Norwalk: Tony Schumacher Friday report

"SARGE" DROPS INTO NINTH POSITION

NORWALK, Ohio, June 25, 2010 - Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher, aboard his U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster, took the ninth starting position here Friday during the first day of qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.

The Chicago-area resident posted a 3.920-second 1,000-foot jaunt at 308.92 mph during the afternoon session. It fell just short of a top half of the field spot in the starting order.

"We got it hooked up in the heat of the day, but we pushed it over the edge at night," said Schumacher. "We'll come back strong tomorrow."

While in the Buckeye State, Schumacher will be looking to build off his big victory in Bristol, Tenn. last weekend. He's attempting to further cut into Larry Dixon's points lead.

"No question about that," he said. "We took a big chunk out of his lead last Sunday, so we'll be trying real hard to duplicate that effort here in Norwalk."

At the Thunder Valley Nationals, Schumacher advanced to his 100th final round. In the process he moved past Joe Amato for the most Top Fuel career final rounds.

"It was pretty amazing to do that," he said. "Of course, we'd like to add to that total come Sunday afternoon and even take home another trophy."

Schumacher is searching for his seventh consecutive world championship; he knows the importance of starting the second half of the season in solid fashion.

"Absolutely," he offered. "It would actually be nice to run off a string of wins over the next few races. Once you have a taste of success you definitely want more."

Antron Brown, who drives the Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster, settled into the second starting spot after the opening day of competition. He nailed a 3.795-second pass at 318.99 mph.

In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of his Haas Automation/U.S. Army Chevrolet, qualified fifth for Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

-source: dsr