U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher will start eighth in Sunday's FRAM-Autolite
Nationals here at Infineon Raceway.
While posting a couple of quick laps during final qualifying, Schumacher was not able
to improve upon his Friday performance of 3.880-seconds.
For the second straight race, the Chicago-area resident will confront ninth-place
qualifier, Brandon Bernstein, in the first round of final eliminations beginning at 11 a.m. PDT.
"We're ready to get after it," said the defending FRAM-Autolite Nationals champion. "As I've said
for a few weeks now, I like the direction this U.S. Army team is heading. We're improving with
every race."
After a final round appearance in Seattle last weekend, Schumacher would love to be the last man
standing in Sonoma. That's been the case the last two years in Wine Country.
"We have a good enough car to win every time out," he added. "Certainly, we want to make it
three-in-a row here at Infineon Raceway. We believe we can get the job done this weekend."
The Sonoma race marks the end of the NHRA's three-race Western Swing that began in Denver two weeks
ago.
With a quarterfinal round appearance in Denver and his final round showing in Seattle, Schumacher
entered the 15th race of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series holding second-place in the
standings.
"It's easy to figure out what we want to do tomorrow - win the race, while cutting into Antron
Brown's lead. That's the clear mission we have in front of us."
