in his first full season with DSR.
In Funny Car, Jack Beckman and the Infinite Hero 2016 Dodge Charger R/T led by crew chief Jimmy Prock was quickest among DSR’s four entries with a time of 3.959 (308.07) to edge past teammate Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge that is fifth.
Matt Hagan is seventh with the Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots Dodge while Tommy Johnson Jr. is 15th a week after producing the quickest Funny Car run ever at 3.874 during testing.
