Tony Schumacher Concludes NHRA Regular Season with Quarterfinal Finish at Indy
The NHRA U.S. Nationals is a race that holds a wealth of memories and historic moments for eight-time Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher. He’s felt the pressure at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park nearly every Labor Day weekend for the past three decades, and he’s experienced the thrill of victory an unprecedented 10 times in the 70-year history of the event. This time around, Schumacher in his Leatherwood Distillery dragster scored a nail-biting first-round win before a starting line mishap in the second round ended his day earlier than planned.
In Friday’s first qualifying session, Schumacher launched hard but started to lose traction and had to lift to a 4.896-second pass to sit on the bump spot going into Saturday’s two sessions. He laid down a 3.739 E.T. at 326.32 mph in the second session to move up to seventh. Schumacher had issues on the third and fourth qualifying attempts, but his 3.777 E.T. in Q5 was the fourth-quickest pass of the final session, earning one bonus point. Schumacher ended up No. 8 on the final qualifying order.
Schumacher’s first-round matchup with No. 9 qualifier Shawn Reed promised to be a close one, and the two drivers delivered in the opening pair on Monday morning. Schumacher moved first and raced to a 3.732 E.T. at 324.20 mph to hold off Reed’s 3.724 E.T. by just seven thousandths of a second. That set up a monster matchup against two-time world champion and No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force in the second round. Schumacher double-stepped the throttle, which resulted in an uncharacteristic .216-second reaction time. He recorded a strong 3.792 E.T. at 329.10 mph, but it wasn’t quick enough to catch up to Force and her winning 3.779 E.T.
“This place has been good to us, but that’s a great example of this race being a pressure cooker,” said Schumacher, whose late father, Don Schumacher, won the 1970 U.S. Nationals. “It’s the best of the best showing up to do something that is very difficult to do, and that’s win the U.S. Nationals – the ‘Big Go.’ I felt that pressure. In my opinion, it was a long tree. If I’d have stayed in the gas, I probably would have caught a good light, but I hit the gas before I saw yellow, so I stopped, grabbed the brake, and she took off. I thought maybe she red-lit, but she beat me. We’ll go back and pout a little bit because we are allowed to feel shame and we are allowed to feel like we made a mistake. It’s a part of driving.”
With Force exiting the race in the semifinals, Schumacher held on to the No. 8 position in the NHRA Mission Foods Top Fuel points standings going into the six-race Countdown to the Championship. He’s pursuing his ninth world championship and the first for JCM Racing.
“We’ll evaluate what we did this weekend and we’ll come out fighting and swinging for the championship,” said Schumacher, who has 22 prior Top 10 finishes. “Even with the mistakes, this car is running so fantastic right now, so I look forward to getting to Reading and getting the Countdown started.”
The Countdown to the Championship will begin Sept. 13-15 at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pennsylvania.
This story was originally published on September 3, 2024.
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