DRAG RACING: Tony Schumacher Dominates Again

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Tony Schumacher had the look Saturday afternoon. That meant trouble for the other Top Fuel contenders.
In his typical dominant fashion, the intense Schumacher secured the No. 1 qualifying position for today’s O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals with a time of 4.502 seconds.

Final eliminations begin today at noon.

“I’m as comfortable as I’ve ever been,” said Schumacher, whose top speed is 327.59 miles per hour. “The car is driving fantastic, the track is outstanding and the racing is going to be great Sunday.”

Schumacher knows something about being great. The current Top Fuel points leader has five championships and 43 career wins, including one at Bristol. And Schumacher admitted Saturday that the comments of his rivals just add to his desire to win more.

“We’re a hard car to beat and when people do it, they get excited,” Schumacher said. “Everyone is trying to start rivalries, but I give every thing I’ve got every time I go down the track.
“… NHRA has a saying that it’s about the trophy. Well you can buy a trophy; it’s about the challenge and what it takes to get that trophy.”

As usual, Schumacher paid credit to his crew chief.

“The first thing that Alan [Johnson] told me this morning was that we needed to find where the limit was, and we found it,” Schumacher said.
“There’s something that’s definitely giving us a curveball here, though. Where not exactly sure what is, but I would rather drive A.J.’s car any day.”

David Grubnic, Doug Kalitta, Top Fuel rookie Antron Brown and Hillary Will rounded out the top five qualifiers. Todd Paton, a former resident of Blountville, Tenn., earned the No. 14 spot.

Mike Ashley, a longtime supporter of Bristol drag racer Clinton Snead, was among the five drivers failing to qualify.

For the first time in his career, Mike Neff in his 2008 Ford Mustang retained the top qualifying spot in Funny Car as his time of 4.783 at 321.04 held up.

“This is an awesome feeling, and what’s really interesting is that this is the first time that a Ford has qualified No. 1 in drag racing since 1970 with Danny Ongais,” Neff said.
“John Medlen [crew chief] makes our car perform as well as it does, and he’s doing an outstanding job.
“When the sun was out in the first round today, I knew it would be difficult for anyone to beat our time. I started thinking that somebody might be able to do it in the second round. Robert [Hight] and
Ashley [Force] both fired off impressive runs, but our time held on and we’re happy.”

Four drivers from the John Force Racing team, including Neff, Hight, Ashley Force and John Force, qualified among the top seven in Funny Car.

In the last two events, Neff has earned his first final round appearance along with his first pole

“We’re starting to get a little momentum and the performance of the car is definitely there,” Neff said. “The conditions are going to be pretty good [Sunday], and I honestly think we’ve got as good of a chance as anybody.”

In the quickest Pro Stock field in Bristol Dragway history, Warren Johnson set both ends of the track record in Saturday’s opening session with a pass of 6.674 seconds at 207.43 mph. That was good enough to give Johnson his 138th qualifying performance, the most in NHRA history.

Just two weeks ago at St. Louis, Johnson failed to qualify.

“We just made some crucial errors in our last race,” Johnson said. “We had an area of the car that we never had an opportunity to work on this year. We took some time off after the St. Louis debacle, then came up here [to Bristol] and tested for a day.
“We found the area that we suspected was weak. We still haven’t got our car 100 percent, but it’s in the 90 percent range now. You can’t relax.”

Johnson pointed to the parity in the crowded Pro Stock field.

“When you look at the performance of these cars and the scope of how it’s narrowing up, and then factor in one-lane tracks ever so often, it’s getting tougher every race,’’ Johnson said. “It behooves the sanctioning body to make these lanes as even as possible. Otherwise, the spectators are not getting their full show.”

For the 36th time, Kurt Johnson qualified second behind his father.
The other story in Pro Stock centered around Jeg Coughlin. The defending series and event champion failed to qualify for an NHRA event for the first time since the Topeka event in 2004 — a streak of 70 races.

“That’s the way it goes,” Coughlin said. “We’ve got the finest Pro Stock cars in the country here. We changed our program going into [Friday’s] second round qualifying session, and it just bit us.
“We will sit outside the field Sunday and watch.”

The top round of the session was authored by Allen Johnson of nearby Greeneville, Tenn, who posted a time of 6.704 at 205.32.

“We’ve been catching it every round,” Johnson said. “We started a little behind the eight-ball in our first run Friday, then I goofed it up Friday night. We almost hit it [Saturday morning], then we hit a home run right in the last session.”

Tom Hammonds, who played 12 years in the NBA, earned the No. 11 qualifying spot.

Meanwhile, it was a sad 21st birthday for Rickie Jones who also failed to qualify.

The list of Pro Stock non-qualifiers also included Legends of Thunder Valley member Rickie Smith.