Championship Battle Reaches Halfway Point for U.S. Army Tandem
Schumacher Loses Ground Following Narrow First Round Defeat While Brown Extends Lead With Second Consecutive Dodge NHRA Nationals Victory
Date: Oct. 2, 2016
Event: 32nd annual Dodge NHRA Nationals (Round 21 of 24)
Series: NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series
Location: Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pennsylvania
Top Winner: Antron Brown of Don Schumacher Racing
U.S. Army Racing Finish: Brown qualified 2nd, beat Brittany Force in final.
Tony Schumacher qualified 9th, lost to Steve Torrence in first round.
Entering this weekend’s 32nd annual Dodge NHRA Nationals, U.S. Army Racing teammates Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher and Antron Brown were looking to make a statement in their quest to claim the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Top Fuel world championship. The turning point in each of the previous two championship runs for Schumacher and Brown occurred in the rolling hills of Eastern Pennsylvania, and Brown is hoping his second consecutive victory at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading paves the wave for his third Top Fuel championship.
For Schumacher, the weekend boiled down to only two runs after Mother Nature washed out both qualifying sessions Friday and Saturday’s final session. “The Sarge” wasn’t able to make a clean run in the U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Saturday morning and was forced to race from the ninth slot in Sunday’s elimination ladder.
The U.S. Army team led by crew chief Mike Green and assistant crew chief Neal Strausbaugh put a potent machine under Schumacher for his first round matchup with Steve Torrence. Schumacher left first and posted a lap of 3.700 seconds at 325.85 mph, the second fastest lap of the first round. The problem was Torrence went 3.691 seconds at 326.08 mph and defeated the five-time Reading winner by 0.0057 seconds (approximately 3 feet).
“It was a great drag race, the kind you like to have in the final round like we did in Indy with Torrence,” Schumacher said. “We knew it was going to be a battle. Mike and Neal and all the U.S. Army guys worked really hard and gave me a great car. It’s tough when you make a run that would have won any of the other races in the first round. But I say it all the time, there’s only one winner. This team doesn’t quit and now the focus turns to Dallas in two weeks. We know how to deal with adversity. We adapt and continue to fight. This U.S. Army car is really good and we have to focus on our job and that’s winning rounds. You learn a lot about your team in situations like this. We are a pressure team and that’s been proven time and time again. We know what we have to do.”
Schumacher’s first round pass became the fastest run in Top Fuel history that didn’t result in a victory. The eight-time Top Fuel champion and all-time winningest driver in Top Fuel fell from third to fifth in the championship standings and now trails Brown by 141 markers with three events remaining.
Brown calls Reading his second home track and was looking to bounce back from his first-round loss last weekend in St. Louis. In front of family and friends, the Chesterfield, New Jersey native came out strong behind the wheel of the “Tools for the Cause” schemed Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR by posting the second fastest run in qualifying Saturday. He opened Sunday’s elimination rounds with a stout run of 3.715 seconds at 327.98 mph to advance past J.R. Todd in the first round. The two-time and reigning champion meant business in his second round race with Clay Millican. He laid down a lap of 3.688 seconds 328.62 mph, establishing a new track record en route to his sixth consecutive round win in Reading. The pass was also his best of the season and eighth fastest all-time in Top Fuel history.
Redemption was on his mind in the semifinals as he took on DSR teammate Shawn Langdon. Langdon defeated Brown last week in St. Louis, and Brown was looking to turn the tables and improve his career record versus Langdon to 23-14. Both machines struggled with traction, but Brown was able to get to the finish line first with his pass of 6.022 seconds at 255.68 mph to reach his 10th final of 2016. In the final, the difference came at the starting line as Brown and Brittany Force made identical runs of 3.721 seconds. Brown’s .066 seconds reaction time compared to Force’s .069 resulted in the 0.0033 seconds (approximately 19 inches) margin of victory.
“What a great feeling for so many reasons,” said Brown. “All these Matco/U.S. Army/Toyota boys worked so hard led by (co-crew chiefs) Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald and did a great job all weekend. For having one round of qualifying and to come up here for the car to perform like it did says a lot. We had some lucky breaks go our way but we kept our head down and kept on fighting this whole way. We cut just a good enough light in the final to get that win. And I’m honored and humbled to get this win in a car that means something special to me. When you know you can touch people and be there to bring them joy, that makes it very special to me to be a part of what Matco is doing. Giving back and providing support and raising money for Breast Cancer Research Foundation.”
The triumph was Brown’s sixth victory of the season and 60th of his NHRA career, 44th in Top Fuel. He extended his lead in the championship standings to 77 points over second place Doug Kalitta.
“We know we have a lot of work to do for the championship,” Brown said. “We just have to continue and get in that groove and fight hard. No one is going to give you a championship. Everybody is winning who needs to win to survive. I’m really enjoying racing in this kind of competition because it’s bringing the best out of everyone.”
With three of the six NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship events complete, the top-10 drivers in the Top Fuel standings are:
1. Antron Brown (2,377 points)
2.Doug Kalitta (2,300 points, -77)
3. Brittany Force (2,259 points, -118)
4. Shawn Langdon (2,258 points, -119)
5. Tony Schumacher (2,236 Points, -141)
6.Steve Torrence (2,214 points, -163)
7. Leah Pritchett (2,188 points, -189)
8. J.R. Todd (2,183 points, -194)
9. Richie Crampton (2,159 points, -218)
10. Clay Millican (2,136 points, -241)
The 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship resumes in two weekswith the 31st annual AAA Insurance Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. FS1 will broadcast elimination rounds Sunday, October 16, live staring at 2 p.m. EDT.
Sources: Bill Klingbeil/True Speed Communication