“The fans got their money’s worth on that run,” Schumacher said. “It was pedal, pedal, lift, pedal, straighten the car out, do it again. I loved it. It’s cowboy stuff. I enjoy that kind of race more than the record-setting ones we’ve had over the years. That still proves you have to put a driver in these cars and drive these things. We ran incredibly well all weekend. All you have to do is be a machine and do the same thing, win rounds and win rounds, but those runs are the ones that are just fun. People have to understand this is still what we love. It’s a job and we enjoy it and we go out and win for the Army, but when you go out and win ugly like that, it’s just fun – crazy, but fun.”

After qualifying third behind Doug Kalitta and his U.S. Army and Don Schumacher Racing teammate Antron Brown, Schumacher beat Brazilian Sidnei Frigo and Dubai’s Khalid alBalooshi in the opening two rounds of eliminations today. Brown, meanwhile, disposed of Terry McMillan and Leah Pruett to set up a semifinal matchup against Schumacher.

Schumacher prevailed against Brown, the defending Top Fuel champion, thanks to a .052-of-a-second to .083-of –a-second advantage in reaction time. Schumacher crossed the finish line just 9 feet (.0182 of a second) ahead of his teammate to reach the 121st event final of his career.

Lucas beat Clay Millican, David Grubnic and Spencer Massey before falling to seven-time world champion Tony Schumacher in what became a smoking, fire-belching final.

"The car responded well all day," Lucas said. "In the final, we got the tires loose early. It's kind of baffling because it was the only weak spot in the car today."

Lucas had a slight edge off the starting line over Schumacher but both cars smoked the tires in nearly the identical spot. As both drivers tried to get their cars going again, the rails slid and smoked down the track. Schumacher was able to get his car back under him first and he crossed the line just as Lucas' engine let go in a small fireball.

"It just killed the tire," Lucas said. "It must have been God's way of telling us it wasn't our day. I could have done a lot better job behind the wheel. I'm not hitting the tree as good as I'd like to and I didn't do a good job pedaling it against Tony.

"He got out ahead of us and his car died. We pushed the head gaskets out when I was pedaling it. Our motor was wounded from about 300 feet on. I was just trying to get it down track and around Tony. Inside the car, it looked like we did. It was close."

Schumacher's lap time was 4.606 seconds at 213.20 mph, while Lucas finished in 4.652 seconds at 258.67 mph.

"I've got some work I've got to do," Lucas said. "Some drivers, being able to pedal the car is a real strong suit. I'd like to be one of those guys.”