U.S. Army Trio Eyes NHRA’s Long Awaited Return to Virginia Motorsports Park

DINWIDDIE, VA – It’s been nine years since the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series competed at Virginia Motorsports Park on the outskirts of Richmond, but two-thirds of the U.S. Army Top Fuel driver trio of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, Antron Brown and Leah Pritchett arrive for the series’ long-awaited return for this weekend’s Virginia NHRA Nationals having tasted at least a measure of success there in the not-too-distant past.

Schumacher and Brown faced off in each of the series’ last two visits to the track situated some 40 miles south of “The Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia” in 2008 and 2009. “The Sarge,” from his No. 1 qualifier position, topped Brown in the second round of eliminations in 2008 en route to that year’s event title, beating Hillary Will in the final. It was his 14th of an amazing 15 event titles in 2008, which culminated with his fifth consecutive Top Fuel world championship.

Brown returned the favor the following year, beating Schumacher in the second round of the 2009 Richmond event, then going on to beat Doug Kalitta in the semifinals before dropping his final-round meeting with Brandon Bernstein.

This weekend’s return to racing in historic Dinwiddie County, founded in 1752 and the scene of numerous Civil War battles a century later, gives a very hungry U.S. Army driving trio and their respective teams a fresh setting at which to try and build momentum for the grueling stretch of summer events.

Schumacher and his U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) are coming off another solid qualifying effort of third at last weekend’s Route 66 Nationals on the outskirts of Chicago, but a first-round stumble in Sunday eliminations sent the Army team home much earlier than it had anticipated. Still, “The Sarge” and his team are fully confident in their U.S. Army Racing machine. He’s qualified in the top-five eight events in a row, a streak that includes No. 1s at Phoenix and Las Vegas and an average qualifying position of 2.85. He and his team are confident their ability to translate that speed and consistency into Sunday success is just around the corner. In addition to his No. 1 qualifying effort and victory at the Richmond stop on the tour in 2008, Schumacher was No. 1 qualifier in 2007.

Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster team for DSR certainly are looking to take advantage of this weekend as a steppingstone in their return to championship form after enduring their most challenging start to a season in recent memory. Pritchett eliminated him in the first round of Sunday eliminations for the second event in a row last weekend at Chicago, leaving the three-time Top Fuel world champion and his team determined to turn things around at Richmond this weekend.

Pritchett and her FireAde/U.S. Army Dragster team have found the most success on Sundays among the Army trio during the current stretch, having reached the final twice in the last three events, including her sixth career title and first of the season at Atlanta last month. At Chicago last Sunday, she was beaten in the final by a red-hot Clay Millican, who hoisted the Wally trophy for the second event in a row. It will be Pritchett’s first look at Virginia Motorsports Park this weekend, where she looks to continue her recent momentum.

Qualifying for the Virginia NHRA Nationals begins Friday with FS1 providing two and a half hours of live coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. EDT Saturday and a one-hour qualifying wrap-up show at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. FS1’s delayed broadcast of Sunday’s elimination rounds is set for 6 p.m.

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

Virginia Motorsports Park is not a track that’s completely new to the series, but it’s been nine years since you and a handful of other competitors have been there, while others have never been. What are your thoughts about this weekend?

“It’ll be nice to see some new faces this weekend and bring them the kind of racing they’ve never seen before. A lot has changed since the last time we were there as far as our series goes. We’re quicker, much more powerful than ever before, and it’s been a long time since they’ve seen anything like that. You can appreciate someone buying a racetrack and doing the things that need to be done to give us a safe and competitive place to come back to. The track itself is all concrete and it’s going to be pretty nice. I’m really looking forward to it. It brings us back to that historic part of the country where the U.S. Army had a lot going on 150, 200 years ago, and it’s just down the road from our nation’s capital. We’ve won there before and it would be a great time and place to put it all together and get another one.”

You had an abrupt end to your day last Sunday at Chicago, a track where you’ve had a lot of success. Are you and the Army team ready to rebound in a strong way?

“Sitting up in the (engineering) lounge after that first-round run, it was incredibly uplifting, if you can believe that, to have (crew chief) Mike (Neff) show me exactly why what happened to us happened. Sometimes you smoke the tires or something else goes wrong and you have a clear picture of why until much farther down the road. We got over that one at Chicago right away and this U.S. Army racecar remains bad to the bone and we are ready to go out and start making some noise during this summer stretch of races.”

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

Your thoughts about going back to Virginia Motorsports Park for the first time since your early Pro Stock Motorcycle days?

“I’m looking forward to getting back to Richmond. I remember racing at Richmond when I first started my career off in Pro Stock Motorcyles, so it’s going to be pretty awesome to get back there. The main thing is, it will be a great family homecoming. Since we aren’t going to Englishtown, all of my family is coming down to Virginia – my grandma is really excited. My mom’s coming out, my dad and uncles want to be there, so it’s just going to be a lot of fun.”

What do you remember about the track, and what are you expecting this weekend?

“Tommy Franklin (new owner at Virginia Motorsports Park) is definitely a patriot to our sport. He has a passion for drag racing. What he’s doing and has already done for that racetrack is incredible and they’re going to put on a great show. He has all of my support. We’re really looking forward to getting there and having a great time.”

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

This will be your first visit to Virginia Motorsports Park along with many of the other competitors out there. Your thoughts as the series heads back there for the first time since 2009?

“I think it’s going to go well. We’ll have an even playing field for everyone, not having good track data there. I hear it’s supposed to be fast, and this team, we can go back to some of our ways where we know how to lay down some numbers. We’ve struggled with that this year, getting that power back, and now that we’ve found it in the heat, I’m looking forward to applying it. We’re not going to let coming up just short in the final last week at Chicago stop us at all. Our heads are not hanging low at all. We’ll stay grounded and our heads down and working hard as always. Hopefully on this (Richmond-Bristol) swing we’ll be raising another Wally.”

You’ve been to two final rounds in the last three events. Do you feel things are coming together well for you and the team?

“Sometimes when you’re winning you get used to that. The more we do well, the more appreciative and in the moment I get. It’s been a long time. When we won at Atlanta, that was a great sense of satisfaction with Lucy (the Make-A-Wish child who cheered on Pritchett at the event). Going rounds at Chicago – I can’t compare the two, but the enjoyment factor was really up there.”