A frustrating weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals came to an early end in the first round for eight-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher. Racing at Summit Motorsports Park on Sunday morning, Schumacher made his quickest pass of the weekend in JCM Racing’s Leatherwood Distillery/Waltrip Brewing Co. Top Fuel dragster, but it wasn’t quick enough to turn on the win light in the first round, where numerous races were determined by thousandths of a second.
Schumacher, who won the inaugural NHRA Norwalk Nationals in 2007, struggled to get down the track in the first qualifying session on Friday, but he bounced back in the night session with a 3.791-second pass at 327.66 mph. After rain delays on Saturday, Schumacher hazed the tires in the third and fourth sessions to wrap up qualifying. In an incredibly quick Top Fuel field that left three drivers on the outside looking in, Schumacher secured the No. 15 qualifying position.
In the opening round of eliminations on Sunday morning, Schumacher in the Leatherwood Distillery/Waltrip Brewing Co. dragster fired off a 3.783 E.T. at 320.74 mph, the team’s quickest effort of the event. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quick enough to get past Justin Ashley and his 3.764-second pass.
“That was a rough weekend,” Schumacher said. “We went out on that (Friday) night run, which is critically important, and the car rolled a little bit and put ourselves in the No. 15 spot, which should have been in the No. 10 spot. A lot of would-haves and should-haves. Should have ran a 3.72 on that run. I should’ve had a .032 light. So, there’s a million ways to win and there’s a million ways to lose. This weekend, unfortunately, we just ended up with the wrong one.”
Schumacher, who already has one win and two runner-up finishes in the first 10 races of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, still found positives in the weekend.
“The team is doing great, the car is beautiful, and Norwalk was a great track with excellent fans,” Schumacher said. “The fans were still pulling in after first round. I love this place. The Bader family did a great job. Now we’re looking ahead at the Western Swing.”
The JCM Racing team will have a few weeks to regroup and prepare for the first race of the Western Swing, the NHRA Northwest Nationals, July 19-21, at Pacific Raceways outside Seattle. In 2022, Schumacher won the Northwest Nationals in the Maynard family’s debut weekend as Top Fuel team owners. He is a five-time Seattle winner.
In Top Alcohol Dragster competition, Joe C. Maynard qualified Samsel Racing’s JCM Racing/Leatherwood Distillery A/Fuel Dragster fifth and took it to the quarterfinals where he was outpaced by Julie Nataas. Maynard is scheduled to rejoin the NHRA Mission Foods tour in mid-August when the series heads to Brainerd, Minnesota, for the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals.
This story was originally published on July 1, 2024. 
