Tony Schumacher kicked off his bid for a ninth NHRA Top Fuel title and JCM Racing’s first world championship by advancing to the quarterfinals in Reading, Pennsylvania at the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, the first event of the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs. Starting from the No. 2 qualifying position for the third time this season, the winningest Top Fuel racer in Maple Grove Raceway history scored a first-round win on Sunday morning before falling to fellow Countdown-contender Antron Brown in the second round of eliminations.
A five-time winner in Reading, Schumacher’s best qualifying performance of the weekend came when he kept his Leatherwood Distillery/Waltrip Brewing Co. Top Fuel dragster hooked up and firing on all eight cylinders to run the second-quickest pass of the Friday night session. The 3.733-second at 328.70 mph run earned the team two bonus points for their effort and held up through all four sessions to place them second on the Top Fuel timing sheets to start race day. Schumacher’s Sunday morning began with a first-round match-up versus Doug Foley. Against Foley, Schumacher moved first and never trailed for the win, recording a 3.759 E.T. to advance into the quarterfinals where he faced his former teammate, Antron Brown. The two multi-time world champions were nearly even leaving the starting line, but Schumacher lost traction shortly after the launch while his opponent made a full pull in the opposite lane for the win.
“So disappointing leaving this race when you’ve had so much success here in the past and you get eliminated second round, but at least we didn’t go out first round,” said Schumacher, who will move on to the NHRA Carolina Nationals in Concord, N.C. having maintained his No. 8 ranking in the Top Fuel standings. “We have a good car, and I’ll tell you what, we had a hell of a first-round run. They put up a good race against us. We ended up winning. Left with Antron, had a good car, just a little too fast. We needed to get that thing moving. It’s a hard one to lose because we had a good chance at third round. Not to undermine Dan Mercier in any way shape or form, he’s doing a hell of a job, but we have a good car and obviously qualified No. 2 and felt like we would have had a good chance of winning that race. Just got to suck up these tough ones and show up at the next race in Charlotte. Thank goodness it’s only a few days away. Let’s go get it done.”
Schumacher and the Leatherwood Distillery/Waltrip Brewing Co. Top Fuel team won’t have to wait long in their pursuit of more win lights as the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season resumes at zMAX Dragway, September 20 – 22, where Schumacher returns as a two-time winner and six-time finalist at the Concord, N.C. facility.
This story was originally published on September 16, 2024.
The post Quarterfinal Finish for No. 8 Ranked Tony Schumacher in Reading first appeared on Drag Illustrated.