Championship Drag Racing

O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals
Dallas, TX
(September 20-23)

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Tony Schumacher U.S. Army dragster

Dallas, Friday:  Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher, aboard his U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster, had to settle for the 13th starting position here Friday after the opening day of qualifying for the O'Reilly Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

Schumacher, who captured his first career victory at the Texas Motorplex back in 1999, got down the track without issue during the daylight hours, but he struggled at night.

With track temperatures hovering around 130 degrees with the sun out, Schumacher posted a 4.608-second pass at 322.19 mph. However, after the track cooled off, he could not keep his hot rod from smoking the tires.

"That's definitely not characteristic of this car in the nighttime," he said. "Typically, we put up some stout numbers. For some reason, the car just moved out of the groove and the tires went up. It's disappointing, but at least we're in the show and we can now concentrate on a race day set up tomorrow."

Schumacher's worst starting spot of the year thus far came at Norwalk, Ohio nine races ago. He came out of the 14th hole and went on to win the event.

"Listen, you can win from anywhere in the order," he said. "That's been proven time and time again. I'm not worried at all. I have the best team in the business."

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