Handling the controls of his U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster, Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher pocketed the
sixth starting position here Saturday during final qualifying for the Toyo Tires Nationals at Maple
Grove Raceway.
Schumacher stopped the clock at 3.931-seconds in the day's only session and in the
process moved from 12th to sixth in the final race day order.
The Chicago-area resident will square off with 11th-place qualifier, Dom Lagana, in the
first round of eliminations on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. ET.
"It was good to get out of the bottom half of the field," said Schumacher. "Like
yesterday, we had a nice run going until about half track, but it started to spin the tires real
bad and I shut it off early."
Even though this will be the first meeting of the season between Schumacher and Lagana,
the six-time world champion refuses to look beyond round one.
"We're definitely not taking him for granted," he added. "In fact, we don't take anyone
for granted. We're going to concentrate on taking care of business when we line up against him."
Schumacher's goal heading into round 17 of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
was to solidify his second-place standing in the Top Fuel points.
"We need to accomplish that very thing tomorrow," he said. "Obviously, we'd like to
leave Maple Grove with a trophy as well. I could use another piece of hardware from this place."
With four career victories at Maple Grove Raceway, Schumacher leads the Top Fuel class.
He's also seeking his 60th career win overall.
"Given my history here, I'm clearly looking forward to tomorrow," he said.
