Tony Schumacher advanced to the final quad at the 2022 Las Vegas Four-Wide event, but this year he’s ready to seal the deal on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“I’ve won at Vegas a lot but have never won a four-wide trophy from either there or Charlotte,” said Schumacher. “I will say, the last time that Zippy (Mike Neff) and I raced together at the Vegas four-wide event, we were literally in the lead in the finals when the car shut off. So, we’re continuing with our theme of ‘we have some unfinished business’ this weekend.”
While Schumacher is the most successful driver in NHRA Top Fuel history, he has yet to hoist a four-wide Wally trophy. He’s come close; finishing as the runner-up in 2012 and 2017 in Charlotte, in addition to advancing to the final quad in Vegas in 2018 and 2022
“This year, we’ve gotten better with each race, and now we finally have a car that all of us, including I’m pretty sure many of our opponents, can see the true potential,” Schumacher said. “We made it down the track all four times in Pomona. Now we have a tune-up that we just need to nip at. We have four qualifying runs this weekend, which is important. Some of the tracks where you only get three, you’re always one run down, and for a new team like ours, you need those four runs. So, everything is looking fantastic for this weekend. Weather is looking excellent, Vegas is always a great track.”
As a matter of fact, Schumacher leads the Top Fuel class in the number of victories (eight) at LVMS. Plus, the driver of the SCAG Power Equipment Top Fuel Dragster leads the class in number of No. 1 qualifiers (11) at LVMS.
“Pomona, man, that was a hell of a race; lost by 15-thousandths of a second, got us a good car,” stated Schumacher. “Zippy and I, we left there saying, ‘we made it down the track four times, we’re in a really good spot.’ We finally found the pieces that all fit together, and now we’ve just got to start adjusting them to go quicker with each run. We’re in a good, good spot going into this race. But, we’re not ignorant; we know we’ve got some really strong opponents, but we’re one of them now.”
