TOP FUEL
Schumacher earned his fourth win of the year in his fourth final-round appearance in five races. He now has third career victories in front of his hometown crowd. Sunday he piloted his U.S. Army dragster to a 4.499 at 329.83 against Rod Fuller's 5.259 at 223.14 in his Caterpillar dragster.
"I think five years ago (crew chief) Alan Johnson flew into this track, and the last time we had met we raced each other, so it was kind of cool that we go out and qualify No. 1, win the race, and since then we've won four championships, I think today is 38 wins together," Schumacher said. "It's just an outstanding team. The coolest part is I think we have five or six of the guys on the team from the first day. That's a lot of guys. A lot of great people that stayed together. Not through the 38 wins, but through the 356 points back we were a couple of years ago. All of those things. That's what makes a great team. Guys that can not fire, not point fingers, not blame, don't yell."
After making just one full pass during qualifying at 4.602 seconds on Saturday evening, Rod Fuller started from the No. 10 qualifying position. He edged 30-time winner Doug Kalitta, local Chicagoland favorite T.J. Zizzo, and young star Morgan Lucas, before falling to five-time series champion Tony Schumacher in the final round.
As the second pair of dragsters to compete on Sunday morning, Fuller and Kalitta used nearly identical reaction times and put on one of the best races of the day. Fuller used a tune-up from crew chief Rob Flynn to clock the second quickest pass of the round and earn the trip to the quarterfinals. The Caterpillar/Matco Tools rail posted a run of 4.540 seconds at 309.34 mph to hold off Kalitta’s run of 4.560 at 327.59 in his red car. Fuller is now 8-7 in 15 career matches with Kalitta.
The Caterpillar crew got help from the Matco team.
Competing in his 16th career Top Fuel final round, two of the sport’s top drivers used solid reaction times, but the Caterpillar rail lost traction causing Fuller to pedal to a run of 5.259 at 223.14. Schumacher drove his Alan Johnson-tuned dragster to low elapsed time of the meet at 4.499 at 329.83 to score his fourth win of the season. Fuller now has 99 career round wins and a mark of 13-9 this season, including a victory over Schumacher at Madison, Ill. on May 4. Fuller and teammate Antron Brown rank fifth and third, respectively, in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel standings.
“All in all, it was a great weekend,” Fuller said. “We really struggled in qualifying and I was just hoping to make the field and get to first round. This has been a really good track to me. I’ve never won here yet, but getting to the final round isn’t a bad thing and nothing to shake your head over. I’m just proud of my guys and both of these David Powers Motorsports teams. The Matco Tools team worked great together and helped us out all day long to get to that final and that’s what teamwork is all about. I hope all the Caterpillar employees had a fun experience this weekend.”
FINAL ROUNDSTop Fuel: Tony Schumacher, 4.499 seconds, 329.83 mph, def. Rod Fuller, 5.259 seconds, 223.14 mph. Funny Car: Tony Pedregon, Chevy Impala, 4.818, 319.75, def. Scott Kalitta, Toyota Solara, 4.957, 308.92. Pro Stock: Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.733, 205.22, def. Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt, 19.755, 72.78. Pro Stock Motorcycle: Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.051, 185.43, def. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.134, 185.38. Top Alcohol Dragster: Bill Reichert, 5.351, 267.80, def. Thomas Bayer, 12.416, 55.20. Top Alcohol Funny Car: Frank Manzo, Chevy Monte Carlo, 5.581, 259.66, def. Roger Bateman, Ford Mustang, 10.840, 82.17. Competition Eliminator: Craig Bourgeois, Dragster, 7.047, 178.95, def. David Rampy, Bantam Roadster, 7.327, 171.47. Super Stock: Anthony Bertozzi, Pontiac Grand Am, 9.275, 144.00, def. Darren Smith, Dodge Dart, 9.727, 132.40. Stock Eliminator: Tim Mosbek, Plymouth Demon, 11.550, 114.21, def. Michael Iacono, Ford Mustang, 10.884, 115.70. Super Comp: Ron Erks, Dragster, 8.833, 182.65, def. Joe Serena, Dragster, 8.926, 169.55. Super Gas: Nick Folk, Chevy Camaro, 9.896, 165.42, def. Jarod Bowman, Chevy Corvette, broke. Super Street: Regan Wilson, Chevy P/U, 10.876, 140.34, def. Dwight Downing, Plymouth Arrow, 10.876, 132.99. |