Since capturing his third win of the season in Bristol, Tenn. last month, the Chicago-area resident has posted a quarterfinal round loss, a rare first round loss and a semifinal round loss.

"We're overdue for another win, that's for sure," said Schumacher as he prepared for this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park. "We've actually been running pretty well the last few races, so I'm optimistic we're going to get another trophy real soon."

Heading for the Buckeye State, Schumacher is hoping to make up some ground in the Top Fuel standings. Presently, he holds second-place, 34 points behind Antron Brown.

"It's been a heated battle all year long between Antron and me, so I don't expect things to change in the near term," he added. "Frankly, you can throw a bunch of other drivers into the mix as well. (Larry) Dixon has been coming on of late and then there's (Brandon) Bernstein and Cory (McClenathan), just to name a few.

"Nobody said winning a sixth straight world championship was going to be easy. We're going to give it all we've got the rest of the way in an effort to deliver another title to our Army Strong Soldiers. Like them, we'll always put the mission first and we'll never get distracted. We also know we have the same mental, emotional and physical strength as those brave men and women, which is very important."

The Summit Racing Equipment Nationals marks the halfway point of the 24-race 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season. While that's an attractive piece of information for Schumacher, it's not as pertinent as the fact come Sunday afternoon there will be just six races remaining until the field is set for the Countdown to One phase of the Countdown to the Championship.

"We need to start building some momentum from this point forward so by the time we hit Charlotte (N.C.) the middle of September, we'll be ready to take on all challengers," he said.

Courtesy of Chris Dirato