In capturing his first win of the season and his first victory since the fall 2010 Las Vegas event, Schumacher also made Father’s Day a special occasion for his dad and team owner, Don Schumacher.

“What a day this has been,” a jubilant Schumacher said after beating Doug Kalitta in the final. “To be able to win for our Army Strong Soldiers and my dad, while ending a 32-race losing streak, it’s really a tremendous feeling. I can’t explain how happy I am right now. I almost forgot how heavy these event trophies are – I think I was beginning to lose my trophy muscles.”

On the way to career win number 68, Schumacher had to navigate around the likes of Dom Lagana, his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Spencer Massey, Clay Millican and then Kalitta, who he beat at Bristol Dragway in the 2009 final.

“There aren’t any freebies in Top Fuel,” Schumacher said after grabbing the Top Fuel points lead for the third time in 2012. “We definitely had to earn each and every round win today. We were pushed very hard by all of those guys, which was to be expected. I think NHRA drag racing fans are enjoying a great, competitive show so far this year.”

(Ron Lewis photo)

Against Kalitta, Chicago-area resident Schumacher had to be sharp at the starting line. Kalitta posted a quicker 1,000-foot pass (3.802 seconds versus 3.819 seconds), but Schumacher had a better reaction time to the green light (.023 of a second to Kalitta’s .065 of a second) and turned on the win light.

“That’s the way you have to be when you come up against someone like Doug,” Schumacher said. “One little mistake, and it could have been him standing in victory lane. He’s a great driver with a great team, so I’m sure he will win his share of races this year.”

Kalitta, a 47-year-old resident of Ann Arbor, Mich. and three-time Top Fuel champion at Bristol Dragway (2006, 2005 and 2001), qualified his dragster in a season-high No. 4 (3.835 seconds, 321.81 mph) starting position for eliminations. He defeated Khalid al Balooshi and Bruce Litton en route to a semi-final match up with Antron Brown. For the fourth consecutive event, Kalitta defeated Brown, 3.831 at 320.51 mph to 3.842/322.88.

The final round was a rematch of the 2009 and 2001 Top Fuel finals of Kalitta versus Tony Schumacher. Schumacher won in 2009 and Kalitta won in 2001. In this year’s version, Kalitta got away from the starting line with a very good .065-second reaction time, but Schumacher used an almost-psychic .023-second start to get a close win over Kalitta on a holeshot, 3.802 sec., (not valid data for speed) to 3.819 sec., 324.28 mph.

Kalitta’s trip to the final was his first trip to the money round of the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and his first since a runner-up posting at the fall event in Charlotte in 2010. He has 32 wins in 65 final round appearances in his career.