U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher grabbed the fourth starting spot here
Saturday during final qualifying for the Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.
Schumacher actually improved from Friday's effort with a 3.796-second pass at 314.75
mph, but he still got bumped down a spot in the final race day line up.
"That's fine," said the six-time world champion. "We had a couple of nice runs today so
we're good to go for Sunday."
For the second straight race, Schumacher will take on 13th-place qualifier Terry
Haddock in the first round of eliminations beginning at 11 a.m. Schumacher beat Haddock in Memphis
last weekend after the latter broke following his burn out.
"It will be the same deal as last Sunday when we roll up against Terry," said the
Chicago-area resident. "We'll consider that round the finals. They're all extremely important at
this stage of the game."
Schumacher will go into the fourth race of the NHRA's Countdown to 1 holding a 47-point
lead on second-place Larry Dixon in the Top Fuel standings. Additionally, he has an 88-point
advantage on third-place Cory McClenathan.
"We have a few rounds on both of those guys, but we can't relax for one second," said
Schumacher. "Our lead can evaporate in a real hurry if we stumble a little. Of course, we're not
planning on stumbling. We're going to be quite aggressive tomorrow."
With only three races remaining in the season, Schumacher is shooting for his sixth
consecutive Top Fuel title and his seventh career crown.
"We're going to give it everything we have the rest of the way," he added. "Our Army
Strong Soldiers expect that kind of performance from us."
