U.S. Army Trio Ready To Up its Game at NHRA Mile-High Nationals
MORRISON, CO – All three U.S. Army Top Fuel drivers – Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, Antron Brown and Leah 
Pritchett – have plenty of reasons for optimism as they kick off this year’s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Western Swing with this weekend’s 39th annual Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway on the outskirts of Denver.
Brown is the defending event titlist, tying Schumacher’s career total of three Mile-High Nationals wins when he beat Pritchett in last year’s Top Fuel final, but not before Pritchett laid down a blistering, track-record run in qualifying.
The record eight-time Top Fuel world-champion Schumacher and his U.S. Army Dragster team for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) hit town this weekend ranked highest among the U.S. Army trio in the championship, trailing only red-hot Steve Torrence in the standings after Torrence’s fifth event title of the season two weekends ago in Epping, New Hampshire. While The Sarge has just one event title to his credit this weekend – an impressive Father’s Day run in the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway – he’s been the most consistent qualifier in the Top Fuel ranks this season. He’s riding a streak of 12 consecutive qualifying efforts of fifth or better after opening the season with the No. 8 spot on the ladder at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California. That run includes three No. 1 qualifying efforts to up his record career total to 87 No. 1s, as well as three No. 2s and a pair of No. 3s. His mission this weekend will be to translate that consistency on Fridays and Saturdays into more of those coveted Wally trophies on Sundays. Schumacher’s third and most recent Mile-High Nationals victory came in 2016, when he beat Brown in the final.
Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army team for DSR came back last year to reach their second consecutive Mile-High Nationals final and survived a final-round matchup against Pritchett for his third career title in the picturesque confines of Bandimere Speedway, which is nestled at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, 5,680 feet above sea level. It was Brown’s first Mile-High Nationals title since his first of three Top Fuel world-championship seasons in 2012, and it kicked off what turned out to be a near sweep of last year’s Western Swing. He came up just short against Torrence in the Top Fuel final at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway before winning once again the following week at Pacific Raceways near Seattle. It would have been Brown’s second career sweep of the Western Swing after he accomplished the rare feat in 2009. Brown is still seeking his first event title of the season, which would be the milestone 50th of his Top Fuel career.
Pritchett and her Mopar/U.S. Army Dragster team for DSR, the first among the U.S. Army trio to score an event title this season when she ran the table during Sunday eliminations at Atlanta Dragway in May, is looking for her first career Mile-High Nationals win by going one better than her final-around appearance against Brown at Bandimere last year. She lit up the scoreboard in qualifying with a head-turning run of 3.733 seconds to shatter Torrence’s year-old track record run of 3.776 seconds – an almost unheard-of performance in the oxygen-deprived conditions more than a mile above sea level. Two weekends ago in Epping, Pritchett reached her second consecutive Top Fuel semifinal but was eliminated by Brown. But, once again, it was not before scoring her second No. 1 qualifying effort of the season and the night of her career.
Qualifying for the 39th annual NHRA Mile-High Nationals begins Friday with FS1 televising two hours of live qualifying at 8 p.m. EDT Saturday. FS1 will provide three hours of live coverage of Sunday’s elimination rounds beginning at 3 p.m.
TONY “THE SARGE” SCHUMACHER, driver of the U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing
The Western Swing kicks off this weekend at the Mile-High Nationals. Your overall thoughts about the event?
“It was good to have a weekend off to recharge and get ourselves ready for the Western Swing. I love Denver. I love racing there, mostly because the Bandimere family is so gracious, and they’ve always done anything and everything any driver and team would ask of a track owner. We’ve had great success at that track and we’ve found ways to perform in very unique conditions for us. It’s also one of the most beautiful parts of the country, and there are great things we can find time to do outside of the race, itself, like fly fishing and enjoying God’s beauty. We’re looking to go out and finish out this season as best we can for the U.S. Army. It’s been a phenomenal, 18-year relationship and it’s been a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience. We enjoyed unprecedented success together through a great partnership. We made some amazing friends and I thank the Lord every day for the privilege of representing Army Soldiers all around the world – past, present and future. It would be most appropriate to finish the season with another championship. We’ll see what we can do to go out and make that happen.”
What are the effects on the U.S. Army Dragster when it comes to racing at altitude in Denver as opposed to racing in a place at relative sea level like Gainesville, Florida?
“When you’re at sea level, like Gainesville, there’s more air. You walk outside and you can just flat breathe. You don’t get tired as easily. It’s the same thing with the car. In Denver, you’re starving the engine for fuel, and you can’t add as much fuel. What it takes to go fast is, the more nitromethane you can stuff into the motor, the faster you can go. The more air you have, the more nitro you can put to it. The blowers we have, which are basically like an air compressor sitting on top of the engine, they can only work so hard. They can only spin so fast. We’re not spinning them slower because we’re in a place like Gainesville, we’re trying to make more power and go faster. What happens in Denver is, you get up high in the mountains and your car’s having a hard time breathing. You’re having hard time breathing and so is your car, so your car’s just going to run slower. All the cars are equal as far as that goes. We’re all starving for air, and the air’s the same in both the right lane and the left lane. It takes a good crew chief and a good driver to figure it out. The right combination for the right moments.”
ANTRON BROWN, driver of the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing
The Western Swing kicks off this weekend at the Mile-High Nationals. Your overall thoughts about the event?
“Denver is different than any other place we race. You’re a mile high, so the air is thin and there’s not much oxygen. The temperatures will go up during the day and that makes some difficult conditions for the racecars to make good power and run hard there. It’s the same thing for all the crew members and the human body. When you go there, it’s definitely a test of conditioning and going out there and making it happen. The trick in going to Denver is that you have to be mentally strong, emotionally tough and use all of your physical strength to make it happen when you don’t think you have anything left in the tank. We’ve had success there, though. We were the last ones to sweep the Western Swing in 2009 and came close last year by winning in Denver and Seattle.”
The conditions in Denver are unlike anywhere else the NHRA visits. How does that affect your preparation?
“We change almost everything on the car before we go to Denver because Denver is just a way different setup with how we run the car. We put stuff that we’ve been running off to the side, then we’ll swap it back after Denver. You go to Denver like you’re playing craps. You just roll those dice and hope they come out right so you stumble onto a good combination that’s going to work. That had been our Achilles heel for a stretch before we made it to the finals two years ago because Denver had been eating us up a little bit. We’ve won there three times and been runner-up five times. We just have to get back to that combination and be competitive once again. Denver’s just a challenging track.”
LEAH PRITCHETT, driver of the Mopar/U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing
The Western Swing kicks off this weekend at the Mile-High Nationals. Your overall thoughts about the event?
“From the challenges the mountain brings for making power, to being the Top Fuel representation for both presenting sponsors of the event, this race is the epitome of going big in every way. This Mopar/U.S. Army team has been steadily managing and elevating our power level with successful results. That, coupled with the additional preparation for this race the team has put in, along with a strong baseline of performance with our track-record qualifying run last year and our ability to go rounds on Sundays brings a heightened level of excitement and confidence. I always say, if there’s one race for a fan to attend on a bucket list, this is it, from the best fan experience starting with the Thursday-night block party to the midways at the track, we are ready to bring them the best racing.”
How do you feel about the unique challenges you’re facing this weekend?
“Denver brings the challenges, from power creation and management at mile-high altitude to switching up routines. We are starting the Swing with some small personnel changes within the team that we will adapt to, as well as changing from a right-side pit setup to left-side setup, as to open up to our (DSR) Funny Car teammate Matt Hagan. That all adds a level of systematic switch-up when reaching for tools or servicing the car. We are always adapting.”
