Schumacher qualifies No. 1 in Top Fuel at NHRA Nationals

BRAINERD, Minn. — Tony Schumacher will attempt to win his fourth consecutive race and ninth overall Sunday from the No. 1 qualifying position at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.

Ashley Force, Greg Anderson and Matt Smith also were No. 1 qualifiers and will lead their respective categories into Sunday’s 8 a.m. eliminations at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event, the 16th of 18 events in the Countdown to 10, NHRA’s regular season. The Countdown to 1, NHRA’s six-race championship playoffs, begin Sept. 11-14 at zMax Dragway at Concord near Charlotte, N.C.

Schumacher continued to have the fastest Top Fuel dragster in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, as he claimed his fifth No. 1 qualifying performance of the season and 66th of his career with his 3.864 second run at 312.21 mph from Friday. With the 15-car field, Schumacher will get a first-round bye run and then will have to face the winner of the Brandon Bernstein-Rod Fuller first round match.

“It’s a good spot (to be in) and more importantly the car is running great. Today we went out there and found the limit. The first round single (Sunday) doesn’t matter,” Schumacher said. “We want to win the race and to do that you need to win four rounds. Obviously we’re not worried about the first round, that’s the easy one. It’s the other three rounds that we’re worried about. We’re in a beautiful place and the sun’s going to be out and it’ll be a little slippery and the driver is going to come into play and it’s going to be fun. That’s what I wake up for. There’s a little gladiator in all of us.”

Schumacher holds the record for most consecutive victories in Top Fuel, winning five in a row in 2005 in his U.S. Army dragster. Only two other drivers have won four or more consecutively in the category, including Cory McClenathan (1997) and the late Scott Kalitta (1994). If Schumacher wins Sunday, he will continue his streak that started back in early July in Denver. He followed that win with victories in Seattle and Sonoma, Calif.

“You can’t get complacent,” he said. “Winning the last three races doesn’t matter now. You have to forget about the Western Swing. You have to focus on this race, every round. There are guys out there who would like to win one race, so to win five in a row is pretty tough. You can’t get caught up in trying to win four in a row, or five in a row. You have to stay focused on winning the round you are running. When we finally get beat, then we can talk about how many we were able to win in a row.”

Force claimed her second-straight No. 1 qualifying performance in Funny Car with her Friday run of 4.110 at 299.40 in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. Force becomes only the third female in NHRA history to post back-to-back No. 1 qualifying efforts in professional category racing. Shirley Muldowney and Angelle Sampey have logged multiple qualifying streaks in their careers.

“It’s great to be No. 1 but we really hope to win some rounds (Sunday),” Force said. “We’ve struggled at the last few races even though we’ve been qualifying well. We just haven’t had any luck. I’m happy about being No. 1 but I’m trying not to get too excited. This is the best qualifying performance we’ve had at John Force Racing in a while. We’re all in the top half of the field so hopefully we won’t race each other until the late rounds.”

Pro Stock’s Anderson earned his fourth No. 1 qualifying position of the season and 66th of his career based on his Friday performance of 6.679 at 206.76 his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP. Fellow native Minnesota racers Kurt and Warren Johnson had the quickest cars during Saturday’s two qualifying sessions and moved up to second and third respectively.

Smith, who has been suffering with kidney stones throughout the weekend, rode his Nitro Fish Wear Buell to a track record time of 6.958 seconds at 189.55 to claim his third top qualifying performance of the season and 10th of his career.

He said the plan is to race Sunday, kidney stones or not.

“I will run somehow or another,” Smith said. “I’ve been taking some Tylenol for the pain. I am going to the hospital tonight. Hopefully we can get it broke up tonight. I’ll spend some time in there if I have to.”

Several drivers secured their positions in the Countdown to 1 following Saturday’s qualifying, including Cory McClenathan and Brandon Bernstein in Top Fuel; Robert Hight and Tony Pedregon in Funny Car; Jeg Coughlin in Pro Stock; and Smith in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

After Saturday’s qualifying; eliminations Sunday

At Brainerd International Raceway

Brainerd, Minn.

Top Fuel

1. Tony Schumacher, 3.864 seconds, 312.21 mph vs. Bye. 2. Steve Torrence, 3.869, 308.00 vs. 15. Hillary Will, 4.546, 177.07. 3. Cory McClenathan, 3.877, 311.77 vs. 14. Luigi Novelli, 4.204, 269.13. 4. Larry Dixon, 3.899, 306.88 vs. 13. J.R. Todd, 4.027, 273.11. 5. Doug Herbert, 3.901, 306.60 vs. 12. Doug Kalitta, 4.013, 297.61. 6. David Grubnic, 3.910, 306.19 vs. 11. Bob Vandergriff, 3.988, 290.88. 7. Antron Brown, 3.929, 306.19 vs. 10. Morgan Lucas, 3.984, 300.80. 8. Rod Fuller, 3.933, 308.71 vs. 9. Brandon Bernstein, 3.972, 303.16.

Funny Car

1. Ashley Force, Ford Mustang, 4.110, 299.40 vs. 16. Ron Capps, Dodge Charger, 4.305, 285.83. 2. John Force, Mustang, 4.112, 301.27 vs. 15. Gary Scelzi, Charger, 4.291, 286.86. 3. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.119, 300.26 vs. 14. Melanie Troxel, Charger, 4.276, 290.32. 4. Del Worsham, Chevy Impala, 4.152, 291.01 vs. 13. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.242, 285.77. 5. Mike Neff, Mustang, 4.176, 298.80 vs. 12. Tim Wilkerson, Impala, 4.233, 276.92. 6. Tony Pedregon, Impala, 4.178, 292.20 vs. 11. Jim Head, Toyota Solara, 4.226, 290.07. 7. Jerry Toliver, Charger, 4.190, 296.83 vs. 10. Cruz Pedregon, Solara, 4.226, 292.14. 8. Jack Beckman, Charger, 4.190, 293.86 vs. 9. Gary Densham, Impala, 4.209, 284.81.

Did Not Qualify: 17. Tony Bartone, 4.375, 256.94. 18. Bob Bode, 4.393, 273.50. 19. Tommy Johnson Jr., 4.393, 267.91.

Pro Stock

1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GXP, 6.679, 206.76 vs. 16. Steve Spiess, Chevy Cobalt, 6.744, 204.05. 2. Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.681, 206.39 vs. 15. Jim Yates, GXP, 6.738, 204.05. 3. Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.684, 206.99 vs. 14. V. Gaines, Dodge Stratus, 6.729, 204.98. 4. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.688, 205.63 vs. 13. Rickie Jones, Stratus, 6.724, 204.42. 5. Jason Line, GXP, 6.691, 206.04 vs. 12. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.718, 205.29. 6. Justin Humphreys, Stratus, 6.703, 205.63 vs. 11. Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt, 6.714, 205.35. 7. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.704, 204.98 vs. 10. Mike Edwards, GXP, 6.710, 205.38. 8. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.708, 205.35 vs. 9. Richie Stevens, GXP, 6.710, 205.44.

Did Not Qualify: 17. Johnny Gray, 6.747, 204.73. 18. Greg Stanfield, 6.749, 204.70. 19. Danny Gruninger, 6.831, 201.76. 20. Mark Hogan, 7.212, 183.69.

Pro Stock Motorcycle

1. Matt Smith, Buell, 6.958, 189.55 vs. 16. Jim Underdahl, Suzuki, 7.274, 185.10. 2. Chris Rivas, Buell, 6.977, 190.22 vs. 15. Wes Wells, Suzuki, 7.173, 187.47. 3. Angelle Sampey, Buell, 6.984, 189.42 vs. 14. Junior Pippin, Buell, 7.132, 187.16. 4. Hector Arana, Buell, 7.019, 189.34 vs. 13. David Hope, Buell, 7.107, 186.07. 5. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 7.021, 188.73 vs. 12. Mike Berry, Suzuki, 7.094, 186.18. 6. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.022, 191.08 vs. 11. Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.089, 185.41. 7. Chip Ellis, Suzuki, 7.026, 191.10 vs. 10. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.083, 190.38. 8. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.046, 188.52 vs. 9. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.053, 190.46.

Did Not Qualify: 17. Joe DeSantis, 7.274, 184.83. 18. Buddy Robinson, 7.370, 181.35. 19. Angie McBride, 10.607, 77.12.