U.S. Army Trio Heads to Las Vegas Primed for Season’s Penultimate Event

LAS VEGAS – The grand prize might be out of reach, but a couple of chances remain for the U.S. Army Top Fuel driver trio of Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, Antron Brown and Leah Pritchett to hoist trophies before the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season comes to an end, starting with this weekend’s Toyota NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

That would mean stopping the runaway freight train named Steve Torrence, who’s miles ahead of the rest of the Top Fuel field after sweeping the first four of six Countdown to the Championship playoff events and a series-high nine event titles on the year.

Schumacher, Pritchett and Brown are third, fourth and fifth in the Countdown standings, respectively – Schumacher 210 points behind the front-running Torrence, Pritchett 295 back, and Brown 339 back. Even second-place Clay Millican, a two-time event titlist and series-leading nine-time No. 1 qualifier this season, is 169 points behind Torrence with just this weekend’s Las Vegas stop and the season finale at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California two weeks hence left on the schedule. If Torrence can leave Las Vegas with a lead of 191 points or more, he will clinch his first career Top Fuel world championship this weekend.

Schumacher and the U.S. Army team for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) look to end Torrence’s streak this weekend after making significant speed and performance gains during the last two stops on the tour at Dallas and Charlotte despite coming up just short in semifinal-round losses to Torrence at both events. “The Sarge” also had a shot at Torrence that went awry in the final round of the opening Countdown event at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pennsylvania. A record eight-time Top Fuel winner and 10-time No. 1 qualifier at The Strip, Schumacher added his most recent No. 1s there a year ago this weekend and again this past April, the latter event being the facility’s first utilizing a four-wide format. He reached the four-wide final, where he was beaten across the finish line only by, yes, Torrence.

Brown and his Matco Pink/U.S. Army Dragster team for DSR also have had their chances to knock off their fellow Countdown contenders over the first four playoff events, but three times they were eliminated by Schumacher and the U.S. Army team – at the Reading semifinals, the second round at Dallas and the opening round at Charlotte – and once by Millican, in the second round at St. Louis. The 2013 Las Vegas event titlist is certainly looking to finish his season on the highest of notes with a pair of attainable victories that would inject momentum into their 2019 season.

Pritchett and her Pennzoil/U.S. Army Dragster team for DSR saw her first four Countdown events twice ended by Torrence, once by Millican and once by Brown. Her team is looking to turn around its luck with a slew of new parts and pieces and a structural upgrade to her 11,000-horsepower racing machine for the final two events of the season.

Qualifying for the Toyota NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas begins Friday with FS1 providing one hour of live coverage at 6 p.m. EDT Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday. Same-day-delayed FS1 coverage of Sunday’s elimination rounds is set for 7 p.m.

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

Your thoughts about heading to Las Vegas for the next-to-last event of the season with the championship almost out of reach?

“As slim of a chance as it might be at the moment, the reality is that we still have a shot at the championship and that’s been the goal from day one. It would take two perfect weekends on our part, which we know this U.S. Army team is certainly capable of pulling off, especially with the gains we’ve made the last couple of race weekends with our outright speed, but we would also need a whole lot of help and I’m not sure if that would even be enough. It’s a huge longshot, for sure, but all we can do is control our part of it and hope for some help this weekend. There is no quit in this U.S. Army team and I’ve always said we perform our best when we absolutely have to – backs against the wall in the bottom of the ninth. I’ve been part of some incredible moments with the U.S. Army team and we’re just hoping to keep the dream alive. The first part of doing that is being fast right off the trailer. I know Mike (Neff, crew chief) and Phil (Shuler, assistant crew chief) and the guys have been working hard to make sure that happens. We’ve had so many good weekends racing at The Strip and, despite not having the success we were aiming for so far in the Countdown, we still have the chance to do something special here at the end of the season.”

You’ve had a number of good weekends racing in Las Vegas. What makes you and the U.S. Army team so good at The Strip?

“We have the opportunity to race in Las Vegas twice a year and timing always seems to play a factor. Our spring race typically is after we’ve had a handful of races and teams have a pretty good package under them. We started the season pretty well and the U.S. Army car was on the right track. We reach the final at two of the first four events, including Las Vegas. We qualified No. 1 and had a heck of a race in the final with Torrence. We won the spring race there in 2013 and 2014, so we’ve been good there for quite some time. In the fall, it’s the crunch time, the second-to-last race of the Countdown, and we live for those opportunities. The U.S. Army team thrives in those high-pressure moments. We’ve proven it over the years and I’m excited we have another shot at it this weekend. Like I said, it’s a longshot right now to win the championship, but winning this weekend is first on the agenda.”

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

Your thoughts about heading to Las Vegas for the next-to-last event of the season?

“When I go to Las Vegas at The Strip, it’s like a winner-take-all type of feel. The stakes are big, it’s the second-to-last race of the year. We want to show up and get another win before the season is over. We want to close out the season strong. That’s what motivates us. We want to go out there and do it at the Toyota Nationals. We basically go in with the tag line ‘Let’s Go Places’ and the place we want to go is the winner’s circle.”

You’ve arrived at this event looking to lock down the championship more than once in recent years. This year, like last year, it’s not the case. How do you approach this weekend?

“You certainly have a different mindset coming in when you are trying to protect a lead. I wish we were in that position right now, but we are in attack mode, instead. We’ve had times when we’ve had an extremely fast racecar this year. We just need to be more consistent. And we just have not had the luck we’ve needed, so far. If you look at the years we came to Las Vegas with the lead, it was because we won three of the first four Countdown races. We’re still trying to get our first one of the Countdown this year and that’s going to be our all-out focus this weekend.”

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

Your thoughts about heading to Las Vegas for the next-to-last event of the season?

“Vegas – for most, it’s the land of luck and bright lights, but for us heading back to the high desert with just two races left means betting it all. All the chips on the table, playing our best cards and taking chances, all with new livery. We’re going hard, so much so that we have some new internal and external (parts) about which I’m excited for this race. The Pennzoil/U.S. Army/DSR fab shop men went hard to work after Charlotte with yet another front half pipe on our Dragster. It’s not a move most teams make during the Countdown, but it was necessary. The fans can have something to look forward to as we reveal a never-before-seen livery. We’ve never had a reveal like this, which I’m looking forward to, but most importantly we’re hoping to put our eye-catching ‘digger’ in the winner’s circle.

Is your approach any different with the championship being such a longshot?

“The focus at this point continues to be getting a solid first qualifying hit so we can put it down in Q2, and build on it to go for low every time to gain qualifying points, and then, ultimately, go four rounds deep into the eliminations on Sunday. It’s been almost two weeks since our last race and I know for me it’s felt like a month ago. With 10 airport stops and non-stop travel since then, I am so incredibly ready to be back racing with my guys and illuminating our own Vegas win lights.”