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October 5, 2005
By Susan Wade
JOLIET, Ill. -- U.S. Army Dragster driver Tony Schumacher forged a nearly untouchable lead in the National Hot Rod Ass'n's Top Fuel championship chase Sunday, as he shared the Ameriquest Mortgage Nationals winner's circle with Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Jason Line (Pro Stock).
In a rematch of last October's final round at Route 66 Raceway, Schumacher easily defeated Doug Herbert with a 4.535-second elapsed time at 328.94 miles per hour to the Snap-On Dragster's tire-smoking 9.877/82.52. That put him 10 rounds ahead of Larry Dixon with 12 rounds remaining this season.
Schumacher officially claimed the national elapsed-time record, rewriting his own two-year-old mark with a 4.437-second qualifying pass. He also set a Top Fuel record for six consecutive No. 1 qualifier awards and tied the class single-season mark with 10.
"This U.S. Army team was just flawless all weekend," he said after his $40,000 victory. "I'm certainly not surprised that we're in the position we're in. But we still have to close the deal. Until we've mathematically clinched the championship, we have plenty of business to attend to."
Still, Schumacher was under far less pressure after taking nearly every possible honor in his fourth straight final-round appearance. "I was the No. 1 qualifier. I set the national record. I won the race," he said. "I couldn't have left with less points. It's kind of upsetting that (Herbert) smoked the tires. You want to see a good race, but . . . all in all, I got the trophy and I didn't care how I did it."
Schumacher said he isn't worried about points any longer. He has 205 more than Dixon and knows that with a 277-point lead or better, he will clinch his second straight title.
"The points have a way of taking care of themselves," he said. "We're going to go down to Texas and just do our thing and we'll see how it all shakes out. "
Capps used a 4.760-second pass at 327.82 mph in the Brut Dodge Stratus to win the Funny Car final after opponent Tony Pedregon lost traction in his Q Racing Chevy Monte Carlo and took a 7.369/138.50.
Capps earned $40,000 and a double victory Sunday for Chicago-based team-owner Don Schumacher, as he denied Pedregon back-to-back victories. Capps improved from fifth to third in the standings. He's just two points out of second place and 45 behind leader/teammate Gary Scelzi.
Scelzi leads John Force by 43 points in the standings. The top five are separated by only 100 points.
"Any of these guys in the points chase who say they don't think about it all the time is lying," Capps said. "I think about it when I'm taking the kids to school. I think about it in the shower. I call Don (Schumacher) every five minutes and ask him if it's time to go racing."
Capps said he can see that the pressure "is wearing on" crew chief Ed McCulloch, who underwent surgery in June for removal of cancerous tissue. "But when he got the car going the way it was in qualifying," he said, "I knew he'd found a way to help us win. We all continue to keep the faith."
"It's not over at all," Force said of the chase. "Everybody said Capps was out of it and now he's right back in the hunt. Eric and Robert could do the same thing. Scelzi came to dance. It's a real fight and it's great. It's great for the fans, for the sponsors, and it's great for the drivers. You're in this thing and you know you can make a difference"
Line got an automatic Pro Stock victory because rookie Erica Enders fouled. He earned $25,000 for his fourth victory of the season, while the rookie from Houston made Pro Stock history as the first female to advance to a final.
Enders, the No. 5 qualifier, benefited from engine problems of Ron Krisher and Mike Edwards in the first two rounds and semifinal opponent Warren Johnson's red-light disqualification. Line gave her the chance to race for the victory when her crew thrashed to change the engine, despite NHRA officials' effort to speed up the program to beat an approaching rainstorm.
"We would've waited on them no matter what," Line said. "I don't want to win on a single, and the rest of the team, absolutely nobody would go for that at all. We like to race fair and square."
Enders said of her error, "I'm human. I make mistakes, and I just dropped the clutch early. It happens. I've done it before and I'll do it again," she said. "Could've, should've, would've, but you can't say anything now. If I could've had a couple of seconds, I would've been able to gather myself a little bit, but that's just part of this game and you need to be ready under pressure. We're going to get that Wally one of these days."
By Susan Wade
JOLIET, Ill. -- U.S. Army Dragster driver Tony Schumacher forged a nearly untouchable lead in the National Hot Rod Ass'n's Top Fuel championship chase Sunday, as he shared the Ameriquest Mortgage Nationals winner's circle with Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Jason Line (Pro Stock).
In a rematch of last October's final round at Route 66 Raceway, Schumacher easily defeated Doug Herbert with a 4.535-second elapsed time at 328.94 miles per hour to the Snap-On Dragster's tire-smoking 9.877/82.52. That put him 10 rounds ahead of Larry Dixon with 12 rounds remaining this season.
Schumacher officially claimed the national elapsed-time record, rewriting his own two-year-old mark with a 4.437-second qualifying pass. He also set a Top Fuel record for six consecutive No. 1 qualifier awards and tied the class single-season mark with 10.
"This U.S. Army team was just flawless all weekend," he said after his $40,000 victory. "I'm certainly not surprised that we're in the position we're in. But we still have to close the deal. Until we've mathematically clinched the championship, we have plenty of business to attend to."
Still, Schumacher was under far less pressure after taking nearly every possible honor in his fourth straight final-round appearance. "I was the No. 1 qualifier. I set the national record. I won the race," he said. "I couldn't have left with less points. It's kind of upsetting that (Herbert) smoked the tires. You want to see a good race, but . . . all in all, I got the trophy and I didn't care how I did it."
Schumacher said he isn't worried about points any longer. He has 205 more than Dixon and knows that with a 277-point lead or better, he will clinch his second straight title.
"The points have a way of taking care of themselves," he said. "We're going to go down to Texas and just do our thing and we'll see how it all shakes out. "
Capps used a 4.760-second pass at 327.82 mph in the Brut Dodge Stratus to win the Funny Car final after opponent Tony Pedregon lost traction in his Q Racing Chevy Monte Carlo and took a 7.369/138.50.
Capps earned $40,000 and a double victory Sunday for Chicago-based team-owner Don Schumacher, as he denied Pedregon back-to-back victories. Capps improved from fifth to third in the standings. He's just two points out of second place and 45 behind leader/teammate Gary Scelzi.
Scelzi leads John Force by 43 points in the standings. The top five are separated by only 100 points.
"Any of these guys in the points chase who say they don't think about it all the time is lying," Capps said. "I think about it when I'm taking the kids to school. I think about it in the shower. I call Don (Schumacher) every five minutes and ask him if it's time to go racing."
Capps said he can see that the pressure "is wearing on" crew chief Ed McCulloch, who underwent surgery in June for removal of cancerous tissue. "But when he got the car going the way it was in qualifying," he said, "I knew he'd found a way to help us win. We all continue to keep the faith."
"It's not over at all," Force said of the chase. "Everybody said Capps was out of it and now he's right back in the hunt. Eric and Robert could do the same thing. Scelzi came to dance. It's a real fight and it's great. It's great for the fans, for the sponsors, and it's great for the drivers. You're in this thing and you know you can make a difference"
Line got an automatic Pro Stock victory because rookie Erica Enders fouled. He earned $25,000 for his fourth victory of the season, while the rookie from Houston made Pro Stock history as the first female to advance to a final.
Enders, the No. 5 qualifier, benefited from engine problems of Ron Krisher and Mike Edwards in the first two rounds and semifinal opponent Warren Johnson's red-light disqualification. Line gave her the chance to race for the victory when her crew thrashed to change the engine, despite NHRA officials' effort to speed up the program to beat an approaching rainstorm.
"We would've waited on them no matter what," Line said. "I don't want to win on a single, and the rest of the team, absolutely nobody would go for that at all. We like to race fair and square."
Enders said of her error, "I'm human. I make mistakes, and I just dropped the clutch early. It happens. I've done it before and I'll do it again," she said. "Could've, should've, would've, but you can't say anything now. If I could've had a couple of seconds, I would've been able to gather myself a little bit, but that's just part of this game and you need to be ready under pressure. We're going to get that Wally one of these days."
