Sarge, AJ shatter ET record, win event

MOHNTON, Pa. - To score a perfect points weekend at an NHRA national event, a driver must complete at least one qualifying run, take the No. 1 spot on the time charts, win the event and set a national record in the process.

For Tony Schumacher at the Lucas Oil Nationals, it went: Done. Done. Done. Done.

Schumacher and crew chief Alan Johnson took the US Army Top Fuel dragster on a wild weekend, beating Jim Head in the finals of the oft-delayed event at Maple Grove Raceway, outside of Reading, Pa. for his third win in the last four races.

Along with the win, Schumacher set speed records of all kinds in the event, which was pushed to this weekend after being rained out on Sept. 14. After taking the early No. 1 on Sept. 12 with a pass of 4.465 seconds at 328.78 mph., Schumacher outdid it with a 4.441 at 332.34 in a narrow second-round win over Doug Herbert. He backed it up in the semifinals, running an equally-stout 4.449 in a win over Clay Millican.

"It was a full weekend of racing, that's for sure," Schumacher said in a post-race press conference. "Not only did we run back-to-back 4.4-second passes and win the race, but I put her in the kitty litter twice."

As he said, Schumacher's weekend wasn't quite perfect: he ended up in the gravel trap at the end of the track twice during the weekend, including at the end of the record-setting run.

"In Round 2 the top two elements of the wing delaminated and broke off so I had no downforce," Schumacher said. "Then in the finals the chutes didn't work. But who cares, we won and we feel great, especially since (four-star) General Jack Keane was here to see it all happen."

The final was an intriguing matchup, especially for Santa Maria's Johnson, for he had served as chief tuner for both cars this year after shutting down his own Funny Car operation after February's Winternationals.

The win edged Schumacher closer to Doug Kalitta for second in the Top Fuel points, a notion thought impossible when Johnson joined Schumacher earlier this summer. The gap between Kalitta and Schumacher closed to 182 points, the closest the US Army driver has been all season.

"We can't wait for next year. Our crew chief Alan Johnson has this Army car tuned-up so well. It's good in the cold weather and it's good in the warm weather. We're set. I'm so glad for all the guys that stuck with us when everything was screwed up. Now we've won three out of the last four races and we're on top of the world. Go Army!"

Tim Wilkerson joined Schumacher in victory lane, taking his Levi, Ray & Shoup Pontiac past Cruz Pedregon for his second win of the year and his first since the U.S. Nationals last month.

"What a way cool day," Wilkerson said. "I wasn't sure we'd win this morning like I did when we won Indy. Then, as we started racing, we had a few mishaps. I saw the cone come into my lane when I ran Jack (Wyatt, who hit the timing cone.) I thought to myself, 'Should I move over or should I hit it?' and I figured, 'Oh, just hit it.' It punched a hole in the body. Then the chutes didn't come out, so that run was a mess.

"On the second pass, it got ugly when it started mixing up cylinders," Wilkerson added. "For the finals, we weakened it up, so that's why it slowed down. I guess we scared everybody we ran today, because they all smoked the tires."

Several big names were out in the first round at Reading: Ron Capps, John Force, Tony Pedregon and Gary Scelzi all were knocked out quickly. Still, Pedregon kept his series point lead because No. 2 runner Whit Bazemore didn't qualify for the event.

Warren Johnson earned his 92nd career Pro Stock victory when defending series champ Jeg Coughlin, Jr. triggered a red-light at the start of the finals.

Michael Phillips earned his first Pro Stock Bike win in over eight years by beating three-time defending champ Angelle Savoie in the finals.

Reports from NHRA.com contributed to this report.

October 6, 2003