Defending Champ Draws Inspiration From Troops, Beats Bernstein

KENT, Wash. — National Hot Rod Ass’n champion Tony Schumacher likes to talk about “big moments” and loves even more to be part of them.
He certainly can count his Top Fuel holeshot victory Sunday over Brandon Bernstein in the rain-interrupted Schuck’s Auto Supply Nationals as one of them.
Inspired, he said, by soldiers from nearby Fort Lewis and sailors stationed in the Puget Sound region, the U.S. Army dragster driver set a track speed record on his way to his third $40,000 victory in four-straight final-round appearances at Pacific Raceways.
Joining him in the winner’s circle were Funny Car’s Jack Beckman, who won for the second-consecutive weekend, and Pro Stock’s Dave Connolly, who clinched a berth in the Countdown to the Championship.
Schumacher’s slower 4.607-second elapsed time at 307.79 miles per hour beat Bernstein’s 4.558/328.86 in the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster because he had the starting-line advantage (.047-second reaction time to .100). But his 333.25-mph speed in his quarterfinal victory over Whit Bazemore rewrote a two-year-old track record.
“He makes you step it up,” Schumacher said of Bernstein, “and that makes it fun.” 

CONNOLLY CAN DO: Team-owner Victor Cagnazzi (left) and Dave Connolly celebrate their Pro Stock victory Sunday. (NHRA Photo)

Schumacher’s dominance rekindled memories of his second-half surge in 2006, when his Seattle victory helped launch a string of five triumphs in eight final rounds in the last 12 races. He went on to swipe the championship from Doug Kalitta, setting the national e.t. record and winning in the final run of the final race.
He was fourth when he left here last year, and he’s fourth now, easily in the provisional elite eight who’ll be eligible in three races to compete for the series title.
Noting that opponents Alan Bradshaw, Whit Bazemore, J.R. Todd  and Bernstein all had competitively prepped dragsters, Schumacher said, “The trophy that sits on the shelf that’s the hardest to win is the one you enjoy most.”
In Funny Car action, Beckman used a 4.829-second e.t. at 320.97 mph in the MTS Dodge Charger to beat John Force, whose Castrol GTX Ford Mustang suffered an engine explosion about halfway down the quarter-mile track and disappeared in a cloud of dark smoke.
Force was uninjured. Despite the disaster, the 14-time Funny Car champion’s weekend was a success, for he moved into the top eight. He had been stuck as far back as 20th in May.
“That Castrol freight train is on a mission now,” Beckman said after earning the $40,000 victory. “He’s the best there is. He could fill up my modest house with his trophies. And he’s back on his game. So, to beat him when he’s back to being John Force, that feels doubly good.”
Said Beckman, “I thought we had zero-percent chance of getting it in, and they gave us a safe track. This was such a marathon. It’ll take me a couple of days to digest it.”
Force’s daughter, Funny Car rookie Ashley Force, escaped with no worse than a sprained thumb in a crash during her quarterfinal loss to Kenny Bernstein. John Force, who won in the pair immediately preceding hers, had just praised her progress but said every run provides a learning experience. Within seconds, her Mustang hit the wall nearly head-on around half-track.
Pro Stock’s top qualifier, Connolly, set the track-record e.t. with his 6.649-second pass in the final at 206.20 mph, denying Allen Johnson a second victory in as many weekends and a second-straight victory at Seattle.
“It was worth the wait,” the Torco Chevy Cobalt driver said of his $20,000 victory that came by a .020-second margin. “And the track was awesome.”
“We saved the best for last and we needed every bit of it,” said Connolly, who earned his 12th-career victory in 24 finals. “I was decent on the tree, but A.J. was on his game with a teen (.019-second reaction time). He had a hundredth (of a second lead), and my car definitely saved my butt. I couldn’t think of a better time but the final to make a run like that.”
Connolly heads to this weekend’s Fram Autolite Nationals at Sonoma, Calif., with two victories in four final rounds this season.