(Tim Marshall photo)

NHRA Pros at Phoenix

Schumacher, Hagan and Brogdon have the horses

Results compiled by Kay Burk
Photos by Ron Lewis and Tim Marshall

Matt Hagan raced to his second consecutive Funny Car victory of the season and extended his early season points lead Sunday, Feb. 22, at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Rodger Brogdon (Pro Stock) also were winners of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event near Phoenix.

(Ron Lewis photo)

TOP FUEL

The Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) crew paid huge dividends helping Tony Schumacher establish a new career-best elapse time both during qualifying Friday and then Sunday in the final versus Doug Kalitta.

“I have to give the trophy, the credit, every bit of it to my U.S. Army team this weekend,” said Schumacher following his fifth Phoenix win. “I was off. My lights were slower than they’ve been. No matter what I tried to do I couldn’t fix it. (Crew chief) Mike (Green) and (assistant crew chief) Neal (Strausbaugh) and all the U.S. Army guys dug deep and said we can fight through this. They told me to just do my best. They gave me so much confidence by giving me an incredibly fast car, and we went out and won this thing.

It was a great run through the ladder. We started with Jenna (Haddock), who has one of my old cars that she beat me with last year in Denver, and to win that round was fun. After that, we face my DSR teammates (Spencer Massey and Antron Brown) in consecutive rounds and then beat Kalitta in the final. What can I say? It was a huge day for this team and that’s why this trophy is going on Mike Green’s desk. Those guys were tremendous from start to finish, and they deserve this victory.”