After absorbing a quarterfinal round loss two weeks ago in St. Louis, U.S. Army Top Fuel driver
Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher will be looking for a trip to victory lane here this weekend in the
Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
Schumacher, who is the defending event champion, would also like to regain the Top Fuel
points lead with a solid outing in Thunder Valley.
"Antron (Brown) got around us in the standings with his win in St. Louis, so we want to
get back on top in Bristol," said the Chicago-area resident, who has posted two wins to date this
season. "We can't wait to get started down there. It's a beautiful facility with a great racing
surface."
Cutting a path between mountains, Bristol Dragway has been home to some notable
performances since it hosted its first national NHRA event in 2001. One of those performances was
courtesy of Schumacher when he set the quarter-mile elapsed time track record of 4.477-seconds in
2004.
"They did it right when they built that place," added the six-time world champion. "We
can really haul the mail in Bristol."
Schumacher is actually a two-time Bristol winner - he also captured the '04 event. With
Armed Forces Day falling on Saturday, winning this weekend takes on even greater importance.
"No doubt about it." he added. "The purpose of Armed Forces Day is to honor Americans
serving in the all of the military branches, including the U.S. Army. To that end, we're going to
try to bring home a trophy for our hard-working Soldiers.
"Every time we get on the track, our goal is to demonstrate the same attributes the
U.S. Army looks for in its Soldiers - putting the mission first, a never quit attitude and a
refusal to accept defeat. We're hopeful that approach will produce a win in Bristol."
Schumacher heads into round eight of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series trailing
Brown by 18 points in the Top Fuel standings.
